Michael Magazine is a general interest English-language magazine produced and published by Arizona-based Michael Sheldon Reed Design. Michael Magazine has three issues currently available on its dedicated website, and is currently planned as a quarterly journal. The magazine is available free of charge as a downloadable PDF file. We are currently seeking authors to contribute original content, as well as advertisers interested in purchasing ad space.

 

Michael Magazine offers a decidedly thoughtful, positive and eclectic mix of reporting, opinion and commentary on travel, science, technology, society, politics, the economy, popular culture and the arts, illustrated by world-class photography, along with humor, fiction and poetry. Michael Magazine seeks to entertain, encourage and empower its diverse readership.

 

Michael Magazine is influenced strongly by publications as diverse as Harper’s, The Atlantic, Newsweek and Arizona Highways.

 

The general tone of Michael Magazine is one of positive and optimistic celebration, discovery and solution-seeking. Politically, the orientation is left-of-center. While Michael Magazine is not a peer-reviewed journal by any means, there is a general editorial expectation that facts will be presented truthfully. Michael Magazine seeks a readership which is educated, informed, inquisitive and open to innovation.

 

The upcoming, planned issue of Michael Magazine will be a special issue about Amtrak and be very pro-Amtrak.

Articles will include:
1. Major trip report of my August 2018 trip on the Sunset Limited, Tucson to Houston, complete with some of my original photos
2. An updated version of my blog post calling for a dedicated trust fund for Amtrak
3. A timeline of Amtrak history
4. Favorite recipes from America’s railroad dining cars
5. Guest articles from Amtrak enthusiasts (depending upon participation)
6. Travel reports from rail systems in other parts of the world, such as Asia and Scandinavia (depending upon participation)

 

Michael Reed will personally edit and art direct this issue, as has been the case for all previous issues of Michael Magazine. It is the hope that outside freelance production artists will produce the actual physical issue in PDF form for final distribution.

 

Production of this special issue depends entirely on the number of ads sold. 24 full-page ad spots are available for $100 each. Up to four double-truck ad spots can be offered at $175 each. While the hope is for the issue to be released in time for the Christmas holiday season of 2018, this will NOT necessarily be a “holiday” issue, and a production schedule and release date will NOT be determined or announced unless and until the first ten ad sales have been registered. A minimum of ten sold and placed ads will be required for production to begin. The production schedule will also depend heavily on Michael’s personal and professional schedule during the final quarter of 2018.

Because Michael Magazine is a relatively new publication and distributed as a downloadable PDF, the advertising rates must by necessity be significantly and dramatically lower than more established magazines. Rates are set to cover the basic costs of production as well as to compensate contributing writers and photographers and may be subject to moderate increases as the magazine’s popularity develops and increases. 

 

Michael Magazine seeks to always be a tremendous value for advertisers seeking to reach audiences in line with their other media buys, and especially for those advertisers with smaller budgets who would love to run ads in the publications mentioned above but cannot afford to do so. Michael Magazine seeks to deal directly with advertisers rather than with advertising agencies whenever possible. 

 

 

Ad sales goals for this special issue:
The sales goal is for a maximum of 24 full-page ads. The ads will be priced at $100 each. There also can be up to four double-truck ads for $175 each. As the salesperson, you may keep 50% of this price on a successful sale of each single ad, full-page or double-truck.

 

Only full-page and double-truck ads will be offered for this issue. 

 

Specific holiday-related and holiday-themed ads are not encouraged, as it is not a guarantee distribution will occur in time for Christmas holiday shopping season. That being said, if a holiday distribution date looks possible, a second holiday-specific ad can be requested from the advertiser and we will run that ad instead, at no additional cost.

 

Any fillers will be public service announcements and other pro-bono artwork. A minimum of ten sold and placed ads will be required for production to begin. Ads must be approved by Michael Reed BEFORE they can be placed and/or payment accepted. Michael Magazine is hoping for advertisers who already run ads in publications such as Harper’s, The Atlantic, The Nation, Mother Jones, Rolling Stone, Ebony, Essence, Newsweek, National Geographic, The National (Amtrak’s on-board complimentary magazine), Delta Airlines Sky Magazine and similar.

 

General ad specifications, policies and guidelines: Michael Magazine reserves the right to write critically about any issue, individual, or organization. That being said, Michael Magazine will not unreasonably restrict advertisers from purchasing ad space as long as they understand, and are generally comfortable with, the editorial vision of Michael Magazine, and follow basic and standard guidelines of fairness and appropriateness. Please keep all ads tasteful, honest and positive. Nothing illegal, libelous, exploitative, inflammatory, hateful, violent or inappropriate for young children, please. If the ad looks “editorial” we will place the word “Advertisement” in 8-point type at the top of the ad, if it’s not there already.

 

Full-page ad (8" x 10.825") $100

Double-truck (16" x 10 7/8") $175

 

These sizes are based on those of Harper’s Magazine and are similar to ad sizes of other major national magazines in the United States. Please ONLY send finished and completed artwork that is already at these sizes. The sizes represent the full and complete “live area” page trim size. You may wish to include crop marks on the final artwork to delineate the size.

 

Please send (as an e-mail attachment) high-resolution/“print-ready” PDFs or JPEG files, 10 MB or less, please. All images and fonts MUST be embedded in the file. CMYK or BW only. No PMS colors please. No hard-copy proof is needed on our end as these will be part of a PDF and not sent to a commercial printer, so please double-check your files before sending, to ensure they will look exactly as you wish. We will not be responsible for ads that don’t “look right” in the final PDF version. Files will be kept for one calendar year after receipt, and then discarded.

 

We reserve the right to resize all ads slightly to best fit the page (so that all colors fill the page trim area with no white space surrounding the ad (unless the ad is specifically designed to have surrounding white space)), if they are not to the exact size.

 

Because the production schedule is expected to be somewhat abbreviated, please note that ads that are not anywhere close to the above sizes will NOT be accepted. Please do NOT submit artwork that is not to the above sizes, and ask us to drastically alter it to fit our sizes, because we shall not do so. The full cost of the ad is due and payable in advance as a condition of placement. Ads will be reserved in the order in which they are received. Most full-page ads will go in the front of the magazine. There is no discount for running your ad in multiple issues. There is no discount for BW ads. If you are a non-profit organization, we may be able to run your ad pro-bono as a PSA, ask us for details. In the case of errors/omissions that are the fault of Michael Magazine, we will offer to run the same ad at the same size in the next issue at no charge, if you bring the issue to our attention within 30 days of the issue’s release.

 

Please send all files, queries, questions, comments, stories, etc., to: micmac99@gmail.com.