The launch issue of Universal Magazines’ Green Living went on sale yesterday. The product looks good. It strengthensour green magazine segment – an overdue move here in Australia. I’d expect several other titles to beenfit from this. I am frustrated that we were not provided marketing collateral with which to launch the new title in-store. While merchandisers are said to be on the road with this, it should have been provided when the stock arrived as that is when we allocate promotional space.
This long (two month) on-sale makes us a financial contributor to the launch. This happens all the time with new titles. It is part of what makes newsagents appealing to publishers – we fund them into our space.
One day, I hope, we will pay publishers only for what we sell at the end of the on-sale arrangement. Better still, we pay only for scanned sales – I’d be happy to pay weekly for this – publishers would get their cash for sales much faster than happens today.
I hope Green Living is a success. We need to build a stronger green magazine segment.