A trade magazine, also called a trade journal or trade paper (colloquially or disparagingly a trade rag), is a

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

or newspaper whose target audience is people who work in a particular trade or industry. The collective term for this area of publishing is the trade press.

Overview

Trade publications keep industry members abreast of new developments. In this role, it functions similarly to how academic journals or

scientific journal In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. Content Articles in scientific journals are mostly written by active scientists such as s ...

s serve their audiences. Trade publications include targeted advertising, which earns a

profit Profit may refer to: Business and law * Profit (accounting), the difference between the purchase price and the costs of bringing to market * Profit (economics), normal profit and economic profit * Profit (real property), a nonpossessory intere ...

for the publication and sales for the advertisers while also providing sales engineering–type advice to the readers, that may inform purchasing and

investment Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing i ...

decisions. Trade magazines typically contain advertising content centered on the industry in question with little, if any, general-audience advertising. They may also contain industry-specific job notices. For printed publications, some trade magazines operate on a

subscription business model The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century, an ...

known as

controlled circulation A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

, in which the subscription is free but is restricted only to subscribers determined to be qualified leads.

References

*"Trade or Industry Magazines" i
Professional/Trade Journals
Piedmont College. * Magazine genres {{trade-mag-stub

Overview

See also

References