Manisses Communications Group's new ventures in face of diminishing DM returns include launching magazines. (Publisher Profile).

Betsy Rawls Lang and her husband, Fraser Lang, launched Manisses Communicatons Group Inc. in the early 1980s "to have a business we could start up from our home."

"Fraser had enjoyed working with both Jim Marshall at Government Information Services and Tom Phillips at Phillips. He liked to say that if he had learned he might not be the greatest newsletter editor or marketer, he had learned how to manage a multi-title company ... so we needed to develop a multi-title company of our own to manage.

"So we launched the company in Arlington, Virginia, from the room that had been our youngest's nursery. Our first title was The Addiction Letter. Fraser had a cousin in the field and she became the first editor. We do like to do things cheaply."

The couple's big break

The "big break" for Manisses came when they moved to Providence, R.I., and became associated with Brown University. (Note: the name Manisses comes from an Indian tribe in Rhode Island that resisted the advance of the white man with singular ferocity.)

"No, we didn't just call and say, 'We'd like to publish newsletters with your name on the masthead.' It took a lot of meetings. But it's reallly a win-win situation," Lang said.

"Yes, we gained the prestige of the university affiliation, but Brown gained great exposure in the behavioral health area. And part of the agreement was that a professor from the university would be affiliated with every title, so they gained an additional source of income.

Manisses is currently publishing eight newsletters, five with the Brown University connection. "We stick pretty well to our niche in behavioral health care. Some time back, we did set out to conquer the world by launching the Brown World Business Letter but it was a disaster."

Marketing is more difficult now

In 2002, Lang said, marketing continues to become more difficult for all the newsletter titles. "It does seem that years ago you could open an industry directory, get names, send mail, and get orders. Not today. It's continually more difficult to get new subscriptions, and since 9/11 the problem has become worse. We used to rely a good deal on forced free trials, but we've pretty well stopped those.

"We still do some small mailings, but we're looking at whole new approaches. Perhaps some form of advertising in the newsletters and a concentration on gaining site licenses from the larger subscribers we have."

What is working

One of the "new approaches" Manisses has taken is getting into magazine publishing with Behavioral Healthcare Tomorrow ($77/year). "At this point I'm handling the newsletter division while Fraser concentrates on the magazines," Lang said.

This circulation-audited publication goes to managers and directors of mental health facilities and governmental officials in the area. They also use the magazine for newsletter marketing. At present, they have relationships with seven associations in the field, and all are listed on the masthead.

The associations' members receive the magazine, and their membership lists get newsletter promotions. "It comes on the letterhead of the association director offering them a 50 percent discount. It's a good deal for us; there are no list costs for one thing. It's one type of direct marketing that is still working for us," Lang said.

"We'll be launching our second magazine title in January 2003, and we already have five associations lined up for the same arrangement."

Online ventures

Manisses has a web site. "It brings us some contacts," Lang said. "Business there seems to be picking up. We're getting more hits."

What they are doing which is most successful in this area is publishing two free e-newsletters. One is in psychopharmacology and the other in behavioral health care.

"The real problem with the free e-mail letters," Lang said, "is making sure you restrain your editors who have a tendency to give away the store in the free product while we want them into the house as paid subs."

208 Governor St., Providence, RI 02906, 401-831-6020, fax [phone]. www.manisses.com