Scotland’s Holyrood magazine is now on sale on news stands for a trial period to gauge if it has the commercial potential to become a general sale weekly.
The fortnightly magazine, which covers the Scottish parliamentary and political scene, has made a significant impact on Scottish journalism with a number of major news breaks since it was launched to coincide with the new Scottish Parliament.
Until now the magazine has been distributed solely to 2,300 subscribers, but publisher, Hamish Miller, has put it on general sale with a cover price of £2.95 to assess its viability as a weekly publication on general sale.
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The magazine is a full-colour glossy US-size A4 with a core pagination of 64 pages, although it also contains regular supplements.
With an editorial staff of three, it has a stable of freelance writers including leading Scottish journalists.
Editor Paul Hutcheon, who has been in post for 18 months, said: “In the last six months we have broken news that is of interest to everyone in Scotland – not only to the political community – and we feel there is a gap in the market to cover politics in detail because magazines like the New Statesman and The Economist concentrate only on Westminster.
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Holyrood magazine had been originally owned by Parliamentary Communications, publisher of The House magazine at Westminster, but was bought out by Holyrood Communications two years ago.
The company also publishes the Health Quarterly and Transport Quarterly.
By Hamish Mackay
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