A bit of behind the scenes business news you may have missed is the current battle between a couple of major magazine distributors and magazine publishers. Anderson News and Source Interlink distribute something like 50% of the magazines to the newsstands like Wal-Mart and Barnes and Noble for single copy sales. The distributors wanted to raise their delivery price 7 cents per copy and some major publishers refused. A battle has been going on the last few weeks between the parties involved and deliveries have been upset. Source Interlink was even reported as closing down then reports were they would continue but with fewer magazines, it looks like quite a mess.
So what, you ask? Source Interlink purchased the Primedia magazines division that publishes Motorcyclist, Hot Bike, Sport Rider, Motorcycle Cruiser, Dirt Rider, ATV Rider, Super Streetbike and a long list of other enthusiast magazines. How this will affect deliveries long term, whether Source will remain in business or what effect it will have on the magazines, if any, remains to be seen. I’m hoping they get this worked out smoothly and quickly for the benefit of everyone involved, magazine employees and readers alike.
Of course, none of you have to worry, The Kneeslider is delivered hot and fresh direct to your computer, no distributors involved! The print world, on the other hand, is scrambling.
Link: Folio
NakedMadman says
As long as there’s a need, someone’s going to fill it. Should this go so far as to actually affect the availability of magazines on the rack, it’ll only be one month. No way will that kind of money be held in limbo for longer.