How to Start a Magazine?
NAVASKY, VICTOR S.
'IGNORE THE ADVISORS' How to Start a Magazine? By Victor S. Navasky "Think big," "go hungry," "take a vacation," "be generous," and "marry a rich woman" are the five pieces of advice I would...
...I do know I saw Mr...
...If you plan your day properly you can see at least six prospects...
...I left without dinner...
...And if you have $500,000, why start a magazine...
...We can't get into the magazine business...
...As I talked he was all up from the day's triumphs and nodded at my every pause...
...I guess we didn't think big enough...
...That's the only way you'll ever make it...
...Instead I told him the truth —that we hadn't set our rates yet...
...You will notice that the advice has little to do with magazines...
...No, don't look at it, feel it...
...At the time we thought we needed $300,000, and so here I was at a plush East Side eaterie...
...You can't have my money," said Mr...
...Do you realize that I'm in on a deal with a man who has just bought and sold the Empire State Building...
...V., "and you've got yourself a deal...
...The yellow canopy and the string of cars parked in the driveway led me to think I had chanced on a posh night spot...
...Cerf," I said, "if it will make you feel any better, we don't want Random House's money...
...So I finished with a flourish: "Here I am in Hollywood looking for one man with $10,000...
...I'll tell you what I'll do...
...Fight me...
...One of the paradoxes of the trade is that even though prospective investors prefer to give their capital to people who are in genuine need of money, they also like you to look tanned, prosperous and confident, i.e., as if you don't really need the money...
...At least these are the admonitions that made sense for us when we set out to launch Monocle, a quarterly journal of political satire...
...Or the Nassaus...
...With this in mind our morale was not uplifted when we remembered that George Kirstein, publisher of the Nation, observed: "Money comes from the most unlikely places...
...Now," he said, "how much money are you looking for...
...This type of fellow will patiently explain that by providing financial support he would only be helping you to defeat yourself—so, in your own best interests, he will refrain from rendering any assistance...
...I don't know if that story is true...
...V. feeling that he was either the greatest promoter of them all or the world's most entertaining phoney...
...You'll probably get yours from a little old lady in Pittsfield...
...what can I do for you...
...And if you're any good you'll attack me...
...A friend's wife, who was working in our office for the summer, had met him at a suburban cocktail party, told him about our magazine, and he had bragged he could get us all the money we needed...
...But," he continued, "I don't like your magazine...
...Cerf made it quite clear that he was not going to invest in Monocle...
...Are you married...
...Hate me...
...And before I could ask why, he was explaining, "Don't think I don't have it...
...V. He didn't show and didn't excuse himself...
...But Joan Axelrod came to the door, informed me that George was meeting with Frank Sinatra and would be with me a little iater, and I knew I was at the right place...
...In two weeks by the side of the swimming pool of the Hotel Fountainbleau you'll raise your money...
...He led me back through a kitchen which showed that he was no satirist, and out into the patio adjacent to his swimming pool...
...And I'll tell you what I don't like about it: The shape...
...And if you are thinking of going into the magazine business, giving away a share of the money you have not yet raised shouldn't trouble you...
...Later on we jacked up the ante...
...Then there are the money-men who operate on the theory that artists and writers should suffer and that satirists, like prize fighters, will only succeed if they remain "hungry...
...In a standard theatrical-investment arrangement...
...Why publish just an American satire magazine...
...We kneeled down and dipped our hands in the water...
...And why should I pay my hard-earned money to have you attack me...
...I could make you out a check right now but I won't—for two reasons...
...I left Mr...
...I give to charity—but you're not a charity...
...Go hungry...
...I told him...
...We have read your manuscript and it is so good we feel it could not possibly have been rejected elsewhere...
...I like your smile," said Mr...
...You've got to be hungry to succeed...
...We want your money...
...I like it," "I like it," "right," "I like it," "so far so good," he kept saying...
