Pricing Newsletters?

[StormySar]

I am considering a monthly newsletter, available in e-mail form (pdf) where people can print it out if they choose, and mailing. I'm imagning the newsletter to average about 20-40 pages each issue at least to start. I'm not sure if I'll accept advertising, but if I were to do it I would probably keep it all in the back. The newsletter would not be local, but it would be aimed at the country (however oversees customers could subscribe to the electronic version)

how does one begin to figure out yearly pricing for e- and print versions? Would paypal be a suitable means for subscription payments, or should I keep track of each subscription and bill each customer as their subscription starts to end?

[mamadaan]

Factors

Hi,

I think that the price you could charge depends on how specialist the information is and how valuable the information would be to the subscribers. The price of the print version would also depend on whether you use color or not, how thick the paper is and, most importantly, how many copies you would produce. I have recently looked into something similar and printing was relatively expensive until you could distribute 1000-2000 copies. You also need to factor payment for writers/proofreaders/dtp, postage, a website and advertising costs into your budget. Some people think that it is also important to factor in reductions in the subscribtion rate to entice people to take out a subscription and to entice them to stay after the first year.

I know that the magazine "Mother Verse" is relatively small and has both print and electronic versions. Someone I know very vaugly has a newletter that he charges about $12 an issue for, but it is something very specialist about financial markets.

You were wondering about whether to accept advertisements. A lot of people think that it is negative to accept them, but it can be positive. If you clearly state that the advertisers are advertisers and that you (or your co-workers) decide what the content is and do not accept articles or interference from advertisers, then it can be positive. If you have really targeted advertisers offering good quality products or services which are really linked to the content, people may buy your newsletter for the advertisements. Advertisements can also be a way of livening up your newsletter and breaking up longer articles.

If you think that your customers use paypal, then this would be a good way of accepting payment, but you will also need to keep track of the subscriptions yourself.

These are just my thoughts, maybe they will not apply in your field. Good luck with your plans.