Tasmin Semple

RESEARCH ON PUBLISHING

OPTIONS

The International Publishing Corporation (IPC) Media and EMAP are multi-national conglomerates who provide a full range of media via the internet, magazines,

newspapers, books and journals and newspapers by means of the varied brands and business companies they own. This power elitism exhibits the Marxist structure, which states that ‘power resides with the few who have ownership and control of the means of distribution and production’ hence the elite few can cater for a wide audience, as such conglomerates benefit from the luxury of being both vertically and horizontally

integrated.

IPC was founded in 1950’s, with the collaboration of the George Newnes, OdhamsPress and Fleetway publications which at the time, were the UK’s top 3 leading

magazine publishers. Currently IPC is a powerful international publishing corporation with strong media based links and ownerships.

IPC publish a wide variety of magazines such as the music magazine NME, the Real Life Weekly for women now rebranded as Pick Me Up, the UK’s first glossy high street

fashion and celebrity style weekly magazine Look, the world’s first men’s weekly magazine Nuts, Horse and Hound, Homes and Gardens, Teen Now and TV Times.

· Including newspapers such as The Sun and The Daily Mirror, as well as diverse magazine genres such as (Fashion and Beauty, Country Pursuit and Equestrian, Home Interest, Lifestyle, Sports and

Leisure, Teen, TV Entertainment, Young Men and Music and Women’s Weeklies.

MAJOR PUBLISHERS

EMAP publishing limited was founded in 1947 and publishes 20 magazines within the professional communities and has owned radio and television stations:

· EMAP publish professional journals such as - Architects Journal, Architectural Review, Broadcast, Construction News, Drapers, Health Service Journal, Local Government Chronicle, Materials Recycling Week, Nursing Times, Retail Week,

Recycling & Waste Management, Screen International. All journals targeted for the demographics of the skilled professional worker around 18-65 years as the content

is aimed at the mature student/professional.

· These can be categorised into the following genres: Retail, Health, Government and Environment, Construction and Engineering and Architecture

MAJOR PUBLISHERS

The benefits of a major publishing corporation such as IPC and EMAP are many, due both the conglomerates having the luxury of vertical integration.

Both companies have major control of publishing and distribution companies within the UK and internationally, and have the revenue to create high class,

glossy magazines. As EMAPS revenue alone was £1.154 Billion GBP in 2006, putting themselves in a position to afford the promotional incentives, efficient distribution release, and advertisements required to reach their target audience. Both ICP and EMAP can also attribute their success to horizontal integration, which allows the publishers to use the Multi-platform Approach as the parent

company ICP owns companies in a range of media forms such as radio, newspaper and magazine. This synergy can be used to target their audience,

due to audience fragmentation as there are greater ways to promote their product such as a social network page which could promote their magazine,

whilst also promoting the social media site.

MAJOR PUBLISHERS

Independent and Boutique publishers are at a disadvantage against major publishers as they do not have the same power and control of the conglomerate, hence the Independent and Boutique publisher would highly unlikely have access

to vertical and horizontal integration and have little say in their magazines production and distribution. But as a plus, they can provide a magazine/journal

for the niche market, and produce such a media of high quality as all the Independent/Boutique publishers efforts are channeled into only one product.

The publishers are most likely to receive little revenue from their sales as the niche market would ne s small concentrated market when compared to the huge

conglomerate publishers market.

· Boutique is an Independent Publication which publishes magazines on Women’s wear Retailers, the magazine can be read manually or as an E-zine. As an e-zine the audience can subscribe to the magazine online through a paid subscription

where it is sent to the persons e-mail address.

INDEPENDENT PUBLISHERS

Fanzines tend to be for an extremely niche market hence tend to be short lived as the genres develop and change, as the years go on.

E-zines are online magazines that are usually in PDF form with the audience subscribing for the monthly magazine which is emailed to them. E-zines are becoming increasingly popular in the

modern market, as the business model of the internet has changed and products can be designed and given to consumers free of charge; with their main source of revenue provided by

advertisements. This can be a successful publishing option such as with the success of the Metronewspaper, which itself successfully follows this model as it is a free newspaper, designed to be

read in 40 mins which is the average journey time for a London Commuter. The articles can even reach to other cities and become a phenomenal global success if enough interest is generated, and

can reach a massive audience via a slow burn release pattern and viral advertising.

A slow burn release relies on the word of mouth and viral advertisement as the magazine will grow due to people telling friends and relatives that it is a good read, and it may lead on to social media sites thus, growing in demand and becoming a success in the magazine publishing industry.

E-ZINES AND FANZINES

If I had the money and was horizontally and vertically integrated I would definitely use a major publisher much like IPC as they cater for my audience more than the other major publisher I have researched however, as I do not have the money and power therefore I would rather create an E-zine which would

hopefully become a success

DISTRIBUTION PLAN