Magazine Project

[solairisbtc]

Open Money Magazine (preliminar name) is a company-backed project that aspires to create great physical graphic experiences for alternative finance, tech and science enthusiasts. The Magazine should be making monthly profits that will go to open source development and humanitarian causes.

In order to maintain the incentives to make the magazine, it must be functional to Foundation Devices' marketing and growth strategy.

1. Milestones

1. Consolidate a content strategy and partnerships - Late July/Early August
2. Pre-sale campaign and print copies - Late August/September.

2. Goals

1. Make the Magazine as cool as possible.
2. Actually get margins so they can be donated to beneficiaries

The rest of the goals are medium and long-term but this is sufficient for the time-frame that the internship will last.

3. Content Strategy
I can think of two types of formats, one that will work in the medium term (~5 months), and another that can perfectly work in the first issues. Here, I only describe the latter:

Maps of Stuff: Breakdowns and Comprehensive Compilations of a specific topic. This format is perfect to start given I estimate around 40% of original content. The rest would be previously written relevant essays and insights chosen for their material, argumentative, pedagogical importance and/or historical value.

The key lies in identifying texts that could be published in the magazine, this excludes articles and essays published in other media such as Coindesk, since generally when publishing in these platforms the author transfers the rights. Although the possibility of partnering with companies like BTCMedia (owners of Bitcoin Magazine) could be considered, the main approach should be self-published or corporate-published texts.

In turn, the format complies with the vision of low-time preference content. The idea is to create an experience similar to that of a good book, in terms of conservation of relevance, and at the same time of a top-tier magazine in terms of aesthetic proposal.

Maps of Bitcoin would be a series exploring the most important aspects of the protocol and the dynamics around it. If the first issue works (Map of Mining), I propose to continue the pilot addressing the following themes:

• Map of Law and Regulation
• Map of Satoshi Nakamoto
• Map of Monetary Policy

Some editions could be particularly useful for companies and individuals. For example, giving copies to clients, journalists, family and friends. This has a greater value than sending a lot of links via DM, Telegram, WhatsApp etc.

In this way, we maximize financial efficiency and make something every bitcoiner would like to have. Plus, the format doesn't need to establish a periodical publication, so we can take the time to get the job done right. I suggest these editorial parameters:

Time: When done
Length: ~60-80 pages.
Price: ~25-30 USD.

In addition, the concept can be extrapolated to many other topics as the magazine diversifies.

4. Execution
The plan is relatively simple and consists of 5 parts:

4.1. Looking for beneficiaries: That’s it. It will be Blockchain Commons.

4.2. Looking for partners: Bitcoin has enjoyed a mature industry for many years, whose companies have very capable people in fields such as writing and research. For example Zack Voell of Compass Mining (formerly at Coindesk and Blockstream). They recently released the North American Bitcoin Mining Index (NABMI), which is a very ambitious paper.

Contrary to writers working for media, corporate writers are financially much more flexible when collaborating and contributing to other projects, as their exposure means exposure for their employer.

It would make perfect sense to partner with leading companies in the theme/industry we have chosen. This would bring more intellectual rigor to the magazine, but it is also functional for the marketing campaign.

We will be able to share editorial responsibility and (social & financial) resources so that the magazine can take it as far as possible.

4.3. Making the Magazine: The magazine will be carried out in 2 stages:

Pre-announcement: We will require the consent of the authors to publish the texts suggested in the content proposal. We also have to work on the conception of a basic design language. Regarding what type of art to commission first, priority is the cover and small portraits of authors that will be used in the layout. The latter could work as a teaser to persuade the very same authors.

The intention of limiting progress to only these aspects is to avoid investing considerable amounts before knowing the true interest and demand. Also, to save time I will work on layout sketches and graphic content to get a good idea of what the final result will look like.

A list of potential artists with whom I will contact in search of a potential collaboration is already in preparation. From 2018 to 2020 I collected hundreds of references and works from different illustrators and graphic designers, which has been very useful to me.

Post-announcement: After knowing the demand we will be able to dedicate the resources more efficiently. Fortunately, the services of a freelancer editor will not be necessary but it is imperative to hire a layout designer to correct, complement and solidify the work achieved up to this point.

4.4. Testing the concept in the market: [Working on this]

4.5. Print and ship: It can be done here in México City, since it is a place full of very talented experts on plastic arts and graphic design, so the infrastructure to print a great magazine at large scale (cheaply) is here. Simultaneously, we have to polish details with the printing house and get one or two guys to help me coordinate the logistics and ship the magazines when they're ready.

5. Map of Mining - Content Proposal

[On review at the moment]

6. Magazine Economics
I had some calls with printing houses in México. It’s really hard to get a quote but let’s assume the magazine would be 64 or 68 pages (we have to think in spreads tho), coated fine paper, with dimensions 21.5cmx28cm (The New Yorker is 20cmx27cm). For 3000 copies, it would be $15,000 USD, so $5 for each one. If we sell a magazine issue for $25, that’s $75,000 in sales.

3000 x $25 = $75,000
3000 x $5 = $15,000
$75,000 - $15,000 = $60,000

That means we would have ~$60,000 for editorial work and donations to our beneficiaries. This next expense breakdown might work: ~$20,000 for the first edition; ~$20,000 as reserve for the second edition; and ~$20,000 for our beneficiaries.

This is the best case scenario and doesn’t take into consideration copies to give away, paid ads/mentions or unexpected expenses, so even if we manage to sell 3,000 copies for $25, the profits will vary.

The best printing house option that I have studied so far is equilatero.com.mx, based in Guadalajara, Jalisco