connie
design@byconnie.com

The "magic number" is always
a) as cheap as possible &
b) cheaper than your competition.

That said, what I did was distribute them for free and all the income had to come from the advertisers. They understood that this helped the pick-up rate and increase their exposure.

Of course, I researched printing options in my area - suppliers and stock and selected the most economical option available. My overhead set my ad cost, but the same is true for any business. Minimizing overhead set my prices far below any other advertising so clients were very responsive.

The trade-off was that the product did not have the advantage of being slick and glossy. But, my personal opinion is that a good designer ought to be able to make a anything look good with the right combination of design choices. Besides, it was not an improper match for the stated purpose of the publication.