Case Study of a Publishing House

My case study of a Publishing House is for H Bauer Publishing House which is situated in Camden. H. Bauer is the largest privately owned publisher in Europe, publishing in Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom it even strecthes as far as the United States and Mexico. The Bauer Publishing Group was founded in Hamburg in 1875 by Johann Bauer. Under the management of four generations of the Bauer family, The Bauer Publishing Group has grown from its humble beginnings as a printing house into a worldwide publishing empire comprising 282 magazines in 15 countries with 6,600 employees worldwide and an annual turnover of 1.79 billion Euro. Bauer entered the UK scene with Bella magazine in 1987, Bella made a significant impact on the women's market. The company gained attention again in 1990 with the launch of Take a Break magazine. Touching the lives of millions of women with its unique blend of upfront real life and competitions, the title quickly became market leader. Take a Break has maintained its No.1 status, currently selling over 1 million copies a week. H. Bauer has always had a major presence in the UK magazine market with a considerable market share. H Bauer is playing a primary role in the Women’s Weeklies, Women’s Interest, Women’s Lifestyle and TV Listings.

I did work experience with this company about 2 years ago.
They publish some the UK's most popular 'woman magazines', such as;



and

which is the magazine I did my work experience with. The magazines this company pubish tend to be mainly woman magazines; with real storys and average people which I think attracts more readers because they can relate to the storys and experiences presented in the articles. However, each magazine would have its own target audience; for example 'Spirit and Destiny' is a magazine about health, well being, eco living, guardian angels ect. it it designed to give inspiration with "emotional suport, celebrity spirituality and psyhcic advice with astreology, white magic and spiritual life coaching".

Whereas Bella magazine is a more celelbrity based gossip magazine, alongside Now and others, this magazine focuses on "fashion, celebrity's, real life, dieting and looking good". You can see clearly how these magazines would attract different audiences.

Profiling Your Audience

Potential reader of my magazine:

'Hi, My name's Daisy I'm 17 and I'm in college. I go to a performing arts college and study music, I like to sing and write music and lyrics. I want to be a lyracists when Im older. I love music. You can find music in everything, I also have a 16gig Ipod which is nearly full now. I don't listen to any specific genre of music, I love it all - if it sounds good - I'll listen. When I'm not in college working around music, I'm at home listening to it or making it, me and my friends always mess around with guitars and make little songs. I work in the cafe in Debenhams, I always insist we have the radio on, when I can't listen to my Ipod and listen to my own selection on music, I like to listen to Radio 1 because the play a wide variety of music, from pop, r+b and rock to indie tracks.'

Audience Research

From my audience research I have gained a greater insight into potential readers and what it is they look for in music magazines, from regular features, front cover design, magazine title's and more personal information, for example - how music influences they're lifestyle and how much impact music has on their life.

Although I've only asked 2 people I think I got alot of feed back, and I will be returning to these two in the future when I have magazine layout idea's and getting their feedback regularly throughout this unit.

Double Page Spread Conventions Diagram

Double Page Spread Textual Analysis

The colour scheme of this double page spread is black, red and white - most of the background is the main image which is in black and white and bleeds seamlessly onto the other page which is left black. The colour scheme of the page fits well with the bands identity and style. The main image is of the bands front man, Gerard Way, probably in the middle of a live set completely oblivious to the camera. The way the photo has beent taken, with the subject oblivious to the photographer emphasises on their personality and links in strongley with the interview, they're 'being the best' they 'can be' and they dont care who's watching or what they have to say about it. The subjects name, My Chemical Romance, is written in bold to stand out from the surrounding text in the strap line. There is a large quote taken from the interview which is 'we're being the best we can be' which is the main title, it is used to b reak up the page and create some diverse and intrigue the reader. The stand first introdces the article written in bold white, capital letters to stand out from the background and catch the readers attentiuon and the drop capital simply shows the reader wear the to start reading. The article is written informally to allow the writers personality come through, this helps the article read more easily. It is also written in two columns to divide the page and make the layout of the DPS more interesting. The strap line, is above the article, below the quote - this is a introduction or taster of the article; to get you interested.

Contents Page Conventions Diagram

Front Cover Conventions Diagram