Evaluation Question
3
• Publishing is where a media product is finalized ready for sale to
the public, these media products usually include music, magazines etc. There
are a number of different publishers now, some publishers will only do
educational books, and some companies will only do electronic publishing where
books are available on pretty much any Internet assisted device. However there
are some authors who self-publisher there own media products.
• Distributors are the companies that deliver a magazine to the
public. There are 3 main ways in which a magazine is usually distributed
though:
• Non paid circulation- non paid circulation is where people do not
have to pay for the media platform, an example of this is when you get free
news papers at train stations or advertisement magazines that are handed out to
local areas for free. An example of a free magazine is NME music magazine.
• This type of magazine is where you have to give money in exchange of
the magazine. Paid circulation can be for sale per issue or you can buy a
subscription to the magazine, which usually lasts about a year and usually ends
up cheaper than buying every single one with out a subscription. The reason for
this is because of the guaranteed sales of your magazine. Paid circulation
magazines also usually are more targeted at a certain person/ genre therefore
it will contain better content for what people are looking for. For my magazine
I have decided that I would have mine in paid circulation and would sell it for
£3.50.
• This distribution method is only available to qualified subscriptions,
it is more direct to job areas such as architects, trade jobs and doctors etc.
this method of distribution is usually free as well. This method of
distribution was used a lot more until the Internet started to take off and
there was more information coming on line. In the UK there are still quite a few
online magazines that still use the method.
• Publishers overall have a huge impact on the success of a media product;
this is to do with the amount they are responsible for. Publishers are
responsible for the target audience they are aiming for and to make sure that
the whole magazine links together and its not just a load of jumbled work,
giving its identity. One of the more major parts a collecting an income is
advertisement, a magazines advertisement should fit in with the style of
magazine as it would be pointless to the advertisers but also if the magazine
has ads that don’t have anything to do with the magazines genre then it will lose its
identity. Another thing publishers are responsible for is the financial side as
it has too balance all of its money to aim to make a profit, the ways a
magazine will make money is from subscriptions, individual sales and
advertisement they then have to make sure that these three will balance out to
pay staff and any other bills as they are still a company that needs to make a
profit.
• After some research of magazine publishers I have found a company
called time Inc. (formerly IPC media) that publishes music magazines. It is
also currently the leading consumer magazine and digital publisher. It is the
owner of NME magazine, as one of the leading music magazines I thought that
this would be helpful as my magazine is based around music. Its will also stand
out from other because after research I have found that they don't have much
indie magazines so mine would really be competing with any other magazines that
are already being produced by this company. Time Inc. is also a publisher for
more than 60 iconic brands, so therefore it portrays that it would be a good
publisher to get in with. From these 60 brands they engage with 24 million
adults so it would mean that it would be in trusty hands, with a large
audience.
