Budget Considerations for Publications
a business proposal
In an ideal world, someone will conceive a publishing project,
envision the scope and image of the publication, discern the
readership, infer the probable markets, focus its contents from a
plethora of contributions, and select from a multitude of
prosperous sponsors. Because production is good and the idea is
popular, the publication will be successful!
In reality, too many good ideas are stillborn from inadequate
funding, mismanagement, misapprehension, misapplication,
misappropriation, and simple bad luck. Some poor ideas, with fair
execution and sufficient funding, will actually thrive. Most
people give their good ideas and energy to marginal entities
because they lack the resources to be independent.
There are essentially two ways that new publications are created
by persons without the fortunes to purchase success. One either
encounters an exceptional opportunity or one creates same. For a
person working diligently on their singular path, the inducement
to change must be remarkable ... such as a partnership offer or
unexpected wealth. These people will mortgage their futures and
multiply their labors to exploit the opportunity they did not
envision. Depending on one's measure of success, most will be
quietly productive, and more content than they were before
working for themselves.
The stereotypic specimen is the visionary, who will self-destruct
in the process of implementing the one great idea of their lives.
This jeopardy endangers all their resources, and often concludes
miserably, since idealists are both impractical and
uncompromising.
The best solution is to arrange financing and production
immediately after conception. Once the idea has some tangible
prospect, it can then be creatively designed and later developed.
Most long term publications have evolved, so as long as the
objective is sustained, the quality can be enhanced and diversity
can be augmented.
Financing may be a correlative of the publisher's business
structure, so it's important to discover the money before
deciding which will be the most appropriate organization. If the
business structure is permitted to have precedence over financing
then some funding options may be compromised or eliminated. The
normal source of financing for proprietorships and partnerships
is either personal liquidity, such as inheritance or collateral,
or venture capital, such as sponsors or investors. The corporate
structure, once vaunted as a hedge against personal bankruptcy,
has been pierced by so many recent court decisions that no one
benefits from this structure without some better intent than the
protection of one's private resources. A not-for-profit
organizational format is only useful if the publication fills a
specific societal or charitable niche that will regularly garner
grants or contributions sufficient to meet operating expenses for
an indefinite period. To setup a non-profit corporation simply to
qualify for a "start-up" endowment is short-sighted, and may
prove ultimately disastrous when further philanthropic monies are
insufficient to sustain the publishing goal.
Two interesting exceptions are worth noting. If one desires to
exploit the opportunity of start-up capital from a foundation
without becoming a non-profit corporation, it is possible to
"borrow" the not-for-profit status of a sympathetic organization
for the necessary period of initialization. For example, a
periodical focused on the literature generated by wartime
experiences could negotiate a contractual alliance with a
registered veteran's organization through which the launch
stipend would be administered. Another option for a creative
structure is to setup the publication as a 501c4 non-profit
corporation (which is entitled to lobby and advocate), and accept
topic specific advertising to support the publication. This would
enable the periodical to appeal to both commercial and charitable
sources of income.
There are three basic ways to fund a publication: grants,
sponsorship, or advertising. Having worked as a grant writer, I
am aware that the plethora of ostensible resources bestowing
"free" money upon deserving programs is, more often than not, a
phantasm ... there are too many good projects chasing after too
little money. To compound this crisis, the grants are usually
inadequate and must be resubmitted at regular intervals, with no
guarantee of approval. For example, Small Press Distribution,
which is the largest and longest lived distributor for little
magazines and small presses, has had to reorganize twice due to
lost funding from formerly reliable sources; which has caused
them to become about two-thirds commercial and less tolerant of
backlisted materials. It is a rude awakening for the many artists
in the literary realm that publishing is a ruthless business,
just like the heartless industries selling widgets.
The other two financing methods retain some potential for
artistic endeavors. Whether the sponsor is an investor or a
philanthropist, the publication can arrange some longer term
relationship that specifies the expectations of both parties
committed to the contract. If the publication fulfills the
sponsor's expectations, for specificity or quality or any other
factor, the publication can persist indefinitely. If one desires
autonomy, then the publishing house will need to be subdivided
into effective segments for advertising and for content. In a
small press, this may require that ad sales are developed and
produced by one person while another person selects and sequences
the submissions. Too many artistic publishers ignore the
requirement for sales, in both income and distribution, while
focusing on the creative display; but a grant writer will work as
hard as an ad salesman, and probably with less success. The only
situation which allows total artistic freedom is sponsorship,
including owner-publisher presses, and they are uncommon.
As with many things, compromise will be a factor in any decision
to publish, but establishing the "bottom-line" before
constructing the 'top-line' will increase the publication's
potential for success.
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