AN EXCITING NEW INITIATIVE

You’ve probably heard me talking about my idea for a new, fully illustrated, colour e-magazine. This would be released monthly or bi-monthly, and cover the fields of art, culture, travel, metaphysics, writing and so on. Its emphasis would be positivity, and it would aim to uplift its readers' spirits.

When I first mentioned the idea recently, it received a tremendous amount of support in the form of Likes and Comments in the Inner Circle Writers’ Group. Gauging from that wave of welcoming remarks and signs of approval, there would be a market amongst readers for such a thing, especially as my intention is to make it completely free to download. Of course, I’m talking about it in a writers’ group, and many would welcome the huge submission opportunities which such a publication would bring, given that it would also be about fiction and poetry. But writers are interested in more than just writing — that’s partly why I think this new initiative has a chance.

What’s my thinking behind this?

Well, it’s pretty clear that the world needs more positivity. But also, there’s a place for a publication which goes beyond the realms of writing, even though those realms are large indeed. The Inner Circle Writers’ Magazine covers the universe of writers and writing pretty well, offering as it does its own submission opportunities and plenty of advice about writing, along with articles about famous writers and showcases of famous authors’ works. This new magazine would venture out into associated worlds: there’s an immense amount to explore in terms of culture and philosophy and travel and so on. It would give a new venue for writers and others to express themselves in new ways, plus give readers a glimpse of things they had perhaps never seen or considered before. I’m thinking that it could delve into philosophy, psychology, spiritual matters, little-known areas of the world, visual arts, perhaps even music, and much more. There would be room for interviews, biographies, uplifting quotes, obscure facts, and travelogues from off-the-beaten-track places.

Who would read such a thing?

The fact that the e-magazine would be free to download means that it could go far and wide, way beyond the borders of writing groups and into the domains of artists of different kinds, intelligent people all around the world (yes, there still are plenty of them!), people who are looking to go travelling (or perhaps can’t and want to travel from their armchairs instead) and young and old — I want to include some items aimed at children, for example.

Such a magazine would take a mix of particular skills and a certain amount of time to put together. I have estimated the costs of production variously, but think that it would perhaps take about 50 hours to put together an issue, which would equate to at least £600.00 per month in costs.

How does a magazine which costs £600.00 a month but is downloaded for free pay for itself?

Advertising subscriptions.

So far I have had a handful of people express an interest in advertising their work in the magazine, at a cut-price rate of £180.00 a year for a recurring full-page ad (the ad would be in colour and could contain links). I would need at least 40 people to fully confirm and pay for a year’s worth of ads before I could launch the magazine, though — that would cover the £600.00 a month throughout the year.

But it’s hardly fair of me to expect people to commit that much money (even though the offer is an exceptionally good one) when they haven’t fully got a flavour yet of what this magazine will be like or how effective an ad might be for them.

Remember, it’s not the amount of people the magazine would reach that is key: it’s the appropriateness of that readership for whatever is being advertised. If you’re an author who specialises in graphic horror, this magazine’s intended readership probably wouldn’t be ideal for your work; perhaps if you write historical romances, you might find a more responsive set of readers here. It would be a case of working out whether or not the money spent on advertising for a year in an untried e-magazine would stand a chance of gaining you some kind of sales response.

For many of you, this would be a straight ‘No, it wouldn’t’, and that’s fair enough; some of you, though, might find that this expanded readership fits your work like a hand in a glove.

Still, though, you’re probably lacking confidence until you get more of a favour for this new magazine.

So I’m launching a new initiative.

Starting immediately, a new Facebook group has appeared for those interested in the topics that will be covered by this magazine. It’s called ‘The Beacon Fellowship’ — because the name of the new magazine will be ‘The Beacon’. You can hop over and join the group here. There’ll be posts covering the range of topics that the new magazine will be covering (if it gets launched) and you’ll be able to better judge whether or not this magazine will be the right place to advertise your work.

I’ll keep everyone here and in that new group updated as to the magazine’s progress (or lack of progress) and there’ll be plenty of things to discuss. Once I get a firm commitment from 40 people or more in terms of advertising subscriptions, the whole project will move into launch phase.

Interested?

Join The Beacon Fellowship here.

Questions? Drop me a line at grant@clarendonhousebooks.com