Publishing a magazine - we are working on the summer magazine

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Publishing a magazine - how does it work? We published a physical magazine last summer, and now we're going to do the same thing again. This time we're a bit more experienced and can tell you how we work.

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Publishing a magazine

We've been running a blog/magazine online for a long time, but publishing a physical version was a dream for a while. The challenges were not in the writing itself, but in funding and distribution. Last summer it finally became a reality, and we published FREEDOMtravel summer magazine 2021. Now we are working on the second edition: the FREEDOMtravel summer magazine 2022.

Financing the warehouse

Publishing a magazine costs money. Since we don't have the skills or the software needed for layout, we pay for it. Of course, we also pay for printing, and then for distribution. Although we think we've found a good and reasonable solution to all this, it's a big cost. After all, we print 100,000 copies of the magazine and deliver to 600 campsites !

One way to finance a magazine is to sell it, but we give ours away for free. Instead, we finance the magazine with advertisements. Financially, it's absolutely crucial for us to sell enough ads. We're not looking to make a lot of money from the magazine but we want to avoid going into deficit, which unfortunately we did last year. We were simply inexperienced and not out in time.

Selling ads

We have the help of Peter's brother Micke to sell ads. He used to be the top salesman at Vi i Villa, so he knows this ad sales business inside out. Now that he's retired, he thought it would be fun to come in and work with us.

For Micke, the camping world was a completely new industry, so it has of course not been easy to find the right companies and people. But now, after more than a year with us, it sometimes feels like he has a better handle on things than we do. Of course, when he sells ads for us, he makes money - while we use our share of the money to pay for layout, printing and distribution.

Another thing that's important to us - in addition to trying to cover expenses - is that there should be good and relevant ads. For example, we've had ads for campsites, caravan and motorhome dealers, destinations and shipping companies (with information specifically aimed at caravan and motorhome owners). We're really happy when we feel that a paid ad can also be valuable to readers!

Writing articles

One of the most obvious tasks in publishing a magazine is writing articles. Last year I (Helena) wrote all the articles. This year I will also write most of them, but we will also invite a guest writer. The aim of this is not to reduce the workload - it's still a lot of planning and communication work - but to have more variety in the content.

Right now I am working on the editorial side. I'm communicating with guest writers and writing my own material. Some of the content you might recognise from our digital magazine (but in a new format, of course!), while others will be completely new and unique to the physical magazine.

Laying out the magazine

Once the content is ready, we send it off (in the form of word files, photos and ready-layout ads in pdf format), along with a sketch of how the pages will relate to each other, to the firm that helps us with the layout. Of course, we present our layout wishes while letting the firm be creative. Then we can have a few rounds of feedback before the magazine is ready for print.

Printing the magazine

The next step is to print the magazine. We decide on the type of paper and the number of copies to be printed. Then it's just a matter of waiting for the results ... and the invoice.

Distributing the magazine

Last but not least, the magazine will be distributed. This can be done in different ways. One option, which we have discussed, is to buy addresses of people who own a motorhome or caravan and mail the magazine. However, this variant is very expensive, so it turned out to be a bad option for us.

Instead, we distribute the magazine to 600 campsites and a bunch of motorhome dealers, with the help of drivers. Since this is done together with the magazine "Motorhome and Caravan on the Road", we can share the costs and it will be feasible, although fuel prices may of course affect the cost this year.

Does your company want to be featured in the magazine?

Do you have a company that wants to be featured in a magazine with a circulation of 100,000 copies, reaching Swedish holidaymakers on campsites in the summer of 2022? Get in touch with us or with our advertising salesman Micke, at Tjälldén Group.

Want to read the magazine?

Want to read the magazine? You will find it in the reception of 600 campsites, between Mora and Ystad, from midsummer week 2022. You will also find it at a bunch of motorhome dealers, during the same time. In addition, we will distribute the magazine during the "Elmia Caravan and Motorhome" fair in September.

Do you have any comments, tips or thoughts for us about publishing the magazine this summer? Please let us know!

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