Investment Opportunity for REAL English magazine

REAL English Investment Proposal

Executive Summary

REAL English is an English Language Training (ELT) magazine which will be sold in Taiwan at the retail level by way of bookstores and individual subscription (via a form in the mag and from the website) as well as at the wholesale level to adult English language schools to be integrated into their curriculum. The magazine’s name and slogan, REAL English – Raw English for Adult Learners, infers the type of material students can expect from the magazine – real, raw, as-it-is-spoken English from around the world.

The English content for the magazine is drawn from 24Seven, an English-Chinese monthly cultural magazine which is currently enjoying its 4th year of publication in Taiwan. 24Seven was started as a foreigner magazine, written by foreigners for foreigners in Taichung and has since morphed into a semi-bilingual cultural magazine with top-quality, cutting edge content and design and island-wide distribution. REAL English will capitalize on 24Seven’s quality pool of writers, editors, designers, salespeople and administrative personnel to keep “start-up” costs to a minimum. REAL English is seeking 500,000NT to be used for the rental of office space, as well as for day to day operations, staffing, and for the initial print run of the first issue.

The Product

REAL English will use the content from the 24Seven magazines and turn them into a teaching resource by highlighting vocabulary, translating 4 of the articles into Chinese with examples, student worksheets and tests as well as audio CDs; with the eventual addition of an interactive online learning environment.

The articles in 24Seven (and consequently REAL English) are racy, real world English articles written by native English speakers. The name, REAL English - Raw English for Adult Learners, was chosen because it accurately portrays the type of English which will be taught; English written and spoken by westerners from all over the world; including each country’s particular slang, idioms and other peculiarities of language - including some swearing.

The CD included with each issue contains the narrated version of the 4 target articles in mp3 format with soft, relaxing music in the background as well as the addition of sound effects throughout the reading to enhance the story. In order to get students used to different accents from around the world, each issue of REAL English will use narrators from different countries. Since REAL English is based on listening, reading and using, it is our belief that with the addition of music and sound effects to the narration of the articles, the students will be more relaxed and therefore more open to learning. The constant listening of the monthly CDs provides REAL English students with the opportunity to not only hear and decipher the accents of English speakers from around the world but to do so in a non-threatening environment at their own pace.

If you would like additional information, please email Reese Richards (reese.richards@gmail.com) for a full version of the investment proposal along with projections and examples.

Please note that we will not publicly post any further information about this investment opportunity nor the responses to future questions. Direct all inquiries to Reese via email or call 0938 921 653.

I like 24/7 and the concept of REAL. I think many students would enjoy it too.

I’m currently working on some teaching material for one of the big adult buxibans and asked the boss about ‘adult content’. His response was “absolutely not”. I suspect that other schools will be similarly conservative, which raises the question of how you would reach your market.

What a crack up, Ivy League English rag meets RAW (real american wrestling). I always did want to write “content” for porn mags—is this my chance? I know Forumoszzzza is a family website so I will not post any samples should I email them to you?

You write:
“Please note that we will not publicly post any further information about this investment opportunity nor the responses to future questions. Direct all inquiries to Reese via email or call 0938 921 653”…

…why, is it a fucking state secret? On a metaphysical note, you mention REAL (use ALL CAPS=GOOD, DRAWS attention, just like the ads in COMIC books) English students, what are the other kind, un-real english students?

Are you guys and Gus/Taffy/Taiwanese in some kind of magazine circulation war?? Speaking of which, did the Taiwanese Magazine project fall by the wayside or still alive and well.

Well, thanks for the end of the day laugh.
Take care and good luck with your RAW English Journal.
Larry Flint Brian

No, no war. :rainbow:

Alive and kicking! The magazine is being very well-received, and distribution points are increasing steadily. :slight_smile:

[quote=“24seventaiwan.com”]REAL English Investment Proposal
The name, REAL English - Raw English for Adult Learners, was chosen because it accurately portrays the type of English which will be taught; English written and spoken by westerners from all over the world; including each country’s particular slang, idioms and other peculiarities of language - including some swearing.
[/quote]

Will it teach students how to write bloodless yet bizarre sales copy?

Thanks for keepin’ it real. Word to the mother.

I hope the magazine won’t reveal any secrets of the Ways of the Waiguoren. Don’t want Taiwanese thinking we are horny, sport-obsessed, beer-swilling losers. :beer:

Good luck, Reese. I speak as someone who knows a little about the magazine business, and although 24seven isn’t my cup of tea, I have respect for anyone who gets any kind of magazine out consistently…

I’m curious how you’ll do re getting bookstores etc to stock the magazine. As far as I can tell, Taiwan is awash in English-teaching weeklies/biweeklies/monthlies… and most bookstores have limited space. Moreover, if the content is at all racy, they may be reluctant to sell it.

Racy content may also scare off advertisers, who tend to be wholesome businesses like dictionary publishers and study-abroad counsellors.

Presumably you’ll need to register with the GIO if you’re going down the retail route.

“westerners from all over the world”? I love it when silly nits who can’t write English lay claim to teaching it.

