Magazine Newsstand Task

Magazine Newsstand task/ distribution of magazines:

Newsstand Task: 

In this specific shop, the music magazines (very few) are in the ‘men’s lifestyle’ section. They are surrounded by other magazines which are of men’s interests, such as cars for example you can see a Top Gear magazine. You can see how the publishers have taken into account how the magazines will be displayed. Most of the magazines have images of cars that dominate the page or writing which I very large and can be seen instantly. 

On this specific newsstand, the magazines are places on top of each other with the first ones showing everything and NME being at the back. With the NME magazine you can only see the top third of the magazine which is the skyline, the bold masthead and a quarter of the image of the model(s).

You can see how the publishers have used the top quarter to grab the reader’s attention. Many magazine have their teasers on the left hand side of the magazine. But with these the most interesting points are on the skyline. On Kerrang!, there is a skyline about posters, on NME there is an offer for an exclusive CD; Total Guitar there is a splash and on Q there is a skyline for 3 posters, 2 of which consist of images.

The first shop I visited had a very limited selection of music magazines. I needed to visit another shop so that this research can help me when it comes to creating my own magazine.

On this newsstand which was in another shop, shows how much variation the stock of magazines can have depending on where they are sold and the specific target audience that is predicted to enter the shop. This shop was in Camden.

This clearly states that the people that enter the shop are interest in rock and indie music. The more mainstream magazines featuring upcoming artists are situated towards the middle of the stand, on the middle row and therefore leaves the end of the rows free for the less popular publications such as ‘Guitar’ which specifically focuses on one instrument opposed to generic music magazines. 

Distribution of magazines:

Many costs are involved within the creating and distributing of magazines, magazines need to get from production to audience quickly and efficiently.

Publishers: Publishers produce the magazines. It would cost a lot of money for me to publish my magazine, as there would be prinitng costs and if I were to sell it to big supermarkets or shops, the places where I would seel them would want some of the profit. In the UK there are 4 main magazine publishers. EMAP Bauer who have merged together to form a bigger audience and make more profit from their magazines. NatMag, Conde Nast and IPC. 
For my magazine I want to choose IPC media, this is because judging from their press pack, and looking at the audiences they do not cater for, r n b and hip hop is not included. They have has wide success with their other genres of music magazines and non music magazine and they are doing something right, that's why their magazines are being sold successfully worldwide. So to put my trust in IPC Media, I believe I will be doing the right thing. 

Distribution Networks:  I have made the decision to not distribute my magazine in places in which magazines are sold. Supermarkets such as Tesco and Asda, and news stands near train stations as they are the places where their are many customers and they are most likely to pick up a magazine if it is presented to them. However, because of my audience who are mostly teenagers and people in their mid 20s, they are most likely to be on their phones a lot of the time. Therefore if there was a website in which my magazine could be uploaded, this would be a more successful method of distributing. 

Sale or Return: Any copies of magazines which are not sold, and returned to the distributor, with no cost to the retailer. This is a benefit to the retailer as there is no risk or wastage involved. However, there is a wasteful and environmentally damaging system for the publisher and distributor. If no magazines are sold, this wastes the publishers/distributors time, effort, and money. So by distributing via the internet, there will be no magazines wasted as it is all an online based system. 

Freemiums: This is the most popular method of distribution. These magazines are given out at stations or other busy public locations. They make all of their money through adverts which as featured within the magazine.

Alongside the distribution methods of buying from a supermarket and subscribing (which will come straight to your door) there are many other methods such as:

Electronic Subscription: this means that when you subscribe to a magazine just like the manual subscription, this will be posted straight to your inbox, your Ipad, Tablet or Kindle etc. I have decided to use this method. This way is more user friendly as every month my magazine will be in the customers inbox, without them having to physically buy a magazine. Also, I am guaranteed the money as an electronic subscription will make sure the money magazine has been payed for each month. 

E-zines: these are electronic magazines. 
I have come to a decision that I would like to do an e-zine. The benefits of this are that many people can access the magazine from the comfort of their own home and they can also view it 24/7 wherever they are. This also has no publishing costs as nothing needs to be printed out. 

Apps: This is the most common and up to date method. An app will be an additional feature which I would consider. An app is a much easier way of people viewing my magazine and reading it as if they own an IPAD, Tablet, or an Android phone they can easily download the app and the magazine will be available on the app every month for them to read and view. 

Electronic brand extension: Many magazines have now extended their brand extension to an online one. This is in the form of social networking sites such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter etc. They also extend into gigs and other events. This is to ensure that their readers are updated every step of the way, anywhere and everywhere. 
I think that is is the most advanced method of extension and I would be happy to use this. By using social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, during the months that the magazine is not available users can check updates via those sites. Also, users would be encouraged to provide content to be featured in the magazine.