As a seller, the gravest mistake you can make is to believe you can obtain top dollar for your newsletters simply by supplying potential buyers a few financial statements and some back issues. Publishers who take this cavalier approach risk losing tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars in the purchase price. Just like subscriptions, newsletter properties need and deserve to be sold. Just as you bring in an outsid copywriter to prepare your subscription marketing materials, you'll want to consider enlisting professional assistance in drafting your Memorandum. Above all, your Confidential Memorandum should embody two critical selling principles and be carefully crafted around seven key information points.
Most sellers mistakenly believe the buyer is purchasing the past or the present.
Rare is the buyer who wants merely to maintain your publishing property without enhancing its value. In short, your Memorandum must appeal to the buyer's greed. It must tantalize the buyer with the promise that your publications' sales, profits, and value can be significantly increased. You must prove that the business can become more than it is today. Preparing financial statements for a Confidential Memorandum is as much an art as an accounting exercise.