But who needs the newspaper?

There is no sadder story in the world,
than a story about an unread newspaper

Part 1. Free

When the project of creating the “Trinity Option” was conceived and implemented, I personally had serious doubts about whether anyone needed it. As almost three years of practice have shown, it is necessary! Our audience may not be the largest, but it is stable, loyal and RESPECTED. Still, it is much more difficult to convert people with high intelligence and to please them than to achieve the same success with the “average citizen.”

One of the main components of a newspaper’s activities is (to use marketing and economic slang) bringing the product to the consumer. We, of course, assumed that there would be difficulties, but we did not expect how serious they were and, if I may allow myself a tautology, unexpected. I’ll tell you a secret, to this day, stacks of the first two or three issues are kept in different places - from the back room of the Trovant publishing house to the offices of some institutes. We simply weren’t able to distribute them and the first thing we did was reduce the circulation. When we conceived the newspaper, we planned 20,000 copies; the debut issues (fortunately!) were printed in the amount of 10 thousand, but then we reduced the circulation by half.

Otherwise, on the one hand, we would go broke just on printing, on the other hand, we would drown in a mountain of such valuable and highly intellectual waste paper. It would seem that given the current “market” realities, nothing could be simpler - enter into agreements with distributors and sellers, recruit subscribers - and the circulation will fly away like the wind. Not so. Of course, our own inexperience in these matters also affected us, but some things turned out to be simply inexplicable.

Firstly, few people were in a hurry to take our newspaper for distribution - logically citing its novelty and lack of promotion. But even two years later, when TrV-Nauka had earned itself a good name and gained some popularity, the two largest print media distribution networks in Moscow did not respond to our proposal for cooperation. All the more pleasant against their background is Novaya Gazeta, which sells 70-80 copies of each issue from just one kiosk (address: Strastnoy Blvd., 4). Can you imagine how many newspapers we could sell if there were a dozen such outlets in Moscow and the region?

By agreement with our sponsors, we distribute most of the circulation free of charge in the largest scientific and educational centers in Moscow. These are MSU, FIAN, HSE, IKI, IONH, SAI, Institute of Oceanography, SINP, ITEP, Polytechnic Museum, Museum of A.D. Sakharov, State Public Historical Library, forgive me if I forgot anyone... These institutions receive from 100 to 400 copies of each issue, and recently newspapers are sold out almost entirely within a day. Especially when we have experimentally established the needs of each of the distribution points.

But here, too, there were incidents and difficulties - at all levels. We were suddenly opposed either by strict Vokhrovites at the checkpoints or by unidentified bureaucrats from the depths of the institution. Like, this newspaper of yours is not needed here, it is lying all over the institute underfoot solely as garbage. I, especially at first, repeatedly had the opportunity to play the role of a courier for the delivery of TRV - and one day I could not resist and asked one such responsible institute worker in my feelings, what kind of “scientific office” do they have here such that none of the employees and managers are interested in specialized edition?

By the way, I note that in the early stages of the newspaper’s life, ONLY middle-aged candidates of sciences handled the work of a free distributor (free for readers, but not at all for TrV-N management) competently and creatively. Twice the “young, energetic, growing staff” we hired actually completely disrupted the distribution plan, managing to get lost for the whole day in Moscow and bury more than half of the circulation in the depths of their cars.

Unfortunately, there are examples of a different kind when the newspaper REALLY turned out to be not needed by scientists. At one very large institute (I won’t name it), with a number of its employees members of the editorial board are friends, and the director is our regular author and subscriber, we regularly imported TrV-N until local specialists in guarding the entrance. Like, your newspaper is dumped in the corner, no one is taking it. Indeed, after lying in a visible place at the entrance for more than a week, after a while the newspapers fell into a corner nearby - almost 1000 copies of the 5-6 latest issues had accumulated there!

At another institute we were strongly asked to bring in “at least half a pack”, like, all the surrounding institutions supply it, but they don’t - well, aren’t they people?.. Not scientists? We respected our comrades, fortunately the detour was small (every new object and route is the subject of a scientific and financial discussion between the management of TrV-N and the courier), and after a couple of months the compassionate lady at the entrance whispered in our delivery man’s ear: guys, don’t take us to us newspaper, they mostly use it to light stoves here - they take about 20 of them at once and...

There was even a “political” episode, when in one SERIOUS place they banned from HIGHLY distributing TrV-N for some objectionable publication (you know, we have three of them in each issue!). We were concerned about workarounds, letters to the public, support from local loyal academics, but, thank God, the problem resolved itself quite quickly. Still, scientists, as a rule, are smart enough not to get carried away with the roles of Derzhimorda or the non-commissioned officer’s widow.

But in general, the listed incidents remain incidents - the very exceptions that confirm the rule: the target audience of the “Trinity Option - Science” reads and, one would like to think, appreciates and respects. But they value and respect even more (by definition!) those people who do not receive a newspaper as a gift, but pay their own money for it. In the next issue, continuing the topic, we will talk about subscriptions and our beloved and long-suffering subscribers.

Ilya Mirmov