How a storyteling event became a new California magazine
Over the past few years, we've seen magazines old and not-quite-as-old going online only or, in most cases, closing altogether. But we've also seen online-only publications putting out print magazines. Just recently, we've seen a New York literary magazine cut back its online presence to focus on print, simply because it made financial sense.
And over on the West Coast, a San Francisco three-times-a-year literary event spawned a lifestyle magazine that is being published online and, yes, in print.
It all started with the Pop-Up Magazine, a live event where authors, actors an musicians went up to tell stories. The event has been going on since 2009, and it proved to be very popular. And now, the people behind Pop-Up Magazine decided to put out an actual magazine - which, somewhat confusingly, is not called the Pop-Up Magazine. It's called the California Sunday Magazine.
What on Earth made them want to do that?
“It seemed odd to me that so many of us who gathered to put our stories in front of so many people were calling editors in New York when we wanted to get published,” says Douglas McGray, co-founder of Pop-Up Magazine and editor-in-chief of the California Sunday Magazine.
They are envisioning it as a California version of the New York and New Yorker magazine. In Chicago, I suppose the closest equivalent is the Tribune Publishing's Chicago magazine (with a dash of Tribune's Printers Row Journal).
While the California Sunday Magazine is already unveiling a robust web and mobile app presence, they are also releasing a monthly print issue. The first issue was released today.
What made them decide to put out print versions?
The print edition is less about countering conventional wisdom and more about enticing advertisers, says Chas Edwards, publisher and president of California Sunday. While print ads may be declining, “thousands of readers of print are still an order of magnitude more valuable to advertisers” than thousands online, Edwards says. His advertisers include Lexus, Google, Ace Hotel, and the University of California.
The magazine is taking a novel approach when it comes to distribution. Instead of trying to put their product on newsstands, they are being packaged as inserts inside some of California's biggest newspapers - San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee and Tribune's Los Angeles Times. Which is actually a pretty clever idea. As the article points out, inserting the magazine into newspapers is cheaper than distributing them the old-fashioned way. Plus, this way, the magazine can guarantee advertisers that their product would reach a certain number of customers. if they were trying to distribute it the old-fashioned way, the best they could offer was an optimistic guesstimate. And it works out well for the newspapers involved, since this is going to be another source of revenue.
Poking around their website, I discovered that the magazine isn't going to go into all copies of the three newspapers - just the ones that fall within certain zip codes. Zip codes where the subscribers are more likely to fall within a certain demographic.
On the first Sunday of each month, The California Sunday Magazine will reach a subset of subscribers to the LA Times, SF Chronicle, and the Sacramento Bee. They are the readers who live in and around the state’s metro centers, especially in neighborhoods populated by residents who over-index on basic demographic attributes (household income, education levels, and spending on domestic travel), as well as characteristics that suggest out-sized cultural influence. For example, they are 50% more likely to read Wired, Vanity Fair, the New Yorker, and the Sunday New York Times than average residents of the LA, SF and Sacramento DMAs. They’re roughly 75% more likely to own a MacBook Pro and drive a hybrid car. They’re almost 100% more likely to spend at least $3,000 per year traveling overseas. Professionally they are developers, designers, writers, entrepreneurs, do-gooders, artists, and media producers.
Which, from a purely advertising standpoint, is a good demographic to reach.
According to California Sunday Magazine's website, they are also offering more traditional subscriptions - an online/app only subscription, an online/app/print subscription and the very, very expensive subscription that also includes behind-the-scenes stuff. The site also indicates that they will be selling the magazine in "a handful of shops" and distributing copies to public schools and libraries.
Will it work? As the article points out, even in the better financial climate for magazines, attempts to launch similar magazines have fizzled. I don't really know enough anything about the West Coast media market, so I have no opinion. But so far, the folks behind California Sunday Magazine appear to be optimistic. They are talking about eventually increasing the physical magazine's publishing frequency to two times a month, then once a week. And the magazine's EIC certainly thinks the market is there.
McGray says it’s no accident that his company is targeting Californians’ nights and weekends. “These are the times when you can make a bid for people’s attention,” he says. He acknowledges that the name of the publication evokes a bygone era but says that’s intentional: “It’s surprising to me that an institution like this doesn’t exist already. We think it’s the right moment to build something that can be around for a long time.”
