Magazine publisher Dan Johnson-Weinberger writes in:
I publish a magazine on how to improve and expand public transportation. It's called More Riders. And I rely on Highrise and Basecamp.
Highrise works very well to track and maintain all subscriber data. I looked at other magazine subscription and fulfillment software providers. They were both far more expensive than Highrise and seemed very bulky. We only have 50 subscribers (so far), and most of the other providers had user minimums in the low thousands. I can track what type of payment came in, their last paid issue and document when I shipped each issue to them.
I use lulu.com for printing and shipping. Each lulu order number gets logged in each subscriber's notes so I can easily and immediately track down any subscriber problems with receiving their magazine.
For producing the magazine, I use Basecamp. My Art Director is in Los Angeles, my two copy editors are also in Chicago (in their own home offices) and one of my main contributors is in Arcata, California. We develop each issue, share copy and post draft and finished layouts on Basecamp. I'm not sure how else we would be able to manage producing the magazine without it.
Finally, the magazine is an opportunity to earn trust and expertise with transit agency leaders and other advocates who want to expand public transportation, so all of my consulting and project proposal work is integrated into Highrise as I solicit work and try to convince subscribers to invest in more products and services that I and my team can provide.
The latest issue of More Riders went to print this week and we're on this week's best seller list on lulu (not quite as high as Getting Real!).
Thanks for writing Dan!
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