Controlling Magazine Printing Costs

With Magazine Printing What Should I Do First

With magazine printing the first thing to do is qualify the requirements of your business. Who your reader is should dictate how much to expend on your magazine printing costs. If you are selling any high end product such as jewelry, antiques, or any item that would normally be sold to a customer with a lot of disposable income, you would do as Tiffany does: Utilize the best paper, print design, binding and any thing else that smacks of luxury. If you are selling thirty nine cent widgets and magazine printing costs are a factor, you would most usually opt for thinner paper, a lower grade paper, less expensive bindery and so on in order to contain your magazine printing costs.

With Magazine Printing, Why Is Page Count Important

Because when magazine printing, the page count you chose allows for more or less press efficiency, especially if your quantity demands you utilize web printing rather than sheet fed. With web printing your paper costs less than with sheet fed and it goes through the web press at a much more efficient and higher speed.

One of the most important things to consider when trying to control your magazine printing costs, especially if you are producing something that is highly dependent on add revenue, is how many or part thereof, press signatures are you using. If the web press you are running on will max out with a sixteen page signature (also called form) or a thirty two page signature, then the one way to control your magazine printing costs would be to utilize the full signature. When you break up a signature, especially in web printing, you are creating a less efficient run. This is because you may be running three sixteen page signatures plus a double eight page signature for 56 pages. If you ran four sixteen page signatures for 64 pages your magazine printing costs may be a bit more, but your unit page per issue is less. Thus if your unit cost per page is less you can sell your advertising on those pages for less.

Can Paper Control Magazine Costs

Paper can control magazine printing costs. There are several factors regarding papers used to be aware of. One is the weight of the paper and when you buy paper you are paying by the pound; Therefore the lighter the paper, the lighter the magazine printing costs are. On a quick note here, you always want to be sure you are not going too light with the cover or outer signature, as you can mix the weights, as you do not want to have the post office experience problems delivering your piece without tearing. Another way of controlling your magazine printing costs is by choosing different paper grades.