Distribution Policy

The distribution policy is strategically designed to maximize brand success, advertiser satisfaction, and increased readership. By adhering to these proven guidelines, publishers can achieve financial growth and stability within their communities. This streamlined approach simplifies the publisher's role in managing their part of the distribution while maintaining balanced production-to-print ratios.

• A signed franchise agreement must be on file before any distribution changes can be made.
• Each distribution change incurs a $500 fee. 
  • This fee will only be waived once per year if the publication is at Gold status or higher. 
  • If a publication falls back below Gold status, the publisher must then adhere to the distribution policy for their current tier.
• ALL changes in distribution take place within the territory zip codes defined in the franchise agreement. CL does not add zip codes as a magazine advances in tier. All territories are strategically designed from the outset to support and sustain a Black Tier publication, with a residential distribution range of 14,000 to 20,000 homes.

Changes in Distribution

A change in distribution is defined as and of the following:

• Adding one or more new residential routes
• Deleting one or more residential routes
• Replacing one or more residential routes

(NOTE: ALL changes in distribution take place within the existing territory zip codes as defined in the franchise agreement)

• 1x change per year is recommended (fees may apply based on policy by tier)
• A second change may be permitted upon approval (a $500 fee will be incurred)

Distribution Policy by Tier

• Just Launched ($16K - $19.9K):
  • No changes in distribution or binding are permitted to establish the brand
• Bronze ($20K - $24.9K): 
  • Allotted one annual distribution change for $500
• Silver ($25K - $29.9K): 
  • Allotted one annual distribution change for $500
  • Perfect binding is available when a publication reaches a total page count of 44 pages AND a 3-month revenue forecast of $25K is attained
• Gold ($30K - $39.9K): 
  • Allotted one annual distribution change for $0
  • Distribution can increase up to 8,000 residential single-family homes with a 3-month revenue forecast of $30K+
  • Recommended to keep the business & clients combined to 500
  • Publisher copies and additional readers are additional distribution
• Platinum ($40K - $49.9K): 
  • Allotted one annual route change for $0
  • Distribution can increase up to 10,000 residential single-family homes with a 3-month revenue forecast of $40K+
  • Note that this does not affect the quantities of publisher copies, clients, businesses, or additional readers
• Diamond ($50K - $60.9K): 
  • Allotted one annual route change for $0
  • Distribution can increase up to 12,000 residential single-family homes with a 3-month forecast of $50K+
  • Note that this does not affect the quantities of Pub copies, clients, businesses, or additional readers
• Black ($70K+): 
  • Allotted one annual route change for $0

  • Distribution can increase up to 15,000 residential single-family homes

    Note that this does not affect the quantities of publisher copies, clients, businesses, or additional readers

*See the chart below for a quick overview of the Distribution Policy by tier.

Policy for Managing Additional Readers:

• Additional readers are NOT included in your residential distribution. They include businesses, clients & the individuals added by you, the publisher.
• Additional readers' entries are self-managed by the publisher through the ARC.
• Businesses, clients, and additional readers have caps. These caps are in place to help keep lists from ballooning out of control, keep them fresh, and regularly remove addresses of people who have moved, businesses who have closed or are no longer advertising, and update businesses who you have determined are not viable advertising partners or benefiting from receiving the magazine.
• Additional Readers: 300 maximum
• Businesses: 500 maximum
• Clients: 250 maximum
• Once any cap has been reached, ARC will prevent any new addresses from being added until addresses have been removed to make room for the new addresses. 
• Keep additional readers to a minimum (the cap is 300). The Additional Readers list was designed specifically for friends, family, photographers, writers, staff, article subjects, and their families, those few homes that might be very rural or included in a route of lower statistics, or a client home address outside of the route/area. 
• DO NOT add entire/full subdivisions to additional readers; use annual distribution to make this kind of addition.
• DO NOT add residential areas outside your territory. Any areas outside of your territory will be removed from the distribution list immediately when detected by distribution.
• Maintain a combination of 500 businesses and clients, which will help to keep your readership numbers high, as businesses/clients have higher readership calculations than residences. Businesses have a cap of 500. Clients have a cap of 250.

All clients are automatically added to your additional readers at the time the contract is signed. Please note that if the address information is not complete at the time of signing, the address will not transfer. We encourage you to double-check your client addresses on the additional readers' list when signing contracts to make sure they are complete.

Guidde: Distribution Policy Overview

2025 Distribution Policy

The Distribution Policy is strategically designed to maximize brand success, advertiser satisfaction, and increase readership. By adhering to these proven guidelines, publishers can achieve financial growth and stability within their communities. This streamlined approach simplifies the publisher’s role in managing their part of the distribution while maintaining balanced production-to-print ratios.

Requirements:

• A signed franchise agreement must be on file before any distribution changes can be made.
• Each distribution change incurs a $500 fee. This fee will only be waived once per year if the publication is at Gold status or higher. If a publication falls below Gold status, the fee applies, and publishers must then adhere to the distribution policy for their current tier.
• All changes are restricted to routes within the territory’s assigned zip codes. Changes are to routes within those zip codes and do not add or change zip codes to the territory.