It makes sense to say “there is no free lunch” when we are talking about magazine subscription that costs $15 to $20 a year. However, I am sure you will be shocked when you know how much the so-called “discount magazine” and “cheap magazine” has ripped you off after reading this article and I can guarantee that you will never ever pay a magazine in full price again.
Some may argue that it is not uncommon to see the so-called “cheap magazine subscription” promoting the idea that “the majority of the publishers’ revenue came from advertisement and so it is possible to give away magazines for free in order to attract more readers.” While it is true in circulation that a large proportion of income do actually came from advertisement, only paid subscribers counts on the “rate card” and not the free subscribers. All magazine publishers set their “ad rate” based on the number of paid subscribers from an audit report every quarter and therefore it is simply not possible for publishers to give away magazines for free to boost the sales and cheat the advertisers. Publishers can be fined heavily if they are found to misreport their readership.
Even though it is impossible to get free magazine directly from publishers, it doesn’t necessarily mean free magazine doesn’t exist. As a freebie hunter myself, I would like to share with you three common ways of getting magazines for absolutely free throughout the internet.
1)Trade magazine: Different from consumer magazines, trade magazines (e.g. Oracle and CFO) are flexible to adjust their “ad rate” as long as they are able to deliver qualified readers to their advertisers. That’s the reason why you will see free magazine provider such as Freebizmag often asked you a lot of questions regarding your occupation and job function before they give you the free magazines for free.
2)Consumer magazine: Not many people are interested in the trade magazine because most of the time those magazines are hard to read. A lot more people are looking for popular consumer magazines such as Maxim, FHM or PC magazine for free. Some sites like Magcentral and Freebie-magazine are sponsored by a third party sponsor to provide the magazine for free. You will usually have to fill out a short form or survey to get your magazine for free.
3)Publishers: Sometimes publishers will give away a free 1 year subscription (usually in digital format) for marketing purpose. This is the best kind of subscription as the subscription itself is provided by the publishers, so the risk of not getting the magazine will be the lowest among the three possible choices. A good example to illustrate this kind of subscription will be Tango.
One last thing to mention is that unless a magazine is written clearly on the page for renewal, you can always choose a new offer for renewal. But please keep in mind that it is very important to find a way (e.g. through email or the online form) to let the free magazine provider know whether the subscription is new or renewal, or you will have a high chance of not getting your favorite magazines.
Also, it is possible to receive a renewal notice that looks like a bill or invoice at the end of your subscription. Please read through it very carefully as most of the time it is not a bill. I have received over 30 free magazine subscriptions over the internet and I have never received an invoice or paid for a penny. The trick to get your favorite magazines for free is to sign up for as many newsletters from publishers as possible and to check out free magazine sites closely. I hope you will enjoy your free magazines.