Publication Profile

Corrections Technology & Management

A successful startup that capitalized on a window of opportunity.

For many editors and publishers, contemplating a publication start-up ranks right in there with having a root canal procedure. For the publication management at Hendon Publishing, Inc., publishers of Law & Order magazine, this was not the case.

Publisher Scott Kingwill already had a magazine in the police, law enforcement and penology sector with its 45-year old Law & Order magazine. The publication goes to 35,000 professional law enforcement officers, and is a how-to publication serving the needs of the profession at the municipal, state and federal levels.

For some time Hendon management had been aware of the correctional facilities sector - a marketplace incorporating more than 500,000 professionals in more than 4,00 facilities in the United States. Each facility is a marketplace requiring and purchasing a vast spectrum of goods - about $33.6 billion to be exact!

Hendon management felt that a window of opportunity was recognizable due to an inadequacy in the way professionals in the correctional facilities sector were receiving their information. There were three publications serving the field. The two strongest publications in the field belonged to associations whose prime sources of revenue were their conferences and exhibitions. The publications contained either a mass of technical papers written by members - quite often simply the presentations delivered at the conferences - or just so-so information - material that seemed to have little immediacy or direct application qualities. Both magazines were devoid of any element of eye-appeal and were not conducive to attracting readership. Hendon management felt that dollars being spent for exhibition could be redirected to a magazine if a suitable product was offered - a publication that would promote and serve an obvious need for professionalism in the corrections facility management sector.

In the fall of 1996, Scott, his son Pete, who served as sales manager for Law & Order and son Henry, who was involved in circulation operations, met to finalize facts and make the tough decision whether or not an opportunity existed for a publication serving the correctional facilities management.

They agreed that a need for information was there and the advertising dollars were recognizable. There was a definite "window of opportunity" if they wanted to make a move. The decision was made to launch the new magazine, dubbed Corrections Technology & Management (CTM). Start-up circulation would be 12,000. Frequency would be ten times per year. It would make its debut in October 1997.

The management spectrum would run from juvenile detention operations through municipal, county, state, federal and military facilities. The magazine would provide information for professionals responsible for the daily operations of those facilities in such areas as administration, security, communications, access control, inmate control, training, communications, healthcare services and food service and commissaries.

Now the work began.

Inasmuch as the staff at Hendon was lean, an outside publishing consulting organization, Professional Publication Management, which offered experience in both editorial and publisher roles in the business press, was brought in to assist in development of an editorial profile of the reader and an editorial plan. A reader preference survey was launched immediately with specific, cross-related questions to zero in on what exactly the readers needed.

In a six-month period between January and June 1997, the corrections facility management sector was closely scrutinized. Competing publications were dissected. Potential readers and professional leaders in corrections facility management were contacted.

By June 1997, it was readily apparent that new thinking had to take place in a publication serving the corrections facility management sector. CTM was going to have to lead the way. Current publications were in a state of simply publishing in perpetuity...a steady diet of ho-hum. CTM could quickly establish itself if it was a publication supplying the answers and solutions for readers.

You never get a second chance to make a good first impression. Graphically, CTM would deliver a bold, dramatic look to make readers stop and notice the first issue when it hit their desks - contemporary, clean, consistent look. That was the charge given to the art department.

Editorial content was designed to include sections and elements that employed reader involvement, not just reading. Editorial content would tell readers things that they didn't already know. The credo "give readers the best information available, something they can use today, now." There would be almost no chance of any reader ever picking up the magazine and saying, "Nothing in there for me." With such a broad spectrum of topics to cover, departments and features were assembled in a matrix that offered contents to the maximum sector of the circulation in every issue. Tough job for the editors. Solid sell for the advertising sales reps.

In July 1997, Tim Burke, an editor with background in law enforcement communications and publications, was hired and immediately put the editorial plan to work. Editorially the content has been focused on presenting the latest and best of real-life, contemporary policies, practices and knowledge in correctional facility management.

Has it all worked? The fourth issue is already off the presses. In spite of being the new kid on the block, noticeable reader service inquiries have been posted - a sure sign of readership and reader participation, and, advertising pages and dollars have increased with every issue.

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