Boston, MA (February 26, 1998) -- Fast Company, the magazine that explains how smart business works, announced today that it will switch from a bimonthly to a monthly circulation schedule beginning with the August 1998 issue (on newsstands July 28).
This change to a monthly publishing schedule answers the call from the ever-expanding Fast Company community. "How about making it a monthly!" one reader asked. "Your magazine is not a magazine. It's fresh air!!...Only one regret: Fast Company is coming every two months only!" another wrote. After two years and fourteen issues, Fast Company readers don't just read the magazine. They use it. And beginning in August, they will be able to read more of Fast Company, more often.
Fast Company has followed a steady and impressive growth track from the beginning. This has happened because the Fast Company internal business plan largely follows the credo of the magazine itself -- focus on strengths, form alliances to complement resources, control costs, and be ready to change.
Fast Company's circulation history: November 1995/1996 launch: 100,000 circulation First half of 1997 Rate Base: 125,000 First half 1997 average paid circ.: 136,846 (source: ABC, 6/30/97) Second half of 1997 rate base: 175,000 Second half of 1997 average paid circ.: 185,915 (source ABC Fas-Fax, 12/31/97) First half 1998 rate base: 205,000
The magazine has also reached unprecedented success in attracting advertisers. In 1997's six issues, Fast Company sold 696.8 ad pages, a 76.7% increase from 1996.
Other growth indicators for the magazine include brand extension events. A new Fast Company conference, entitled "Real Time", brings Fast Company readers and sponsors the innovative people, new ideas, useful tools and applicable solutions featured in the pages of the magazine. The first "Real Time" is scheduled for June 15-16, 1998 in Monterey, CA. The first invitation-only Fast Company "Advance" was held in the fall 1997 in Telluride, CO. Named "The Advance" because, as Founding Editor Alan Webber says, "Why would today's business innovators and futurists want to 'Retreat' rather than 'Advance'?", the conference attracts the best minds in business for a two-day advance into the frontiers of business. The next invitation-only "Advance" is scheduled for late April 1998 in Sundance, UT.
"Fast Company has clearly been a success from the beginning and the magazine's innovative future is bright, ambitious, and truly cutting-edge," said Fast Company President and Publisher Thomas R. Evans. "From day one, we've had tremendous feedback from both our readers and advertisers. Our circulation continues growing and we're answering our readers demands by bringing this book monthly."
Fast Company is a magazine that takes you inside companies to meet people who are inventing better ways of doing business. The magazine showcases real people, real solutions, and innovative ideas. Founded by two former Harvard Business Review editors, William Taylor and Alan Webber, Fast Company is published by U.S.News & World Report which is owned by Mortimer Zuckerman. Fast Company was named "1997 Launch of the Year" by Advertising Age and "1997 Startup of the Year" by AdWeek. It is also an Acres of Diamonds Awards Finalist in the "10 Best New Consumer Magazines of the Last Five Years" category. To receive an issue, please call 212.830.1745. Fast Company content, archive material, and interactive Fast Company community features can be found on the award-winning Web site, http://www.fastcompany.com
