Magazine facts for kids
A magazine is a type of book people read. Magazines are not like regular books. This is because a new version of the magazine is printed many times each year. Magazines are a type of periodical. They are called periodicals because new versions of them keep being printed. Magazines are printed on paper. People usually need to subscribe to them. An example of a magazine is Time. There are magazines printed about many things. Magazines are similar to newspapers, but usually new versions take longer to make, they cost more money, and they are in color on every page. Also, sometimes magazines come with little gifts to reward the readers who buy it.
Contents
Distribution
Magazines can be distributed through the mail, through sales by newsstands, bookstores, or other vendors, or through free distribution at selected pick-up locations. The subscription business models for distribution fall into three main categories.
Paid circulation
In this model, the magazine is sold to readers for a price, either on a per-issue basis or by subscription, where an annual fee or monthly price is paid and issues are sent by post to readers. Paid circulation allows for defined readership statistics.
Non-paid circulation
This means that there is no cover price and issues are given away, for example in street dispensers, airline, or included with other products or publications. Because this model involves giving issues away to unspecific populations, the statistics only entail the number of issues distributed, and not who reads them.
Controlled circulation
This is the model used by many trade magazines (industry-based periodicals) distributed only to qualifying readers, often for free and determined by some form of survey. Because of costs (e.g., printing and postage) associated with the medium of print, publishers may not distribute free copies to everyone who requests one (unqualified leads); instead, they operate under controlled circulation, deciding who may receive free subscriptions based on each person's qualification as a member of the trade (and likelihood of buying, for example, likelihood of having corporate purchasing authority, as determined from job title). This allows a high level of certainty that advertisements will be received by the advertiser's target audience, and it avoids wasted printing and distribution expenses. This latter model was widely used before the rise of the World Wide Web and is still employed by some titles. For example, in the United Kingdom, a number of computer-industry magazines use this model, including Computer Weekly and Computing, and in finance, Waters Magazine. For the global media industry, an example would be VideoAge International.
Images for kids
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Front cover of 1 October 1892 issue of The Illustrated London News
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La Gazette, 26 December 1786
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Harper's Monthly, a literary and political force in the late 19th century
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The Olympic Number of Life, 10 Jul 1924. Issues of general interest magazines focused on a specific subject were referred to as "numbers" and featured cover art relevant to the given topic, in this case the 1924 Summer Olympics.
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1928 issue of Popular Aviation, which became the largest aviation magazine with a circulation of 100,000.
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Egyptian movie star Salah Zulfikar on the cover of Al-Kawakeb magazine, March 1961
See also
In Spanish: Revista para niños
