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Help Centre - Selling - Trade Services - Adding Issues in Bulk

Help Centre Home > Selling - Trade Services > Adding Issues in Bulk


Trade Services Guide - Table of Contents
  • Introduction
  • Add single issue - Submit details
  • Add single issue - Create page directly
  • Adding issues in bulk
  • 'About this Title' pages
  • 'Current Issue' pages
  • Promotion Pages
  • (Click links above to jump to that page)



    Before you proceed...

    ...You may find it helpful to first read this summary of the three ways of adding new magazine issues to the website:

    Click Here



    Adding Issues in Bulk - Introduction

    Publishers, and indeed any other Sellers, may add large number of magazine issues to the website in a single operation by means of the 'Bulk Import' facility. This involves uploading a 'flat file' containing all the relevant magazine issue details (titles, dates, contents listings etc), and also any corresponding image files.

    Once the flat file has been uploaded the actual import is carried out by Magazine Exchange staff, who may also need to carry out other steps depending upon the circumstances - for instance if the content is for a magazine title which is new to the site.

    Once the issues have been added to the site all Sellers may start listing their own copies of those issues for sale in the usual way.
    The bulk-upload procedure can be used to edit content which already appears on the site, as well as to add new content


    Overview of Bulk Import Process




    Step 1 - Preparing the Data File

    The first step in the process is to prepare a 'Flat File' containing all the magazine issue data

    What is a Flat File?

    A 'flat file' is just a document containing tabular data (ie, rows and columns) arranged in a simple format that can be read by almost any computer system. Items of data within the document are usually separated by 'commas' or 'tabs', and the document itself will typically be saved with a '.txt' or '.csv' format.



    How do I create a Flat File?

    Flat files can be created in a number of ways, but it's usually easiest to do so with a spreadsheet application because these naturally have a 'rows and columns' layout, and they come with lots of useful tools for manipulating the data. Once you've got the data laid-out properly as a spreadsheet, the flat file itself is created by using the 'Export' or 'Save As' function

    Download a sample .csv file:
    Sample Bulk Import File
    What Flat File format should I use?

    Magazine Exchange can accept data in the form of either a comma-delimitated .csv file, or a tab-delimitated .txt file. Alternatively - and you may find this even easier - you can send us your original spreadsheet file in either Microsoft Excel, OpenOffice Calc or Lotus 123 format.


    Your Flat File in detail - What data it should contain?

    The data to include in the flat file is described in detail below. Note that only information about the magazine issues themselves is included in the file, not your 'sales' information (selling prices, item conditions, comments etc).




    Information to enter into each column:


    Product Full Name

    This should identify both the title of the magazine, and the specific issue. The way the issue is identified should be consistent ? for example, always refer to issues by their date, or always refer to them by their issue number - don't use a combination of both as this is likely to confuse the customer. Our own preference is that issues are best identified by date, but using issues numbers is fine if that is the convention with your magazine. 'Special issues' should be described in whatever way is appropriate.


    Examples of Product Full Names:

    Widget Magazine, July 1990 Issue
    Widget Magazine, Issue 46
    Widget Magazine, Spring 2010 Issue
    Widget Magazine, 1990 Annual
    Widget Magazine, Blue Widget Special Issue



    Contents Listing: (Optional)

    This is the contents listing of the issue - providing this information is optional but very strongly recommended as it a key factor in attracting buyers. Usually this information will simply be a reproduction fo the contents listing which appears in the magazine itself, but you are encouraged to add extra information to the descriptions of the various articles if you wish.

    Use plain text only, with '< br >' inserted where line-breaks are required. As with the Article Snippets, avoid duplicate content and don?t attempt to insert images or links, or any other html or formatting.



    Image Filenames

    Each magazine issue may have up to six images. The first image must be of the front cover of the magazine, and is compulsory.

    Additional images are optional, and may be of the inside pages from the magazine, or other items related to that issue such as perhaps supplements or free gifts etc.
    See information elsewhere for advice about preparing the images themselves.





    Product Short Name:

    This is the 'issue' identifier only - usually with the word 'issue' itself eliminated.

    Examples of Product Short Names:

    July 1990
    Issue 46
    Spring 2010
    1990 Annual
    Blue Widget Special



    Weight

    This is the shipping weight of the item, expressed in kilograms - for example, enter ?0.25? into this column if the item weighs 250grams. It?s in your interest to ensure the shipping weight given is as correct as possible, being neither higher nor lower than the actual weight of the item.



    Article Snippets (Optional)

    Entering 'Article Snippet' information greatly improves the usefulness of that issue's website page by giving potential customers a better understanding of what that issue contains. It will also greatly increase the chance of customers finding your magazine in the first place ? the Article Snippets information is indexed by both Magazine Exchange?s own article search facility, and external search engines such as Google.

    It is recommended that you provide the introductory paragraphs of several of the main articles or features within the magazine - the aim is to provide enough information for the customer to know what the article is about, but not so much that they can avoid buying the magazine! Any text used must be unique to this magazine issue only ? do not be tempted to reproduce the same bits of text within the Articles Snippets of several different magazine issues ? this is known as ?duplicate content? and will greatly harm the search engine ranking of every page on which it appears.

    Use plain text only, with '< br >' inserted where line-breaks are required. Do not attempt to insert images or links, or any other html or formatting.





    Step 2 - Preparing the Image Files

    Preparing the image files is covered on the Adding a Single Issue page

    Step 3 - Compress files into a single .zip archive

    The purpose of this step is to take your multiple image files, together with the flat data file, and compress them together into a single zipped archive file so that everything can be uploaded via the Bulk Upload form in a single operation. There are various proprietory software utilities that can be used for this and more information of the process can be obtained from them.

    The compression / zipping operation is primarily one of convenience and if you wish you are welcome to transmit the multiple separate files to us by another means



    Step 4 - Upload using Bulk Upload form

    The Bulk Upload form is available within a Seller's account area and can be used to upload your compressed bulk upload file.

    Individual uploads may be up to 20Mb in size which will be ample in the vast majority of cases, but in exceptional circumstances you may wisdh to split the file up into multiple uploads or send them to us by another means.


    Steps 5 & 6 - Data added to website

    Magazine Exchange now takes your data and adds it to the website, along with creating any new categories that might be required.

    Once all the new magazines issues have been added we will contact you to let you know, after which you can log-into your Seller account in the normal way and list those items for sale if you wish.

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