Every magazine had to answer the same question: how would a copy reach a reader? The answer shaped who could buy it, how many were printed and what happened to the copies nobody bought. Britain, the United States and the socialist countries answered it in different ways, and the small print of the magazines records how.
Britain: the newsagent’s shelf
British computer magazines were sold above all at newsagents. When Computer & Video Games launched in November 1981, its house advertisement promised the first issue “out today at all good newsagents”. Between the publisher and the shop stood a wholesale distributor, and the masthead usually named it. C&VG’s small print read “Published and distributed by EMAP National Publications Ltd”. The first CRASH, in February 1984, was distributed by Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. of Faygate, near Horsham. ZZAP!64, in May 1985, announced “distribution throughout the known universe by COMAG” of West Drayton, Middlesex. The One, in October 1988, listed separate telephone numbers for subscription queries and for “newstrade queries”, the two routes by which copies left the building.
Shelf space mattered, and so did proof of sales. Larger magazines printed their circulation audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulations on the masthead, for advertisers as much as readers. Amiga Format reported an audited average of 161,256 copies a month in the first half of 1992, while its sister title Amiga Shopper sold 48,799.
From the mid-1980s many British magazines also fought for attention on the shelf with a cassette, and later a disk, stuck to the cover. The cover tapes entry tells that story.
The United States: the game shop as newsstand
American magazines reached readers through newsstands, subscriptions and the shops that sold the games themselves. In 1982 Electronic Games ran an advertisement aimed at retailers: if you sold video game systems, hand-held games or computer games, “you should also be selling ELECTRONIC GAMES Magazine”. The shop would “earn a good profit on every copy you sell”, and, the advertisement added, “of course, all unsold copies are fully returnable”.
West Germany: a language market
In West Germany a distributor could carry a magazine across borders. Amiga Joker, published near Munich, was distributed in 1990 by Verlagsunion of Wiesbaden to Germany, Austria and Switzerland, so its market was the German language, not one country.
The socialist countries: the state as distributor
In the socialist countries the distributor was the state, and a magazine’s parent institution decided how it reached readers (see Institutional computer press).
Hungary. Mikroszámítógép Magazin was “distributed by the Magyar Posta”, the Hungarian post office, and readers could subscribe at any post office. Finding a copy was another matter. In 1984 the editors admitted that the magazine could be bought in few places, said they were negotiating with the post office’s central newspaper bureau for wider distribution, and told readers that a few thousand copies were always kept at the society’s headquarters in Báthori utca, Budapest.
Poland. Bajtek was published by the state press concern RSW “Prasa-Książka-Ruch”. Its first issue in September 1985 printed 50,000 copies, and in the first ten days more than 1,500 letters arrived asking where to find it. When RSW was wound up in 1990, the editors told readers that paper, printing and distribution had all become dearer. The engineers’ magazine Mikroklan offered a direct route: readers could order it from the distribution department of its publisher, NOT-SIGMA, for chosen issues or for a quarter, half-year or year, without paying in advance.
Czechoslovakia. Mikrobáze skipped the shops entirely. Its March 1987 issue was published by a Svazarm club “for the needs of its own members”, marked neprodejné, not for sale, and printed in 4,000 copies.
Sources
- Computer & Video Games issue 1, November 1981: house advertisement (“out today at all good newsagents”); issue 2, December 1981: colophon (“Published and distributed by EMAP National Publications Ltd”). See Computer & Video Games.
- CRASH issue 1, February 1984: masthead (distributed by Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., Faygate, Horsham).
- ZZAP!64 issue 1, May 1985: masthead (“Distribution throughout the known universe by COMAG, Tavistock Road, West Drayton, Middlesex”).
- The One issue 1, October 1988: masthead (subscription queries, newstrade queries).
- Amiga Format and Amiga Shopper mastheads, 1992: audited circulation for January–June 1992. See Amiga Format and Amiga Shopper.
- Electronic Games volume 1 issue 6, August 1982: advertisement for retailers (“all unsold copies are fully returnable”).
- Amiga Joker, April 1990: Impressum (distributed by Verlagsunion, Wiesbaden, in Germany, Austria and Switzerland). See Amiga Joker.
- Mikroszámítógép Magazin 1984 no. 2: masthead (“Terjeszti a Magyar Posta”, subscriptions at any post office) and reply to readers (few places to buy it, negotiations with the Posta Központi Hírlap Iroda, copies at the society’s headquarters). See Mikroszámítógép Magazin.
- Bajtek no. 1, January 1986: Waldemar Siwiński’s editorial (50,000 copies, 1,500 letters). Bajtek 5–6/1990, p. 2: editorial on costs after the liquidation of RSW. See Bajtek.
- Mikroklan no. 2 (14), February 1988: masthead (orders through the Zakład Kolportażu of Wydawnictwo NOT-SIGMA, Warsaw; no prepayment).
- Mikrobáze, March 1987: masthead (“pro potřeby vlastního aktivu”, “Neprodejné”, 4,000 copies).