Check out the call John Emmery from Riverstone News has put out to newsagents re one way for newsagents to approach the issue of over supply:
We’ve tried all sorts of strategies over the years to incentivise distributers to reduce over-supply of mags.
Here’s a (serious) idea. Please let me know what you think…
Send me your best example of over-supply for the month with the history. Here’s mine for example…
Business for Sale ( code 25020 – NET)
V11#66 20/5/09 rec’d 18, returned 9
V11#67 28/10/09 recd’d 19 returned 11
V11#68 28/4/10 rec’d 20 returned 12
V11 #69 15/10/10 rec’d 26 returned 21
V11 #70 29/4/11 rec’d 26 returned 22
V11#71 14/10/11 rec’d 27
I will select the best example of over-supply, publish on this address, then send it by post with a lemon to the General Manager of the PUBLISHER.
What do you think?
The only stipulation is that is must be a magazine you’re received in the current month – no ancient history, please.
John Emmery. Riverstone News. 0423 529 041
p.s. You might say that poor Network took over the above title from NDD and that some of the over supply was NDD’s fault. True, but they obviously took over the supply history too, otherwise my supply would have changed radically. So why did they ignore the returns data?
The magazine supply model is complex, way more complex than it ought to be. There is no doubt that for many titles we are not supplied solely based on sales history. Other factors can come into play including publisher action and distributor / publisher contracts.
The most success I have seen recently, as I have blogged here, has been as a result of direct contact with publishers.
This is a new concept worthy of further work. I have a title in mind and will engage as suggested.
I know why newsagents get oversupplied! Because most publishers over inflate their “circulation” figures to justify their advertising rates. The bottom line is that they don’t care if those magazines never sell, they just have to say “we distribute 20,000 copies” rather than say how many they actually sell.
I know of one publisher who prints 20,000 copies but only sells around 5,000 of those per issue, but they don’t care because they are raking in the advertising dollars!
The whole publishing game is just a big fat marketing exercise – most magazines are just vehicles for ads anyway and over-inflated circulation figures sell more ads!
Lucy there is certainly a lack of transparency and this has driven newsagent behaviour around returns as many have felt that returns are the only business management tool available to them.