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[[underlined]] AIR & SPACE MAGAZINE [[/underlined]]

Mr. Adams introduced the following report for the Regents' information. In discussion it was noted that the [[underlined]] Air & Space [[/underlined]] Magazine would appear to have had not only solid financial success but also outstanding and highly popular editorial content.

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The prospects for success of [[underlined]] Air & Space [[/underlined]] Magazine are excellent, and there is every reason to expect it will be operating in the black in 1989. According to circulation projections, characterized by the circulation director as realistic, [[underlined]] Air & Space [[/underlined]] could achieve a circulation of 450,000 by 1994. The bases for this "realism" are a healthy response to promotion, an acceptable pay-up rate, a good conversion rate, and an excellent renewal rate. Charter subscribers are already renewing at a rate close to [[underlined]] Smithsonian [[/underlined]]'s. Renewals are the key to a magazine's success.

Since subscribers are paying substantial prices for six issues and since many costs are half those of a monthly magazine, [[underlined]] Air & Space [[/underlined]] has a strong financial basis. Bottom-line surpluses could range from $300,000 to $2,000,000 over the next five years, assuming present circulation and advertising experience carries forward.

Yet bottom-line for the Magazine is only part of the story. Sales by other divisions of the Smithsonian from usage of the [[underline]] Air & Space [[/underline]] list are already grossing $2,000,000, the Mail Order Division and the Smithsonian Press profiting most. Also, [[underlined]] Wilson Quarterly [[/underlined]], [[underlined]] Smithsonian [[/underlined]], and the Resident Associates are gaining subscriptions and memberships from the list. The Mail Order Division is encouraged enough to plan a 24-page catalogue featuring space-related products. The Smithsonian Press has achieved a remarkable 15% to 18% return on one of its specialized aviation-related books from segments of the list.

The aspect of direct outreach of the publication is also of great importance. Since the Magazine directly represents the National Air and Space Museum, pages of the Museum's events and programs have gone out to 3,740,183 readers. Since the beginning of the Magazine, 1300 pages of editorial material have been produced. An exciting prospect is the use of magazine graphics in the Museum itself. A blown-up Space Explorers poster from the April-May 1988 issue will appear in an appropriate place in the Museum. Other posters with similar potentialities are planned for future issues of the Magazine. Over one half million of the Space Explorers posters have been printed and will be distributed to subscribers of the Magazine, to subscribers of [[underlined]] Soviet Life [[/underlined]] Magazine, and as part of the educational outreach program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. An additional 60,000 posters will be printed and distributed in [[underlined]] America's Illustrated [[/underlined]] Magazine and translated into Russian and distributed in the Soviet Union.