Hey, wouldn’t that be some of us who’ve been Teaching TOO Long here??? :wink:

Actually I’m curious. Are Australians Westerners?

Actually I’m curious. Are Australians Westerners?[/quote]

Yes, they’re from the West Island of New Zealand.

[quote=“almas john”]I hope the magazine won’t reveal any secrets of the Ways of the Waiguoren. Don’t want Taiwanese thinking we are horny, sport-obsessed, beer-swilling losers. :beer:[/quote]known locally as…The Dao of the Waiguoren:beer:

Didn’t the good Mayor of Taipei Mr. Ma have a similar publication/website which taught colliquial English to Taiwanese for free. The site had all sorts of terms about “making it” with the local lasses. How did that site do? This paid for publication will have to compete with free lessons courtesy of Taipei’s taxpayers.
Anyone with NT$500K of spare cash would do much better to invest in the local stock market, more upside and a lot more fun. :rainbow:

Of the major English teaching magazines, most derive a very small portion of their income from newsstand or subscription sales. The money is in the schools, not on the street. AND they are frequently “required” to provide all sorts of freebies to schools to get them to sign up…free exams, recordings, etc. etc., even appearances by their radio talent.

Soooo…good luck with that.

外可歪, 無所外也…

If I were you Reese I would target your potential customers as investors, ie the adult schools and bookstores that you want to carry your magazines, and publishers, most will say no and think it is crazy perhaps, but only ONE yes is needed.

[quote=“24seventaiwan.com”]REAL English Investment Proposal

Executive Summary

REAL English is an English Language Training (ELT) magazine which will be sold in Taiwan at the retail level by way of bookstores and individual subscription (via a form in the mag and from the website) as well as at the wholesale level to adult English language schools to be integrated into their curriculum. The magazine’s name and slogan, REAL English – Raw English for Adult Learners, infers the type of material students can expect from the magazine – real, raw, as-it-is-spoken English from around the world.

The English content for the magazine is drawn from 24Seven, an English-Chinese monthly cultural magazine which is currently enjoying its 4th year of publication in Taiwan. 24Seven was started as a foreigner magazine, written by foreigners for foreigners in Taichung and has since morphed into a semi-bilingual cultural magazine with top-quality, cutting edge content and design and island-wide distribution. REAL English will capitalize on 24Seven’s quality pool of writers, editors, designers, salespeople and administrative personnel to keep “start-up” costs to a minimum. REAL English is seeking 500,000NT to be used for the rental of office space, as well as for day to day operations, staffing, and for the initial print run of the first issue.

The Product

REAL English will use the content from the 24Seven magazines and turn them into a teaching resource by highlighting vocabulary, translating 4 of the articles into Chinese with examples, student worksheets and tests as well as audio CDs; with the eventual addition of an interactive online learning environment.

The articles in 24Seven (and consequently REAL English) are racy, real world English articles written by native English speakers. The name, REAL English - Raw English for Adult Learners, was chosen because it accurately portrays the type of English which will be taught; English written and spoken by westerners from all over the world; including each country’s particular slang, idioms and other peculiarities of language - including some swearing.

The CD included with each issue contains the narrated version of the 4 target articles in mp3 format with soft, relaxing music in the background as well as the addition of sound effects throughout the reading to enhance the story. In order to get students used to different accents from around the world, each issue of REAL English will use narrators from different countries. Since REAL English is based on listening, reading and using, it is our belief that with the addition of music and sound effects to the narration of the articles, the students will be more relaxed and therefore more open to learning. The constant listening of the monthly CDs provides REAL English students with the opportunity to not only hear and decipher the accents of English speakers from around the world but to do so in a non-threatening environment at their own pace.

If you would like additional information, please email Reese Richards (reese.richards@gmail.com) for a full version of the investment proposal along with projections and examples.

Please note that we will not publicly post any further information about this investment opportunity nor the responses to future questions. Direct all inquiries to Reese via email or call 0938 921 653.[/quote]
Who are the customers?

The readers? ironlady points out that English learning magazines in Taiwan make their money from school (bulk) subscriptions, not retail. (This is a critical assumption that confuses your objectives, as you will see)

Or the advertisers? And who are they? How many are they? Are there more entering the sector, which would be a great reason to provide more, new and fresh material for them? Are they unsatisfied with the current offerings? If you think so, how do you know? Because you asked (surveyed) them?

My concern would be that you looked at the present crop of English learning magazines and decided that you could build a better one - recycling/leveraging with material you already have. Assuming you have copyright of your 24seven material, why are you so certain that it will sell? If it’s because you know readers who complain about current magazines, then you better research the real customers (advertisers) instead.

How do you know and how do your customers know that you are doing well? Maybe by the quality of content - purely subjective. Maybe by sales - oops, I keep forgetting that these magazines don’t make money from sales!

I hope these questions help you. Because if I had a dime for every time someone came up with a new idea without even a single word of who is supposed to pay for the whole thing, I’d be doing pretty well financially. Actually, I’m doing ok right now :slight_smile:

You want to start a business? Then talk about the customer first, what they need, and why you are ideally suited to fill that need. And remember, in this business - apparently the customer is not the reader.