Finding a great advertising representative is difficult for many small magazines. Advertising agencies often don’t want to work with magazines that have relatively low circulation because their commissions won’t be significant enough to make the effort worth their while. You need to find someone who is friendly, quick-witted and who doesn’t quit. It doesn’t necessarily matter if this person is already a salesperson if he or she is equipped with the right personality. Send him or her to the Magazines Canada School for Advertising Sales—a program so good it can turn any misanthropic introvert into an expert sales rep—or you can always train them yourself.

Many magazines swap advertising space with one another. It’s a great way to gain exposure.

There is no standard price, but publishers do set their prices competitively. The cost of advertising is set based on CPM, which means ‘cost per thousand.’ Set a base rate that you’ll multiply by however many thousand readers you can claim legitimately. Make note that this number is not to reflect your readers per copy…if you charge your advertisers based on your number of readers per copy, you could be sued. Magazines all have different CPMs. You can calculate these easily by obtaining a copy of CARD (Canadian Advertising Rates and Data), at your local library, where you will find listings of magazines’ circulation and advertising rates.

Magazines that do not carry advertising will have to make up for this revenue stream another way, either through circulation (ie. subscription prices), fundraising (ie. parties and events), or potentially selling other goods. It isn’t easy to do because the expenses involved in the making and shipping of magazines are not incidental to the business but it can be done. However, you must ask yourself why you are not interested in carrying advertising—is it a design concern? Some sort of ethical stance? Or are you afraid of selling advertising? Then decide  whether this is really a necessary choice to make for your readers.