• by Kristin Sidorak , November 3, 2005

It's no secret that magazines are struggling to find new ways of adding or keeping readers, but a new publication is taking it to an extreme, providing a financial incentive to subscribers who sign up others. The magazine, Chicken Soup for the Soul, launched in July by Modern Media LLC, has launched a "rewards program" for readers who generate new subscribers. The program, similar to the mile-rewards programs offered through airlines, provides "shopping points" that can be used to purchase items from a "soup-friendly" catalog.

The program, believed to be the first of its kind in the magazine industry, comes at a time when magazine publishers have become very aggressive about promoting subscriptions, offering discounts, and even providing "club" or free memberships to grow their subscriber base.

"I bet it could really take off in the publishing industry," says the magazine's publisher, Mignonne Wright. Providing what she thinks can be some chicken soup for the soul of the magazine industry overall, Wright says she hopes other publishers will run with the idea and build the medium's overall circulation. Print is "not a dying medium," she maintains.

The magazine intends to stay true to the bond authors Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield sought to create with readers when they first began selling the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books out of backpacks. Wright aims to target "Chicken Soup" fans to promote circulation. "We want to make them our sales force," she explains. "We did not do direct mail or promotions. Who better to sell our magazine than those who read it--and then they get to shop for free."

The rewards program, which is being managed by National Community Services, enrolls every subscriber with 1,000 points, and provides them with an additional 1,000 points for each new subscription they generate. After accumulating 10,000 points, members qualify for merchandise from a catalog managed by Quality Incentive Company, featuring adult and children's products that range from a Homer Simpson alarm clock and a Spanish-language immersion program to diamond rings and Movado watches.

But Mignonne believes the subscriber incentive program may go one step further: If there is a trend in readers' purchases, she says it may influence an article in an upcoming issue.

Chicken Soup for the Soul magazine currently has a circulation of 150,000, and is published six times a year.