A Q&A with Frank Castillo, Publisher, HD Living magazine
Not long ago, Frank Castillo launched HD Living, a regional lifestyle magazine covering the High Desert area of Southern California (www.hdlivingmagazine.com/).
As an entrepreneur myself, I love start-up stories, and so I asked Frank if he could give us some time and a “behind the scenes” look at what went into HD Living. Enjoy.
Big E Productions: Why did you decide to publish a magazine?
Frank Castillo: I decided to start a magazine because of the overwhelming need for a high-end regional lifestyle magazine in the area.
BEP: Did you have any previous magazine publishing experience?
FC: Nope.
BEP: What did you know about magazine publishing before venturing into it?
FC: I really did not know much, I knew what I wanted to produce though and that was important. I had a vision for what I wanted.
BEP: Were you looking at it as a way to make money or for other reasons?
FC: Not so much to make money, although the publishing business can be lucrative, more as a way to change the perception of the High Desert and the desire to own my own business.
BEP: How long was it from the time you first thought about your magazine until the first issue was printed?
FC: I thought of it in October of 2007 and we launched in June of 2008, so about eight months.
BEP: Did you test your idea out on people before you decided to go forward with the venture?
FC: Not so much test, but I did throw the idea around and the overwhelming response was, "It's about time, we needed something like that." When I heard that it gave me more confidence to move forward.
BEP: Is there any competition for your magazine?
FC: No, just newsprint, radio and coupon books but nothing like our magazine.
BEP: Were there any other magazines you saw that you liked and wanted your magazine to look like?
FC: Yes, I was a regular reader of Inland Empire magazine (www.inlandempiremagazine.com/) and then I discovered San Joaquin magazine (http://www.sanjoaquinmagazine.com/, which Big E Productions also designed). I kind of combined them to form H.D. Living.
BEP: How did you establish the editorial content for the magazine – how did you decide the content flow?
FC: I decided on content from research on other area magazines and what they were talking about, I wanted to do spotlights and have a dining section and Arts and Culture. The flow was based off of magazines I had researched.
BEP: How many full-time employees do you have? What is your staff?
FC: Right now I am the only full time employee. I have outsourced everything to locals except the layout designer. I have a part time sales and marketing person, five writers who do the articles, a photographer that does the shoots when needed, two ad designers that build the ads, my girlfriend does the accounting on her time off, and Big E Productions, who does the layout.
BEP: Do you pay your sales people commission plus base, or just commission? If so, how much percentage commission?
FC: 15 percent commission, although I would like to do a base plus commission in the future so we can have someone service the existing accounts.
BEP: What were some of your biggest obstacles you found in publishing the first issue?
FC: The biggest obstacles were coming up with the capital to start. Not everyone has the start up cash to get a magazine launched in eight months
BEP: What were the pleasant surprises?
FC: Definitely the way the community embraced the idea of what I was trying to bring to the area, everyone felt the need for this magazine.
BEP: What lessons did you learn so far from the first issue?
FC: Make sure that everything, and I mean everything is proofed and signed before publishing.
BEP: What were some of your biggest expenses?
FC: The biggest expense was the printing and shipping costs. We started with an initial circulation of 12,000, luckily I found a great printer who printed, binded, generated a demographic list and shipped. That helped with the overall cost instead of having to outsource for each one.
BEP: What would you say to someone looking to publish their own magazine?
FC: Publishing your own magazine is a business venture, I would say make sure all your ducks are in a row before starting because once you get it going you will disappoint allot of people if you can't follow through. I would also say put a date on when you would like to launch and set goals for ads for that issue. I heard some potential publishers say they would sell ads until they have enough to start but having a set date and goals is vital, not only to your success but also so the advertiser has a target date for when their ad will run. Good Luck!