...Change the shape," said Mr...
...That makes me sick" said Mr...
...Think Big...
...I'll take an ad...
...Do you realize how many businessmen have retired to Bermuda (or the Nassaus) for tax purposes...
...50 per cent goes to the investors and 50 per cent to the entrepreneurs, promoters, etc...
...I went back to my office, did some checking and was told that Mr...
...I had gone with the hope of getting him to send me to someone else with money...
...Now," he asked, turning to me...
...I like your smile," he repeated, "I like your smile, I like you, I like your idea, and I like your timing...
...Writers are clamoring to get published, printing presses are idling...
...Consider the possibilities of the rejection-slip: "Congratulations...
...Suppose you announce that you will give 80 per cent to the investors and keep only 20 per cent for yourself...
...Not 81, not 83, but 82 degrees...
...If you're going to jump, jump off the Empire State Building...
...You publish from Bermuda, and you publish the kind of magazine I'm talking about, and I'll get you your money...
...And let's say the projected subscription price for your magazine is $10 per year...
...Now let me tell you something...
...Consider the advertising potential: "Buy One Dollar for only 50c...
...I've got to pull myself together, not spread myself further apart...
...V., "Now I'm going to give you an idea—a Big Idea—and I'm going to give it to you at my usual rates, for nothing...
...As A. C. Spectorsky, Associate Publisher and Editorial Director of Playboy pointed out when I asked him how much money it would take to start a national magazine: "It would take at least $500,000 to start a magazine of the kind you are asking me about...
...What have you got to lose...
...The worst that can happen is that you'll fail and you're a failure already...
...Monocle is 5½ x 11, or approximately as tall as Time and as wide as Reader's Digest...
...V. three or four times thereafter and each time the plans got bigger until finally he was supposed to make a presentation to our Board of Directors (one of whom suggested that the meeting be held in Bermuda) and the afternoon came and passed with no Mr...
...For instance, I think someone should start a magazine called Rejections, whose policy would be to print only stuff rejected by other magazines...
...As I held my hand in the water, he continued: "Notice, 82 degrees...
...Cerf "because when I give you my money I give you my name and when I give you my name I give you a piece of myself...
...Join me and I'm with you...
...Look at it this way...
...At this point he shifted in his chair and peered about the room, presumably to make sure that there were no rival international satire magazine entrepreneurs listening...
...In any event, when our preview issue came out it featured an ad from Random House...
...That means I can go in anytime—morning, noon or night—and it's always 82 degrees...
...For the same reason I do everything—fun and options...
...Be generous...
...One: satirists should starve...
...Random House is a book publisher," he told me...
...Before I could protest he was off again...
...As you can see, raising money for a magazine is a time-consuming task...
...You need an international satire magazine—a world satire magazine...
...If your object is to start a magazine of political satire or of almost anything else, the one area you will have to bone up on is not politics, not satire and not magazines—it is fund-raising...
...Another seasoned financier told me "I give money for three reasons...
...Why am I giving you this idea for nothing...
...Two: come here, I'll show you...
...But for the most part, the people with the ideas, the writers, the printers, etc., are not the people with the cash...
...I believe in that swimming pool...
...V. when I sat down at his table at our prearranged appointment...
...Not only do I have $10,000—I have $12,000...
...The day I went to see Bennet Cerf at Random House I was looking for 10 $3,000-investors...
...As one seasoned New York attorney and Broadway producer put it, "Next time take your vacation in Miami Beach...
...This is more or less what happened when I went to see George Axelrod, author of Did Success Spoil Rock Hunter...
...Money should be one of your goals, but not one of your motives...
...When Axelrod arrived...
...V. made his first million when a man walked into his office who had this idea of playing music in elevators...
...Victor S. Navasky, a new contributor to these pages, is founding editor of the satire magazine, Monocle...
...He was all Hollywood—sandals with an embroidered "A" on them, curly, dyed yellow locks, a super tan, a turtle-neck sweater, and full of the multi-million dollar dealings of his day...
