In 2015 and 2016 we ran a newspaper column reviewing indie and small press books (click here for details) . It was very popular with authors and readers. One author drove 100 hundred miles to get a copy of the paper, and another asked us to mail her one – and one for her mother. In a climate where journalists are being asked to pay to put their stories in the paper, being popular isn’t enough because you have to bring in money. We were inevitably bumped to make space for advertising.
We’ve contacted a few papers since, only to discover that some are now charging a word count for columnists, and the rest are not looking for columns despite requesting free content.
What we also discovered when we looked at relaunching the newspaper column was that it would actually cost the same to do the column on those terms as it would cost us to launch our own book reviews magazine…and we were plotting over tea and crumpets so you know it is serious.
A newspaper would reach more subscribers initially, but a magazine could reach a wider geographic area via Amazon and subscriptions. a newspaper won’t pay for itself, a magazine might. However a magazine is a lot more work, as we have to handle print distribution, gathering adverts, etc. and not just content and layout. There would be a print and e-book edition because, hey, this is bookangel, there will always be ebooks.
We have enough content for a twelve month trial of a magazine, but outside opinions would be useful first.
We’d like your input. There is a surveymonkey form here, which will run until it has 100 entries (which should be plenty). Please give your views here:
Thanks for your input – and if you know a newspaper looking for a reviews column, please point them towards us!
Discussion
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