Subscriptions, Back Issues and Stockists for Your Independent Magazine

Mythex lets an independent magazine build issue pages and a shop for subscriptions and back issues, one subscriber list that knows every reader's start issue, address and renewal, and invoicing for stockists and advertisers. Describe your issue cycle in chat, check the preview and publish.

The issue cycle and the mailing week

Each issue moves from commissioning to editing, design and print, then a week when every subscriber copy goes out at once. That week depends on a list exported from the shop, merged with gift subscriptions, cleaned of duplicates and checked for people who moved. Readers who subscribed a day after the cutoff ask why they did not get the issue everyone is posting about. Stockists reorder when someone remembers to email them. Back issues sell out at a fair and leave none for late subscribers or the archive. Advertisers book in spring and pay in autumn. What the team needs is one subscriber list that already knows who gets which issue, plus simple records of stock, stockists and who owes what.

Each subscriber's start issue and issues remaining
Address updates before the mailing cutoff
Back-issue stock with subscriber copies held back
Stockists with order history and terms
Advertiser bookings per issue
Renewal reminders before the last issue

What you can build for independent magazines

Subscriptions that count issues, not months

Print, digital or both, each with a start issue and the number of issues remaining. The renewal reminder goes out with the second-to-last issue. Supporter tiers add a tote bag or a name in the colophon, and gift subscriptions carry the giver and recipient separately.

Build subscriptions for my magazine. Print, digital and print-plus-digital plans of four issues. Each subscriber has a start issue and issues remaining, renewal reminders go with the second-to-last issue, and gift subscriptions store giver and recipient. Add a supporter tier with a tote bag.

Single issues, back issues and bundles

Current and back issues with stock counts and a low-stock label when only a box remains, bundles of several back issues, and postage that changes by destination and number of copies.

Make a shop for my independent magazine selling the current issue, back issues with stock counts and a low-stock label, a three-back-issue bundle, and subscriptions. Postage depends on country and number of issues.

Readers fix their own address

Subscribers log in to see their start issue, last issue and renewal date, update their address before the next mailing, and download digital editions. Contributors see briefs, deadlines and payment status.

Create a subscriber portal for my magazine where readers see their start issue, last issue and renewal date, update their address before mailing, and download digital editions. Contributors log in to see their brief, deadline and payment status.

Stockists per issue, advertisers on booking

Stockist invoices per issue at wholesale price with sale-or-return terms where you use them, advertiser invoices tied to the issue and ad size, and contributor fees tracked as money going out.

Build invoicing for my magazine. Invoice stockists per issue at a wholesale price with sale-or-return terms where agreed, invoice advertisers on booking with issue and ad size, and track contributor fees owed.

An issue page for every issue

Cover, contents, contributors and a buy button for each issue, a stockist list by city, a few articles published online after each issue ships, and a media kit for advertisers.

Make a website for my independent magazine with a page per issue (cover, contents, contributors, buy button), a stockist list by city, an online articles section that ends each piece with a subscription offer, and a media kit page.

Does each issue pay for itself?

Active subscribers by start issue and country, renewal rate per issue with gift subscribers shown apart, income by subscriptions, single issues, stockists and advertising, and print and postage cost per issue.

Build a dashboard for my magazine showing active subscribers by country, renewal rate per issue with gift subscriptions separate, income by source, and print and postage costs per issue against revenue.

The mailing file, ready every time

Ask for a mailing export that includes every active subscriber whose issues remaining is above zero, with current addresses, split by country for postage. Send an address-check reminder two weeks before the cutoff. When the export is done, issues remaining drops by one for everyone on it.

Cutoff date shown on the subscribe page
Address reminder two weeks before
Issues remaining reduced after mailing

Hold back before you sell out

Reserve subscriber copies, replacement copies and an archive of each issue in inventory before selling the rest at fairs and launch parties. It is easy to sell the last box on a Saturday and discover the late subscribers have nothing.

Questions

Can subscribers change their own address?

Yes, once they sign in. Changes go straight to the subscriber list, so the next mailing file is already correct.

Can I sell subscriptions and single issues in one shop?

Yes. Both sit together, with payments through a provider such as Stripe connected with your own account.

Can subscriptions renew automatically?

Recurring billing depends on the payment provider you connect. Many magazines offer both automatic and manual renewal and record which each reader chose.

Do I need to code?

No. Describe your issue cycle in chat and change anything by asking.

What does it cost?

You can build and publish on the Free plan with no card. Pro is $25 a month for a custom domain, code editing, export and more credits.

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