where to advertise - what do you read?

[FluffyMuppet]

Has electronic delivery been considered? Personally I like reading paper magazines but they do take up a lot of space if you want to keep them and it's rather a waste of paper if you don't, so I'm coming around to the idea of having electronic subscriptions.

An initial problem would be an authentication system for people who've paid, but you could always bypass that by creaitng PDFs and emailing them to people who are current subscribers.... Then people could print bits out or archive the files or whatever.

Just a thought

[Andy Hamilton]

GOod ideas all around as ever, and cheers for the offers of help will probally end up taking you up on some.

It looks as if we will be called sprout. That our working title for now anyway.

As for format I understand all the concerns about waste, but we plan for it to be a subscription only puplication full of seasonal stuff and on very high quality recycled paper. What this basically means is that it will be the publication that you would want to keep and refer back to.

We have had a brief chat with the soil assoc about the fair in Bristol and hopefully will be able to get involved.

As for on-line pdf files we kind of plan to run an 8 page 'taster' to basically test the water and see how many people will sign up. We may keep an on-line edition but the idea really is for something more soild that you can keep and refer to on your allotment or whatever.

[Chickenlady]

Sprout! Like it! I still think you should give it a Self-sufficientish connection though - maybe in a subheading?

[Andy Hamilton]

Sprout! Like it! I still think you should give it a Self-sufficientish connection though - maybe in a subheading?

Or the tag line as it is called, yep thats the idea.

[Jessica]

Hi i subscribe to country smallholding magazine which is great there is everything in it from sowing veg to fruit, bee, hens, sheep etc keeping , cooking your produce. and practical poultry magazine. All uk mags they don't have any good mags in this country apart from bird watch ireland.
Don't buy news papers really maybe buy and sell.

jessie

[diver]

sprout is a great title
ps wher do you get that smallholding mag please?...is it uk?

[Shirley]

Diver -

Country Smallholding is UK based yes - www.countrysmallholding.com

There is a forum - but it's nowhere near as good as this one!!

[Wombat]

Not too sure initally, but the more I think about it the more I like it!

Nev

[gunners71uk]

i subscribe to amateur gardening,what about contacting councils and parish councils who send out bills for allotments, a liitle flyer with email and web adds on, hey andy if you send me about 20 flyers i pass round ome allotment.librarys too get some t shirts or baseball hats printed or badges t shirts not big enough im 6ft 4 56 ins chest lol.i like to see a gardeners diary in the publication what veg you can plant now etc jobs to do etc.what about big seed companys get flyers in there etc.watch out for people like the celebrity gardeners get stuff to them get a feature ob the box or other websites.what about a cottage industry ie organic food etc advertising in it etc just some ideas andy.

[Jessica]

Hi if you are looking for printed t shirts or tote bags let me know as i do all that kind of thing its a hobby of mine, i have heat press but not the baseball hat press, i can do photo images or just text o yes and a huge box of large white t shirts don't have to many tote bage left i think i have giving everybody i know a few, i would do them at cost, just an idea.

jessie

[flowercarole]

I work in a design studio and see how much these publications can cost. Even if you used recycled paper to publish the mag on it would cost a great deal as the paper has to go through so many processes beforehand and it just adds on more expense.

I definately agree with some of the other members comments about 'spreading the word first', ie send a bulk email to all members of this site first, as this could introduce the mag and maybe once the mag is designed, save it as a PDF file and email it as an attachment, that way it saves on paper, costs and also for those who want to pass on the information about the site to others they can either forward the PDF or print it out and send to whoever. Then I would follow it up a week or so later with a questionaire about how people found the mag, was it useful, did they pass it on etc. That way it's like a type of market research to give you ideas for future issues etc, but most of all it's free.

[Steve M]

You could try advertising in magazines thatthe readers of may have similar interest but don't specifically relate to Self sufficeny etc. Things like the ecoclogist, environemtnalist, green futures and maybe more mainstream ones like Gardening mags and ideal home type things.