Hoosier Magazines.

• Author: Kaelble, Steve
• Position: Periodical subscription services in Michigan City, Indiana

Call an Indiana company at 1-800-824-MAGS to order you favorite magazines.

Robert W. Lake's not a publisher, but magazines are in his blood. His business is not writing them or printing them, but selling them.

The Michigan City businessman's latest idea coincides with the increased emphasis on buying close to home. Last year he launched a magazine-subscription service called Hoosier Magazines, designed to appeal to avid readers who not only don't have time to mess with subscription renewals but also have a desire to support a local business. It's not the only business of its kind, but it's the only one proud enough of its heritage to name itself "Hoosier."

As a subscription service, Hoosier Magazines offers customers a long list of magazines to which they may subscribe. Customers may subscribe to any number of these magazines with just one phone call. Throughout Indiana, Hoosier Magazines is listed in the Yellow Pages under "magazines." The toll-free number is 1-800-824-MAGS. The agency handles all of the arrangements, and customers receive just one bill each year.

The service is at the very least convenient, and in some cases, less expensive than subscribing to each magazine separately. There are special professional trade rates, student/education rates and consumer gift rates. And if a customer picks a magazine and then doesn't like it, he or she can call Hoosier Magazines and substitute another title of equivalent value.

Frequent users of this kind of service are doctors and dentists, who like to fill their waiting rooms with reading materials but don't have the time to deal with all of those publications. However, Lake stresses that the service can be useful to anyone who subscribes to a few magazines.

Hoosier Magazines may be new, but Lake has had a long association with the subscription business. His family operates Publishers Consulting Corp., which has been offering these types of services nationwide for years. Hoosier Magazines...