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RE: [GWL]: Organic-Style/OG-Why?

As a British gardening writer gaining an increasing awareness and 
understanding of American gardening magazines, the fact that OG could 
not make a reasonable profit for Rodale on a regular sale of, say, 
half a million copies an issue seems extraordinary. The top selling, 
and most profitable of the British gardening magazines, BBC Gardeners 
World, sells just over 370,000 copies an issue (according to the 
latest figures, which I'm posting separately). It sells on the 
newstand for £2.60 a copy (about $3.75 at current rates) while the 
subscription rate is £26 (about $37.50) for 12 monthly issues (about 
$3.10 each).

Now I appreciate that subscriptions on magazines in the US are 
substantially discounted, that staffing is more generous and that 
freelance writers are paid more than in Britain - other costs may be 
higher too. But even so, not to be able to publish a viable magazine 
on a 500,000 circulation seems surprising. Is it that ad rates are 
very low? Are the publishers unnecessarily profligate? The 
independent British magazine The Kitchen Garden, selling at £2.70 
(about $3.90) per monthly issue, makes an albeit rather modest profit 
on a circulation of, I would guess (their figures are not audited), 
about 25,000.

I'd be interested in any thoughts.

Graham Rice

>OG never had more than 650,000 true organic gardening subscribers.  When
>their numbers jumped to over a million it was from being part of publisher's
>clearing house.  Almost all those stayed on for just a year and split.  I
>don't know what their totals were in the past few years, but I'm sure they
>were lower than 650,000.
>They should be sending a review copy of OG to all garden writers.
>
>Jeff
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Carol Deppe [c*@yahoo.com]
>Sent: Friday, September 07, 2001 11:48 AM
>To: Gardenwriters@topica.com
>Subject: [GWL]: Organic-Style/OG-Why?
>
>Does anyone know why Rodale dumped Organic Gardening?  Was it losing
>money?
>
>I can see why Rodale added Organic Style, a woman's lifestyle magazine,
>to their repertoire.  It's an obvious direction for Rodale, and there
>are probably lots more people who care vaguely about organic/green
>issues than organic gardeners.  Whether they feel they need to buy a
>magazine in order to care vaguely about organic/green issues, of course,
>remains to be seen.
>
>Meanwhile, there were nearly a million of us gardeners who WERE willing
>to buy Organic Gardening.  Some of us had been doing so for decades.
>
>Was Organic Gardening losing money?  I realize that they had lost
>subscribers from their high of more than a million a few years ago.
>However, Organic Gardening was published for decades before that high of
>more than a million.  Does anybody know the story here?
>
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