Tips on Men's Magazines
According to the most recent CircTrack benchmark survey of the consumer magazine circulation industry, the average magazine cover price is $4.12. It doesn’t sound like much. But if you’re a monthly "mag-oholic" you can rack up quite a reading bill. Whether you’re taste runs to "lad mags" such as Maxim, Stuff Magazine, or FHM, or if your tastes are more sophisticated, and your appreciate Forbes, Esquire, or Sports Illustrated, here are some ways to save your green, but still get your glossies:
1. Don’t read off the rack – Whatever you do, don’t buy publications one at a time, off the sales stand. The price is always the highest.
2. Be a browser – The male mag market is a booming one, with new titles being added to the roster all the time. Just as you can’t judge a book by its cover, you can’t judge a magazine by its cover, either. So rather than stand around at the newsstand, get the skinny on what’s out there at Allyoucanread.com. They offer descriptions of every magazine under the sun, and even rate the top 20 magazines for men, by country.
3. Cyber-subscribe – By far the most cost-effective way to get your hands on your favorite reads is via online subscriptions. At Magsforless.com you can sign up for an annual subscription for as little as $6 a year! Or try Magazines 4 Cheap. They have more than 1,600 magazines to choose from, and their low-low prices include free shipping and no sales tax. Happy reading!
Comments
I can do one better. Almost every male (and female) magazine is available free online with a library card, or with the code below.
Esquire?
www.accessmylibrary.co...
MotorTrend?
www.accessmylibrary.co...
just pick your article and either enter 87747 as your ZIP code, or enter your library card. No registration, no email required.
I also get most of my magazines from the library. I got tired of unread magazines piling up, only to be put in a recycling bin. I typically can't keep up with all the other reading I do.
Another thing to consider is that most of these magazines have all or a portion of their magazine articles online for free viewing. This is what I have found anyway.
I have used www.budgetmags.com and www.magazinevalues.com for over 5 years and have never had a problem. There are some great magazines (Men's Health for one!) that go for $5.00 a year!
I subscribe to magazines off of ebay. You can find lots of great deals for way below manufacturer sub rates.
My best tip for saving money from magazines is get them at the library. Our country library allows older copies to be checked out for a week, and will hold requests for you taken from any of their branches. The city library doesn't allow check out, but you can still enjoy reading them there. Special advantage for Seattle users is the new downtown library that is also a beautiful new building.
My second best tip is sharing magazines with friends.
Regarding a previous comment:
Actually, I had good luck with Mags4Less with 3 subscriptions I ordered through them. If you wait, they periodically run specials like buy 2 mags and get a 3rd (from a short list) for free.
DON'T do business with MagsForLess. Without reading reviews on the site prior to purchasing two subscriptions, I was scammed and never got one of the magazine subscriptions I ordered. Read some other customers' experiences on the web.
www.epinions.com/pr-On...
Disappointed that SoundMoneyTips.com did not pick up on this!
There is also a good way to get subscriptions for cheap - get them when you change addresses by using the card in the forwarding address packet you can get from the post office. There is a company that sells them at reduced rates, and even though they don't have all of the choices you could possibly want, they have a very good range and the price is good, usually you can get 6 magazines for 4 years for about $200, so it's a big upfront cost but for monthly magazines you save a bundle.
One of my favorite places to get subscriptions is from eBay. They have extremely cheap subscriptions, some even for multiple years.