They Might Be Giants

"Computer Shopper is the biggest magazine in the world," declares Al DiGuido, the magazine's executive vice president and group publisher. The conspicuous bulk of the publication itself—a monthly that weighs over five pounds an issue, boasting 900 to 1,000 pages and up to 750 ads—lends credence to his claim.A READER who picks up Computer Shopper for the first time is likely to be overwhelmed by both the publication's physical weight and the sheer volume of information that is included in each issue. When it comes to computer products purchasing, Computer Shopper, published by Ziff-Davis, a Softbank company based in New York City, tells all—what's available, what's popular and what's preferred—as well as where and how to buy hardware, software and peripherals (e.g., monitors, printers and keyboards). Currently, more than 3.14 million readers turn to the magazine to buy PC products direct. The Computer Shopper title includes the regular monthly issues plus four annual supplements: What's Hot, out at the beginning of each year; The Top 100 (PCs, peripherals, and software packages in the direct channel), in October; The Upgrade Guide, September; and The Holiday Guide, November/December.If They Build It…Computer Shopper's production department comprises half a dozen ad coordinators, a production manager, a production director, a layout administrator, an electronic output and files manager, and four people to oversee the Product Index (30 to 40 pages in each issue), according to Production Director Jack Degnan. Staff members take advantage of digital prepress technologies to facilitate the production workflow. "All of our editorial (work) is done electronically," Degnan states. "And we have an ISDN line to send files digitally to the printer."Prepress production for advertising, however, is still very much an analog process. "We don't use any electronic files for ads," he says. "Everything that we receive is in traditional format, such as negatives and mechanicals."The publication uses an internal database to archive editorial content. Stuffit software allows the staff to save and retrieve high-resolution files when necessary, although long-term storage of high-res files is the exception rather than the rule. "Most of our information changes every month," Degnan explains. "You'll never find too many repeat ads or repeat editorial."In the volatile computer industry, product price changes are all too commonplace and Computer Shopper does need to accommodate last-minute updates. However, Executive Vice President and Group Publisher Al DiGuido points out that vendors are not engaging in rapid-fire price wars to the degree that they had in the past—which means fewer type changes and fewer production concerns.Ten years ago, he explains, the vendors were aggressively promoting the rock-bottom prices. "Today, when you lower your price, you lower your margin and you don't make any money," DiGuido observes. "The vendors are realizing that people who buy our magazine are more concerned with (finding) the best suppliers … than with how low their prices are."The magazine has been able to streamline production further by allowing its printer, R.R. Donnelley & Sons, to perform some type changes, along with ad film enlargements and reductions—work that had been done in-house, he notes.The magazine is printed on both newsprint and coated stock; the latter is reserved for features and other content located close to the front of the book. Donnelley prints on the newsprint first. "Basically, we work from back to front," Degnan says. "We receive materials from advertisers, check them to make sure that they have the correct format, and hand them out to the printer," he reports. "They output pages which they send back for approval before going to press."According to Degnan, Computer Shopper's prepress production cycle typically stretches over nine days. Each issue is printed over a two-week period and binding generally takes another two weeks."We run on the largest single-arm gather binding line in the world, with 74 binding pockets," Degnan claims.All of those pockets are put to good use. "We had reached the point where the demand for the inserts in Computer Shopper had exceeded our ability to insert them in the magazine," adds Al DiGuido. "We were turning away multiple advertisers because we just couldn't fit them in a book."Growth ChartThe publication certainly has come a long way since its inception in 1980. "Initially, Computer Shopper was done as a newsletter out of somebody's backyard—printed on a press in that guy's garage," DiGuido recalls. "Then it just kept growing and growing, and became more successful." Ziff-Davis bought the magazine in 1989 (right after DiGuido came on board), changed its format and chose Donnelley as the printer."The Donnelley plant was originally a telephone directory plant, the only one that had a long enough bindery line at that time to accommodate us," Degnan explains. The printer even expanded its already sizable bindery line to the system's current, 74-pocket capacity.However, even 74 pockets may not be enough to accommodate additional growth, Degnan worries. "We can't expand the printing plant any further; we'll have to blow out a wall," Degnan admits.Still, Computer Shopper's future looks bright and shiny. Thanks to an ever-expanding direct marketplace and rapidly developing Internet technology, more—and more mainstream—consumers are purchasing PC products directly, thus increasing the overall value of Computer Shopper. "From 32 ad pages, we routinely went to 700 and beyond," Degnan adds. "Computer Shopper is—and always will be—a successful vehicle."-Tatyana Sinioukov

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