Question 3 What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The more I look back at the popular magazine distributors, the more I realised they are definitely not the companies I would use for my magazine. This is largely based on the strong belief system my magazine operates on. Large publishing companies such as Bauer Media would be inappropriate for publishing my magazines. Bauer publish magazines such as Kerrang; Kerrang is directed towards the same audience as my magazines but with a very different approach. Kerrang approaches their audience with a high attitude, both strong and sharp. My magazine targets the same aged audience but with an entirely different approach which is down to the Christian influence. Choosing a non Christian company to publish my Christian magazine would not fit in the mainstream bracket. In response to this I decided to research Christian publishers that would be in support of the strong Christian message that my magazine is founded on.

My audience is a very niche target; this means, in order for my magazine to sell it has to cover a very wide market region. So for my magazine to be published by a small secular organization it could be suicide, as it wouldn't be a big enough hit within the Christian audience to maintain the cost of designing, publishing and distributing. Considering the statistics I researched at the beginning said that only three in ten titles last more than four years.

The magazine must be strong in advertising, and sold in appropriate places. Considering the religious aspects of my magazine I wouldn't consider selling in supermarkets such as ASDA of TESCO or even book stores like WH Smiths in the UK. This is because Religion in England isn’t very openly received; however, this is an entirely different matter in America. America is very open to religion especially Christianity, you are more likely to find Christian literature in supermarket in America than in England. If I use an American publishing company, I will use more public stores to sell the magazines. In England the only stores you can really use to sell Christian literature, would be Christian bookstores.  The amount of Christian bookstores in the UK is rapidly declining, so this would be a dwindling outlet. I have found other Christian organization in the UK such as UCB and OpenDoors publish their own magazines and they receive interest in their products via online advertising and purchasing, I have also found that churches in the UK hold small selections of their magazines open for the public to have. These organisations are non-profit based, for my magazine I will be profit based. I could find churches that would be willing to sell my magazine, with this I could be largely based through online purchasing.  I could also create my magazine as an e-book this would save printing and delivery charges. 

I looked at a company called K-Love, they have their own Radio station and with this they advertise K-Love Cruises this is a form synergy as they have created this radio station to accompany the K-love cruises which is music Festival. This form of synergy is great for advertising the company, and is definitely something that I could try using along side of my magazine. With this I could also create albums with a collection of song from the artists featured in my magazines.

Summarising all of the research I have done in finding appropriate distributors for my magazine I decided to research Christian magazine distributors  I have now chosen an American distributor, for the purposes of reaching my niche audience over a larger region. With this in mind I have also noticed how religion especially Christianity is more openly received so advertising and selling wouldn't be quite so hard. The distributor I have chosen is called Nazarene Publishing House. This is a Pentecostal Organisation that was founded in 1912; they hold very similar belief systems as my charismatic belief based magazine. This means there shouldn’t be any conflict with the content of my magazine, we should all be in agreement. This company print more than 25 million pieces of literature each year for more than 11,000 churches from many denominations. They mainly publish books, music and materials.  I chose this International Company because I can reach such a wide region. Considering the amount of literature this company publish I think I would have a good chance with getting them to publish and distribute my magazine. I did look at other companies such as the Abingdon Press who also operate in America; however, they’re not quite so big and operate on a slightly different belief system.