Should your magazine be one- two- or four-color? There are times when a one- or two-color publication are more appropriate than a four-color publication. How do you know? Ask yourself some questions.
• What does your audience expect in a publication like yours?
• What are other publications like yours doing? What is the norm?
• Can your audience afford to pay for a four-color publication?
• What kind of editorial content do you have? (news versus highly visual content)
• How is your publication distributed? Must it be displayed on a kiosk or is it by individual subscription or other distribution methods?
If the answer to the first and second question is “four-color,” but the answer to the third question is “no,” consider adding a four-color cover, but keeping the inside one- or two-color. A news publication or a newsletter normally wouldn’t use four-color, but if your magazine is highly visual, with lots of pictures, it would lend itself to four-color, if your audience can pay for it. If your distribution is primarily on the news stand or kiosk, then your cover must compete for attention with other more colorful publications.
What about size? Does your audience want a large magazine with lots of pages and would they be willing to pay more for it? In most cases, the answer is no. But what about your situation? Ask yourself the same questions: What is your audience’s expectation? What is the norm? Can they afford to pay for a larger magazine?
Different sizes are appropriate for different types of publications. What size are other publications like yours?
And here is another question: Can your present staff produce a larger magazine? Would you have to hire more staff in order to provide more pages? Do you have access to enough writers to produce more articles consistently?
Check with your printer to make sure your magazine is the right size. You may be able to save a lot of money just by trimming a small amount from the size of your magazine to make it fit standard sizes of paper. Or, you may find you can go to a slightly larger format without paying any more, simply by using a part of the paper that previously was wastage.
Should you expand the size of your magazine? Think long and hard before you do it. And, if possible, do research to find out if your audience wants a bigger magazine.
Is it better to publish more frequently, rather than less frequently? Not necessarily. In fact, in some cases, publishers—and readers—have benefited when magazines have reduced frequency. How often should you publish? Again, ask the same questions. What does your audience expect in a publication like yours? What are other similar publications doing? Can your audience afford to pay for a magazine that is published more frequently?
Some major Christian publications have reduced frequency from monthly to eight times a year to six times to four times—gaining readers as they did so. Will your readers forget you if you publish only four times a year? I’m sorry to be the one to tell you, but they haven’t been thinking about you anyway! Unless you publish “to be continued” at the end of every article, they haven’t been breathlessly awaiting the arrival of the next issue.
It is not likely you will lose readers by reducing the number of issues. Do you have to reduce the cost of the subscription if you reduce the frequency? Not necessarily. Perhaps you can add some pages to increase the perceived value. Maybe now you could even afford to add a little more color. Your staff may breathe a sigh of relief as deadline pressures ease and they may even be able to give more careful attention to each issue.
Read more production principles and tips that will save you money in The Business of Magazine Publishing manual.