I want to sell out of magazines. I love it when it happens. Independent publishers I speak with love it too. A sell out is good. I it happens early enough in the on-sale I will order more stock. I’ve done that plenty of times.
The newsagent magazine distribution model is not designed for us to sell out. The distributors think that sell outs are bad. Many publishers think that sell outs are bad. One distributor representative told me that publishers don’t like sell outs. I can’t find evidence supporting that view. Publishers I have spoken with say they like sell outs when they occur at an appropriate time through the on-sale.
The kind of sell outs which I think are acceptable and for which I would not order additional stock are: weeklies – by day five or more; monthlies – by week three or more. I am not including anything beyond monthlies since I do not think that any title in a newsagency should have an on-sale of more than thirty days.
For this issue to be resolved, a publisher and a distributor need to make a start. I hope this happens soon.
Selling out seems to be a no-no for papers, too.
Publishers don’t like it when you’ve sold out – i.e. an empty space, or worse, one filled with another title – but will whine if you have too many left over.
Either way, when our crystal balls are in for servicing, they start faffing with our supply numbers.
One paper rep told me that a sell just before closing was perfect. I disagreed, I said that I wanted one paper left just in case rather than dissapoint a customer. This doesnot look like a big difference but to that last customer it is.