A number of publishers have asked about the possibility of MagCloud offering subscription services.
While we don’t offer traditional subscriptions today, we do have many publishers using the “Ship to Group” feature which gives them complete control of their mailing list but leverages MagCloud for print management and global distribution.
These publishers offer subscriptions from their own website, place a bulk order on the MagCloud website and then use “Ship to Group” to manage the printing and distribution of their magazine to their subscribers.
Taking advantage of “Ship to Group” is very easy:
1. Create an address group in your MagCloud address book (Account>Address book>Add New Group). Name your group and select group members from existing recipients in your address book.
2. Once your recipients and group are ready, add the magazine(s) to your cart. Set the quantity to the number intended for each recipient, not the total for all recipients. For example, if you are sending 1 copy to 20 recipients you should set the quantity to 1.
3. When you get to the shipping page, click “Select from Address Book »”, choose your address group and complete checkout. That’s it! Costs will be displayed for the total order including all recipients.
If you have a large subscription list send us an email and we can upload the group list for you.
The publisher pays for group orders but they qualify for our bulk discount of 25% off the printing price when the order includes 20 or more copies of the same issue. Assuming you have 20 or more subscribers, this allows you to make more profit or offer your magazine at a lower price.
One other advantage that publishers find is that this model allows them to maintain a direct list of their subscribers’ contact information so they can directly contact them if desired and court potential advertisers since you have an accurate count of subscribers.
Most publishers who use “Ship to Group” also have a simple website to advertise their magazine and take subscriptions. They often put their website URL in their MagCloud magazine and issue descriptions so that if someone finds the magazine on MagCloud they can be pointed back to the subscription offering.
Publishers can also use the MagCloud “Follow” feature to let customers who follow them know whenever they have new issues available.
For publishers not able or interested in managing their own subscription orders and payment we would be interested in hearing what type of subscription service would be of the highest value to your magazine. As you know there are lots of different subscription models, and when you factor in print and digital options it gets even more complex. As MagCloud is a self-service content publishing platform, we have to look at base options that meet the broadest range of publisher needs.
We look forward to your feedback on what your top choice for a subscription offering would be.
Publisher's Corner 