...V. "Think Big...
...That way everybody gets something for nothing, and you will have no complaints...
...On the other hand, while an investor will want to make sure that your motive is not a mercenary one, he will also guard against investing in someone who lacks the profit instinct...
...Starting a magazine is a relatively easy proposition...
...If you can raise the money for a truly international satire magazine—offices in Rome, Paris, London, New York, Washington and Accra," I said, thinking as big as I could, "and you understand that we run the magazine, we're certainly willing to consider publishing from Bermuda...
...And it should be published...
...I have never quite forgiven myself for not taking advantage of this opening with the straight-faced reply: "Three thousand dollars...
...It is no job for a married man...
...Actually, I hadn't gone to Axelrod for money...
...All you need is an idea, a name, a collection of writers, a printer and some money...
...And I can't keep giving away pieces of myself...
...Which brings me to the final piece of advice which kept recurring in my travels: "Marry a rich woman," I was told again and again...
...I looked around to see the cameras whirring...
...Although I must confess," I confessed, "this is a slight departure from what wc had in mind...
...I give for business—but you haven't demonstrated you can make a profit so you're not a business...
...This is entirely fitting and proper...
...What are your ad rates...
...Everybody has ideas...
...First, though, we should perhaps caution that one piece of advice not listed above came to us from Max Ascoli, Editor and Publisher of the Reporter: "Ignore the advisors...
...By Victor S. Navasky "Think big," "go hungry," "take a vacation," "be generous," and "marry a rich woman" are the five pieces of advice I would pass on to anyone who is interested in starting a new magazine...
...Then he continued: "It should be published from Bermuda...
...You can do it by selling subscriptions or, if you are lucky, ads...
...Mr...
...There is nothing a man would rather do —when you approach him for a few thousand dollars— than buy a subscription to your magazine...
...California, I was sure I was at the wrong address...
...But don't think I'm not tempted...
...When I arrived at Axclrod's house in Benedict Canyon, in Beverly Hills...
...Getting money for such a vacation is really quite simple when you are trying to finance a new magazine...
...And it is with those people that we will be concerned in what follows...
...Therefore, we are sorry, etc...
...You have a good idea but it's bigger than you thought...
...V. then proceeded to outline the "three real reasons I'm doing this: 1.) to make money 2.) to make money, and 3.) to have fun—but I can't have any fun unless I make money...
...and I give because I'm charmed—but you haven't charmed me...
...Fight me and I'm for you...
...As Albert Greenfield, the Philadelphia banker, so colorfully put it when I journeyed down to Philadelphia and asked him to invest in Monocle: "I am not interested in throwing my money down the sewer...
...I haven't read it—but I don't like it...
...V. told the fellow to Think Big...
...Anyway, by this time, regardless of the fund-raising success you have had, you will be pretty tired and probably need a vacation...
...Someone should also start a magazine about money to be called One Dollar...
...There must be a moral to this story somewhere and I am not sure what it is, but would you want your magazine to marry a little old lady in Pittsfield...
...I myself went to Haiti, which turned out to be a mistake since the cab driver who took me from the airport to Port au Prince had already mastered most of the fund-raising principles here set forth...
...Fun and options...
...Mr...
...Our lives have just changed," he told his wife, "I've got the movie, I've got the star, I've got the money, I've got the distributor, and I've got Irving, who is coming at 9:30 to make all the arrangements...
...Well," he pointed out as I shook my head, "if you're going to get slapped, get slapped by a society woman...
...Sixty dollars per day is not bad for a man who is, let's face it, unemployed...
...Okay," said Mr...
...But don't attack me and expect me to subsidize you...
...I wouldn't give you a quarter" he said...
...I'm spread too thin as it is...
...And in retrospect, Haiti was not the place to go...
Vol. 47 • May 1964 • No. 10
