Liverpool’s Lifestyle Monthly magazine is celebrating its first birthday as it sees advertising revenues increase and looks to expand.
As its twelfth issue hits the stands, How-Do caught up with editor Amanda Moss, to find out how the last year has been.
A year older
“The ironic thing is that since February my advertising has increased month on month. Last year was difficult for me, being an independent unknown in the city, businesses were wary of advertising with me, especially when magazines were cropping up and folding. Now that I have been established for a year, I have a proven track record, so the advertising is increasing,” she explained.
“I stand my ground though, to keep up the respectability of the magazine. While I have come down in prices I am not going to sell pages for next to nothing, the magazine has a 2 week shelf life, I have high printing and distribution costs and am not going to flog a page for, say, £200 which is what some other magazines have done... That has been their downfall I think.”
The 37-year-old journalist wrote for the tabloids and women’s weeklies before getting a job producing trailers for ITV.
Moving to Liverpool to work on Hollyoaks and Brookside in post production, she was made redundant in 2006:
“With 4 children, I didn't think I would find a job in the media that would suit the hours I could work. I looked into buying a magazine franchise but didn't like the restrictions they imposed and didn't like the magazines that were available freely and I thought I could do it better - not just slap a load of adverts in and some wispy editorial around it.”
The publication typically features a celebrity interview in each issue, along with fashion, local news and events.
Lifestlye Monthly
Moss says the circulation has risen from an initial 5000 copies to 21000. 8000 go to Liverpool supermarkets, 5000 door-to-door and a further 8000 go to North Wirral supermarkets.
“I am looking at increasing it by a further 3000 copies to go door-to-door to the apartment blocks along the Albert Dock within the next 3 months. It is also published online every month and I get a lot of national and international interest through Facebook,” she added.
The issues are free, with subscriptions available “to cover the postage and envelope.”
At the moment 4 staff work alongside Moss on the publication - 2 freelance sales people, a part time deputy editor and designer.
But with expansion plans (and a fifth child on the way), she’s looking at more options:
“I would like to increase the number of pages but this can only be done through more advertising revenue. I would also like to set up a separate Southport edition, we do cover that area already but they would benefit by having their own edition.
“Long term plans are to franchise out the magazine nationally, whereby I provide editorial and advertising support and take a percentage of their advertising revenue. I actually fancy launching a magazine abroad, either in Cyprus or Dubai so I have an excuse to go out there all the time.”
As the news is filled with closures, redundancies and profit-warnings, How-Do was keen to find out why Moss believed her magazine was doing well.
“I think my success is down to 2 things - 1) a quality product with actually something to read that's not overloaded with adverts and 2) my commitment to helping other businesses. I don't just take advertising money from companies and slap a crap advert in the magazine, I take the time to design it and tailor it to their market. I have refused to print ads in the past saying to my customers that they won't work and they need to rewrite/style it, and I think that attention to details makes them have faith in the magazine.”
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