International subscriptions

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Permalink Reply by Kerry Smith on November 27, 2008 at 8:57am

This has always been a huge headache. From a customer service standpoint, you're constantly dealing with delivery problems and fulfilling print subscriptions outside the U.S. is tremendously time consuming. We made the decision a couple of years ago to stop serving subscribers outside the U.S. for these reasons -- plus, most of our advertisers don't sell their products/services outside the U.S.

That said, depending on your niche, international subscribers are a potential lucrative source of revenue -- via high subscription rates, product sales (like directories, books, special reports, etc.), event attendance, etc. So, the challenge is how to connect with them without the hassles mentioned above.

It seems to me that digital editions (Nxtbook, Zinio, Texterity, etc.) could be a good solution because you eliminate printing and delivery costs and time. We haven't yet gone down this road yet but we've been considering it for some time. We're fairly confident that at least for a few of our magazines, the international revenue potential could be substantial.

As for currency, it's been my experience that people outside the U.S. -- especially if your subscribers are businesspeople -- have no problem paying in U.S. currency. They probably do it quite often for other business related purchases. And as for pricing, I would charge a premium price - I've seen magazines charging $49/year to U.S. subscribers; charging 3x that amount outside the U.S.

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