The heat is on; few circulation professionals feel they're well compensated for the pressure they're under now - Folio's 1996 Circulation Salary Survey

To look at the numbers, circulation professionals did well last year, as far as salaries and bonuses go. Directors saw their salaries rise by 6 percent, to an average of $63,600; circulation managers did slightly better, with a 6.6 percent average raise, to $40,000.

Why, then, are so many circulation professionals - from all around the country, not just New York City - frustrated with their jobs? Corporate downsizing has certainly played a part, as publishers consolidate their titles into groups and expect one circulation department to handle all of them. Respondents complained they got handed additional fulfillment and telemarketing tasks - or, in some cases, even editorial, advertising and production duties - with little or no recompense.

It's no news that circulation is fast overtaking advertising as the largest source of revenue at many magazines. Circulation staffers everywhere are feeling the heat to produce eye-catching promotions that tempt new subscribers and keep old ones faithful.

Direct mail, in fact, is keeping circulators busier than ever before. Last year, more magazines used direct mail as a way to ensure they made ratebase this year, according to a survey of 100 circulation directors conducted by New York City-based Vos, Gruppo & Capell. "More than 75 percent of those surveyed did spring and summer direct-mail campaigns, the highest in our 14 years of doing the survey," says Dan Capell, managing director of VG&C. "The total mail campaign at year's end will be higher than last year's for 44 percent of the magazines."

In their own words, here are what some of our respondents had to say about their jobs and their salaries:

"I have not [had an increase in pay]. We now have converted a supplement to a paid publication, added three annual publications and have started BPA audit procedures," says one circulation director in New England.

"I was made staff writer in charge of three departments and one article each month," says a circulation manager from the Pacific Northwest. "I received a 50-cent-an-hour raise."

A circulation manager from Ohio adds: "We all get more responsibilities without [added] compensation. It's expected of us."

That sentiment was echoed by circulation managers in California and Texas, as well.

Growing gap

Another striking note of discord within companies must be the growing disparity between men's and women's salaries, especially in the post of circulation director. Some 58 percent of our respondents with that title were women, yet they earned an average of 21 percent less - $57,090 compared to $72,486 - than their male counterparts. Nearly three-quarters of the respondents with the post of circulation manager were female, and the average salary difference reported for that title was 19,7 percent - $46,595 paid to men vs, $37,402 for women. That's not much incentive to want to move up, much less stay around, in a company's circulation department.

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