Bulletins are produced as a means of communication between the publisher and the readers, and such communication relies greatly on a good distribution. Nevertheless, some editors of drug bulletins may view the task of distributing the drug bulletin as an unnecessary and unwelcome burden. They may only be interested in producing good quality information and may never have learned, or even considered, how to promote or disseminate their 'message'. The importance of gaining a wide audience cannot be overestimated. In reality, planning the distribution of a bulletin should be seen as an integral part of production, in which the strategies for reaching the target audience are matched to the resources available.
Table 10.1. Financing arrangements and bulletin distribution
Source/type of financial support |
Advantages |
Disadvantages |
Block funds provided by independent organizations such as: government departments, professional associations, consumer organizations. |
• offers a means of reaching a wide readership at minimal cost or ‘free of charge’, for example to all doctors or pharmacists nationally. |
• can affect the bulletin’s independence;
• vulnerable to changes in the sponsor’s policies, political changes. |
Funds offering indirect financial support:
• bulletin included in mailings of another journal, such as medical or pharmacy journal. |
• the bulletin’s staff does not need to do the distribution work;
• the bulletin may gain credibility among the audience from an association with a prestigious national journal. |
• readers may associate the bulletin too closely with the journal, which may contain adverts or which has editorial content unrelated to the bulletin;
• the bulletin has to rely on the publishing arrangements of the sponsor, and so delivery times may be delayed or schedules inconvenient. |
Income from individual subscriptions. |
• long-term sustainability may be better with many subscribers compared with one big sponsor;
• subscription rates provide an ongoing indication of the bulletin’s success;
• this is efficient as only those who want to read the bulletin get it. |
• much time and effort may be spent trying to find (and keep) subscribers;
• in developing countries, the audience may not be able to afford the subscription fee;
• those who most need the information may not subscribe. |
Adequate financing is a prerequisite for good circulation (see Chapter 5). However, the wider the readership the more difficult and costly it is to distribute a bulletin. If the circulation is large the cost can sometimes be prohibitive, because, in addition to the cost of the larger print run, funding will be needed to cover such things as the cost of stamps, envelopes and people to manage distribution (e.g. keep subscriber lists up-to-date, chase up subscribers to ensure subscription renewal, deal with subscribers’ queries, run recruitment campaigns for new subscribers such as newly qualified doctors or pharmacists). All of this work needs reliable and dedicated budgetary support.
Sources of financing relate closely to distribution, in that self-financed bulletins often rely on subscriptions, while bulletins supported by a government agency or other organization are often distributed to doctors and/or pharmacists free of charge. Table 10.1 describes some key advantages and disadvantages of different financing arrangements as they relate to bulletin distribution.
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