BtoB Media Business - March 2008 - (Page 24)

Production PRODUCTION Co-mailing catches on Printers’ ability to handle polybagged and tabloid publications a boon for publishers PRESSING ISSUES Rising costs mean smaller folios Helen Duerr, production director of GIE Media, joined the company 20 years ago as a graphic designer. She oversees production for 15 titles, including Lawn & Landscape, Pest Control Technology and Today’s Medical Developments. MB: What are the big challenges for 2008? Duerr: Paper prices keep going up and postal as well. It’s a continuBIO ing problem. HELEN MB: Is that forc- DUERR, Production ing more titles into director, digital editions? GIE Media Duerr: Pretty much all of our titles had digital editions already, and that’s still a growing area for us. We regularly run ads in the magazines to get readers to go check out the digital editions. Some markets are doing better than others, of course, depending on which subscribers have the types of jobs where they would be at a computer a few times a day. What it’s actually doing is really making us have tighter and tighter folios. Usually it’s 50/50 or 60/40, but now we’re going to 65/35 or a little bit higher so we can get as much advertising in there in order to offset the rise in paper and distribution costs. MB: If paper and postal price increases continue at this rate, do you see titles going out of business? Duerr: It’ll depend on how strong an increase there is in paper prices this year. We already had a 6% one at the start of February and another will likely come this summer. And this is on top of the two increases we had last year, plus postal going up again in May. It’ll be harder and harder on some magazines definitely to keep up with that kind of pace and meet the margins that make it worth publishing. —Mark J. Miller W mailing pools. “This adds volume, but may hen postal rates rise, as they will add both time and freight costs that are less May 12, all classes of mailers seek than ideal for the smaller printer,” she said. Smith noted that third-party co-mailers are out more inexpensive ways to send their mail. Publishers have been hit hard- emerging that hope to fill any void left by est by postage hikes in recent years—a fact printers that don’t provide polybagged or that, combined with rising paper prices, is tabloid co-mailing. If a third-party co-mailing squeezing some publications’ margins so tight- facility is in a location that would reduce travel, it could be very appealing to smaller printly as to make print no longer viable. Co-mailing, in which a printer ships titles ers, she said. “Naturally, this solution would from different publishers on the same pallet to reduce the volume of the existing facilities, the same area to save costs, has been seen as a and there is no predicting exactly what would godsend for many publishers. The process is happen,” she added. One production exfinally opening up more ecutive, who asked not as printers add co-mailto be identified, specuing machines that allow lated that using a thirdfor polybagged and party facility would tabloid-size titles to be add too much in time co-mailed. and freight costs to “Approximately make it an effective al50% of our titles fall ternative, no matter into the [tabloid and Keith Hammerbeck, director of manufacturing what the co-mailing polybagged] category. services, Advanstar Communications savings were. This is a big deal for Steve Grande, VP-sales at printer Fry Comus,” said Keith Hammerbeck, director of manufacturing services at Advanstar Communica- munications, which is about to start co-mailtions, whose printing is handled by R.R. Don- ing polybagged titles but doesn’t yet co-mail tabloids, said he is not alarmed by the potennelley & Sons. “Now, if you are with the right supplier, al- tial growth of third-party co-mailers. “This is a huge market,” Grande said, notmost everything should qualify [for co-mailing],” he added, which should lead to more ing that Fry started co-mailing six years ago and spent the first two years struggling to get savings. Dedra Smith, president of magazine pro- publishers to come aboard. “That’s not a duction consultancy Printmark West, said problem anymore,” he said, noting that Fry smaller publishers benefit the most from any currently co-mails “millions of pieces” weekly, and that the number is growing. improvements in co-mailing. As for the future of co-mailing, Ned Kulka, “For many publishers the savings are worth [the challenges of getting into a co-mail- marketing director of printer Publishers Press, ing pool],” she said. And those savings grow said that eventually co-mailing will likely be a as the pool grows, so it pays to have all the part of standard-class mail rather than limited publishers on the same page and mailing si- to periodical-class mailings. This, of course, would open up the market exponentially and multaneously. “If a title misses a pool, it can reduce the give co-mailers still larger savings. Smith said the U.S. Postal Service has a savings for everyone, which means that the savings vary with each run,” Smith said. long-range plan for flat sequencing, which “This creates a lot of budget variance that is would automate the process of sequencing nearly all flat mail in order by delivery point. hard to predict.” One recent change, Smith said, is that some That process would greatly increase the possibigger printers are now allowing smaller bilities and savings of co-mailing, but it still printers that compete with them to join their appears years away. BY MARK J. MILLER “Approximately 50% of our titles fall into the[tabloid and polybagged] category. This is a big deal for us.” 24 | Media Business | March 2008 | mediabusinessonline.com http://mediabusinessonline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of BtoB Media Business - March 2008

BtoB Media Business - March 2008
Contents
Is Reed's Move a Game Changer?
Upfront: ABM honors McCracken, Thompson and Verdon
Cover Story: Business Data Sales Provide Steady Revenue
Audience Development
Special Report: Circulation Executives gain a Higher Profile
Sales & Marketing
M&A
Online
Video Goes Mainstream
Events
Production
People
Benchmarks
Publisher Rankings
Endnote: Information Helps Build Client Relationships

BtoB Media Business - March 2008