Guess, once again, we're just going to have to wait and see how it works out.
And over on the West Coast, a San Francisco three-times-a-year literary event spawned a lifestyle magazine that is being published online and, yes, in print.
It all started with the Pop-Up Magazine, a live event where authors, actors an musicians went up to tell stories. The event has been going on since 2009, and it proved to be very popular. And now, the people behind Pop-Up Magazine decided to put out an actual magazine - which, somewhat confusingly, is not called the Pop-Up Magazine. It's called the California Sunday Magazine.
What on Earth made them want to do that?
“It seemed odd to me that so many of us who gathered to put our stories in front of so many people were calling editors in New York when we wanted to get published,” says Douglas McGray, co-founder of Pop-Up Magazine and editor-in-chief of the California Sunday Magazine.
They are envisioning it as a California version of the New York and New Yorker magazine. In Chicago, I suppose the closest equivalent is the Tribune Publishing's Chicago magazine (with a dash of Tribune's Printers Row Journal).
While the California Sunday Magazine is already unveiling a robust web and mobile app presence, they are also releasing a monthly print issue. The first issue was released today.
What made them decide to put out print versions?
The print edition is less about countering conventional wisdom and more about enticing advertisers, says Chas Edwards, publisher and president of California Sunday. While print ads may be declining, “thousands of readers of print are still an order of magnitude more valuable to advertisers” than thousands online, Edwards says. His advertisers include Lexus, Google, Ace Hotel, and the University of California.
The magazine is taking a novel approach when it comes to distribution. Instead of trying to put their product on newsstands, they are being packaged as inserts inside some of California's biggest newspapers - San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee and Tribune's Los Angeles Times. Which is actually a pretty clever idea. As the article points out, inserting the magazine into newspapers is cheaper than distributing them the old-fashioned way. Plus, this way, the magazine can guarantee advertisers that their product would reach a certain number of customers. if they were trying to distribute it the old-fashioned way, the best they could offer was an optimistic guesstimate. And it works out well for the newspapers involved, since this is going to be another source of revenue.
Poking around their website, I discovered that the magazine isn't going to go into all copies of the three newspapers - just the ones that fall within certain zip codes. Zip codes where the subscribers are more likely to fall within a certain demographic.
On the first Sunday of each month, The California Sunday Magazine will reach a subset of subscribers to the LA Times, SF Chronicle, and the Sacramento Bee. They are the readers who live in and around the state’s metro centers, especially in neighborhoods populated by residents who over-index on basic demographic attributes (household income, education levels, and spending on domestic travel), as well as characteristics that suggest out-sized cultural influence. For example, they are 50% more likely to read Wired, Vanity Fair, the New Yorker, and the Sunday New York Times than average residents of the LA, SF and Sacramento DMAs. They’re roughly 75% more likely to own a MacBook Pro and drive a hybrid car. They’re almost 100% more likely to spend at least $3,000 per year traveling overseas. Professionally they are developers, designers, writers, entrepreneurs, do-gooders, artists, and media producers.
Which, from a purely advertising standpoint, is a good demographic to reach.
According to California Sunday Magazine's website, they are also offering more traditional subscriptions - an online/app only subscription, an online/app/print subscription and the very, very expensive subscription that also includes behind-the-scenes stuff. The site also indicates that they will be selling the magazine in "a handful of shops" and distributing copies to public schools and libraries.
Will it work? As the article points out, even in the better financial climate for magazines, attempts to launch similar magazines have fizzled. I don't really know enough anything about the West Coast media market, so I have no opinion. But so far, the folks behind California Sunday Magazine appear to be optimistic. They are talking about eventually increasing the physical magazine's publishing frequency to two times a month, then once a week. And the magazine's EIC certainly thinks the market is there.
McGray says it’s no accident that his company is targeting Californians’ nights and weekends. “These are the times when you can make a bid for people’s attention,” he says. He acknowledges that the name of the publication evokes a bygone era but says that’s intentional: “It’s surprising to me that an institution like this doesn’t exist already. We think it’s the right moment to build something that can be around for a long time.”
Guess, once again, we're just going to have to wait and see how it works out.