Navigating the “Maze” of Magazine
Production & Technology:
— Decades of
extensive hands-on experience in Printing (as Printer & Publisher, and
whether Magazines, Catalogs, Books, or Commercial Print), as well as in
Software Development, Workflow Analysis & Implementation, and Database
Applications.
— Noted Author &
Lecturer:
* Author of the Only Modern Book About Magazine Production:
“Working With a Magazine Printer”.
* Writes extensively for Folio Magazine about Production and
— Documented as First Publishing Corporate Publishing User of
PCs Starting in 1981.
— Leading Expert in Magazine Cost Management.
— Developer of ProAct, the only Comprehensive Cost Management
Solution!
— We have Saved Magazine Publishers over $100 million in
Manufacturing and Distribution Expenses.
— Introduced Concept of “
(1) locate and secure the best possible
printing and other vendor arrangements: in price, quality, service and
innovation, while also assuring absolute vendor accountability;
(2) implement an operational and manufacturing
plan that is both cost-effective and responsive to your products and other
business interests;
(3) guide you into which technologies to buy or
lease, whether inhouse or outsourced, using our extensive “Applications
Capabilities” comparator;
(4) start up a new magazine, even a new
publishing company, with a professional organization and cost-effective
supplier arrangements;
(5) benefit from the best production
professionals through Executive Recruitment and/or Professional Training
programs;
(6) streamline publishing workflows through
technology while also implementing Best Practices;
(7) implement book
makeup and cost management practices that assures the lowest possible
manufacturing & distribution expenses;
(8) improve your magazine operations through programs specifically customized for your special interests and needs.
Consulting Programs
As Consultants,
we have accomplished “Missions
Impossible”! BNL offers extensive consulting programs and with a proven
track record with publishers as well as other content providers and software
developers, regardless of objectives, company makeup, and other requirements,
both in Production Operations & Technology.
Profitable Magazine Economics starts with Best Planning Practices. Our ProAct Cost Management Software System
enables the publisher to actually improve profits and product by reallocating
waste into effective creative and marketing practices.
Working With a
Magazine Printer
Click on the Book Cover Below to
Order “Working With a Magazine Printer”
from Folio Press:
Three Parts (Basic, Intermediate, Advanced) in 17 chapters over 316
pages.
Topics include (a) analyzing different magazine formats; (b) prepress
(including CTP/PDF); (c) offset and rotogravure printing processes; (d) binding
and other finishing processes; (e) all about paper stock; (f) cost management
and issue book makeup, including press impositions; (g) vender selection,
bidding including request for proposal, analysis and contract requirements; (h)
building a professional production organization; (i) geo/demo production; (j)
color and other quality management practices; etc.
Contributors include Fry Communications, Quebecor World, Creo,
Heidelberg USA, DDAP and SWOP, and the IDEAlliance official glossary.
Magazine Technology
An Integrated Suite
of Software Applications fulfilling Enterprise Publishing: Written for Folio Magazine.
The
June, 2005 Issue proposes a management information system for senior
publishing executives.
A Series of White
Papers About “Enterprise Publishing Through Technology” written by BNL
available per the Links below:
Vanguard Concept = Completely Integrated, Automated, and End-to-End Process Management!
Company Profile
In 1981, Bert N. Langford began a part-time
software and consulting firm for publishers, going full-time in 1991. With a
background in printing and publishing, he brings a unique perspective to
publishing. Most recently, Mr. Langford authored the book "Working With a Magazine Printer", which can be purchased
from Folio Press at the link provided above.
With 40 years of experience, Mr. Langford has
led the way in bringing professional business practices and software solutions
to publishing. Mr. Langford was the first documented professional to bring PCs
into the publishing office, in 1981, and has either developed or consulted for
numerous applications developers since.
BNL has consulted for 100s of magazines including
Prevention, Men's Health, Teen, Motor Trend, Hot Rod, Farm Journal, and Folio. We have consulted for publishers all sizes: Large (Petersen,
Primedia, Rodale), Medium (Affinity Group), and small (Futures magazine and Fox
Chapel Publishing). We have taken on the most profound assignments, including
the most complex magazines (Farm Journal),
the highest quality publications (Nest, a
Quarterly of Interiors), and publishers with dozens and hundreds of titles
(Petersen Publishing, Rodale, and Primedia).
About Bert N. Langford
& Associates
Our Mission
Statement: Our one and only mission is to deliver beyond your expectations
on each and every engagement. Period.
Too frequently, many “consultants” in our
business make the mistake of telling the client what he wants to hear, not what
he needs to know in order to better manage his business. We will neither pander
nor patronize you. Yet with careful consideration of all factors that have been
responsible for your magazines’ success – especially your employees and
vendors/partners.
We also believe that magazine publishing is
undergoing a profound and rapid transformation, from print publisher to content
provider. And for some publishers, their business interests go far beyond magazines
of any form, serving “ancillary markets” that for some exceed the income from
their magazines. But for which the magazines remain the constant “voice” for
corporate growth. In all, that the entire magazine publishing business has a
common interest in continuing to improve its business model through enterprise
technology, which we will continue to promote and assist publishers and
software developers in implementing in order for magazine publishing to remain
competitive with all forms of media.
Finally, we will not mislead you by
promising savings or other benefits that either don’t materialize or are not
sufficient to warrant changing your business arrangements, including suppliers.
Rather, at the end of the engagement, our prevailing priority will be to leave
you with new opportunities that exceed your expectations, recognizing that our
work is meant to last far into the future, long after we are gone!
A Biography of Bert N. Langford: Family printing history,
College major in printing, 14 years with three prominent printers of
commercial, magazine and book printing, 26 years since in publishing and as a
consultant in publishing and software development.
Contact Us
Mailing Address: Bert N. Langford & Associates
Telephone: 1-973-586-0882
Email: Bert@BNLConsult.com