Since our inception in 2010, Retro Lovely has been dedicated to creating opportunities for the artists we feature. Unfortunately, with the dawn of social media and print-on-demand publishing, this has become harder and harder to do. Did you know Oprah’s O and Playboy Magazine are no longer in print?
When we relaunched in 2018, we had a goal of doing as much as we possibly could in this regard. In that time, we’ve accomplished a lot, in some ways even more than our early years, seeing as it’s harder now.
So what are our opportunities?
All of this is commerce-driven. Nothing happens without the sales of something. For Retro Lovely, this is through our publications spanning several genres; we have something for everyone. We also offer posters and branded merchandise. This is the foundation of how we fund our operations. For models, there are some areas where they can leverage being published in our magazines for themselves. For instance, a purchase of 10 or more copies of a magazine you’ve been in will automatically get you a 15% discount. A person could also easily get started without even needing ten copies. You could offer them to your fans autographed at a premium. We also offer a variety of calendars and posters that a model could make available to her supporters. These things are the first steps to see if you might have some fans to help you get started.
What this isn’t is us simply doing everything for you. This is the opportunity for a partnership WITH US. If you don’t want to invest even just a slight amount of time, this isn’t for you. It won’t work. We are in a position where we only have so many resources, and we can’t squander them. If we did in the past, what’s available to you now wouldn’t be possible. We like to think we’re pretty good at managing this, too, since we seem to be the only publication remotely doing what we are. If you know of one, let us know about them, we’d love to give them some mad props.
Here’s a bullet list of how you might get started:
- Offer your fans signed copies of an issue of ours you’ve been in. This has no additional cost to you beyond the issue cover price. Keep in mind if you work to rally just ten fans, you’d be able to get a 15% discount on those copies. Don’t forget to consider shipping costs, and if you mail things to fans, DO NOT USE YOUR HOME RETURN ADDRESS. P.O. Boxes keep you safe. If you can’t justify one, you can use our business address instead. Any creepy fans will end up having to explain themselves to us.
- Get a custom poster made from one of your features. This does have a set-up fee from us as it will take time out of our schedule. But it’s a very affordable way to have something that’s just yours to offer supporters. (info on these are not yet ready but will be live soon, check back for a link here)
- Special Model Edition. This is the holy grail. We only offer these to models when we see some work having been done. When we know they will promote it properly. It’s our way of saying thank you. They cost the models nothing. The models keep every penny of profit. They are our greatest achievement. Special Model Editions are not submitted to, we offer them. There is not list of things you must do to ensure this. This keeps them incredibly special. Just as you can’t buy a cover for any of our titles other than Modsquad, these Special Model Editions can’t be bought. If you want to hear more about these why not check out some of our podcasts where we chat with some of the models we’ve already worked with here.
If you begin your journey with issues you’ve been in or posters you will simply be testing the waters with fans yourself. If you bulk purchase 10 or more magazines we do want to chat with you further. Please use our contact form to reach out to us. Save receipts for those purchases as well so we can find them in our system. Please DO NOT be misleading about things. We’ve had many people waste our time over the years and try to misrepresent things. We’re trying to do something extraordinary here, please don’t impede our efforts.
RL Team