Making a programme/magazine - advice required

[Senior82]

I'm after some advice for anyone who has produced a programme/magazine before

Basically the rugby team I support no longer issues it's own match day programme, instead we HAVE to sell a general weekly programme, with two pages devoted to each of the league fixtures that particular weekend. As you can probably imagine, this isn't a roaring success, and the amount of info that a club can get into two pages is minimal at best.

Therefore i've had an idea to possibly produce either a supplementary programme, or maybe a monthly 'supporters club magazine' where the fans can get a lot more information. I'm quite sure it would be popular, however our fan base isn't the greatest, so i'd estimate a selling figure of around 100

I'd love to hear from anyone who has done this sort of thing before and any tips you have for making this possible and keeping costs down!!

[seand]

One option you can consider is having a decent looking full colour cover on glossy paper with cheaper paper inside. Perception is a lot of the battle, if it looks sexy on the outside people will overlook a cheaper inside. To really keep down costs you could possibly use the same cover for all matches. Get 1,000 to 2,000 covers printed up now and print the inside bits on a home/work printer as you go along.
Also, hit all your mates/regular customers for a subscription in advance. That'll give you a bit of cash to get going, a bit of momentum, and something to say to potential advertisers.

[ToffeeDan]

I don't know how much help this is but a few years ago I produced a small 16 page programme for the village fete with a history of the Friendly Society and the village etc etc. It's important to include plenty of useful info - the usual stuff about players, the league table, the visitors.. nothing you wouldn't find too difficult to collate.

Advertising is of course a vital source of income to cover costs so try and get some local business to put their name to something - keep it relatively cheap and you'll get some local business to cough up a few quid to cover costs.

Produce it on your computer and then get Staples to run off a couple of hundred for a discounted price - maybe it'll cost 10-15p for 8 pages (2 pieces of paper) x 100-200 - maybe a bit less - but do the maths and put a decent cover on it and you'll be fine..

Obviously when you use the Word programme you do pages 1-2-7-8 for the outside piece of paper and 3-4-5-6 for the inside ..

So, if you can include the club logo and add "official" or "unofficial" as appropriate.

If it costs you 200 x 10p - £20 this will be covered by sales (say 100 x 50p) and the advertising (say 1-2 pages worth £20) -- you can make £50 a match from the sales (although you need to organise a seller at the "turnstile" area(s) as well.

Finally if you number them people will want to collect the set.

[addicks]

I produce a programme for an Essex Olympian League team. We either photcopy the pages or print them, but I generally do this at work. We charge £100 a year for programme adverts and if you ask around the club I am sure you will get a few takers. Remind them advertising is tax deductable I produce our programme in Word and can send you a copy if you want. PM me with an email address if you want to see what we do.

[Senior82]

Many thanks for all the advice so far - this forum never ceases to amaze me

addicks - my email address is [email protected]

[Auchinleckian]

If you go onto Tony Kempster's non league football forum - google it - you'll find hundreds of bits of advice about programme editing. Just go onto the programme section and check back through the pages, there's an absolute wealth of info on there. Damn good site as well for all things non league with a number of this site's members on there as well.