Ask John: Why are Anime Magazines So Expensive?

Question:
Why are anime and manga magazine subscriptions so expensive? I’d say that the average price for an American magazine subscription is about $20. So why do anime magazines cost on average from $60-$120?

Answer:
Typical American magazines offset their printing costs with massive advertising revenue generated by printing hundreds of advertisements. Typically American anime magazines simply don’t run as many ads from nearly as many companies as mainstream magazines do. Furthermore, since an American anime magazine doesn’t sell even a 10th as many copies as People or Time Magazine do, American anime magazines have smaller print runs. And smaller print runs are more expensive to publish.

Import anime magazines are expensive simply because of their size. Import magazines like Newtype and Animage have 250+ pages printed on glossy paper. Manga magazines include upwards of 500 pages. That much paper simply weighs a lot and increases the shipping cost of importing these magazines. That increased shipping cost gets passed along to the consumer through retail cost.