an update on an old post and a couple of questions.
So I posted here a while back about starting a local magazine. ( link)
Here's what has changed. We've started to push the title MRM instead of Monthly Rag Mag, although we maintain the MonthlyRagMag.com domain.
We changed from this logo:
to this logo:
and we've also started posting these posters around. We haven't started putting them on telephone poles yet, but it's up in a couple of stores/distribution sites around the Pittsburgh area.
The format we've settled on is an average run of 1000 issues that we self-print and the online edition of the magazine. All three issues are up online, but the most recent issue is available as a pdf since it was a triple issue and large. We've collectively decided against selling the magazine. I don't think I could justify selling it, since most of the content is user created, and we support the hacker mentality: all information should be free and available to all. So yeah, we distribute all 1000 issues at local shops and hangouts free of charge. Since printing is expensive and layout is time-consuming, we're going to try to heavily sell advertisement space. Do you guys have any suggestions? I thought about putting together little gift bags with print editions of all three issues of the magazine and a personalised cover letter. We were going to make T-shirts and a bunch of us were going to go deliver the gift bags as a group.
We were thinking about increasing traffic to our site as well as getting more people to donate content by posting on craigslist.com.
Well, what do you think? Any help is greatly appreciated.