Tips for starting a magazine.

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Permalink Reply by Richard Michem on September 14, 2008 at 8:52am

If you have not already, you can join my groups Start. A group for people who want to start a magazine. You are a little vague about your new mag> What kind, whats your focus group. National, or regional, general interest or specially interest. Why would you go to craig list just for a two thousands press run?

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Permalink Reply by Alex Theberge on September 14, 2008 at 12:14pm

I'll join it straight away!

It'll be a small local mag with focus on the arts and entertainment in Central Maine - yet have the eventual capacity to reach far greater audience.

Craigslist is free, why not?

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Permalink Reply by Richard Michem on September 15, 2008 at 7:10pm

Why waste money and more importantly time, in craigslist, for a markets, that will probably never see your mag> Since your focusing on the arts in Maine. Hold some kind of art events. Maybe rent a hall, and have artists bring in their work, for a chance to sell it. Have PLENTY of copies of your mag, to hand out to patrons, throw in some free food.May sure you invite the press,(reporters love FREE FOOD), and gave a lot of interviews, making sure that you mentions the mag.

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Permalink Reply by Alexis Alexander on September 16, 2008 at 10:17pm

How can I join your group? It should be benefical to me as well.

Thanks

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Permalink Reply by Sachin Ghodke on September 16, 2008 at 10:45pm

Goal: Define it.

Focus: you could be focussing on design, or development in design, or teaching design or business of design or whatever topic you choose make it stick and keep it global.

Target audience: must have global appeal

Advertisements: must to keep the revenues coming in for you to produce the magazine. These days its difficult to get people to subscribe unless your product is exceptionally good and radically different and appealing. So as Richard said, talk about it, hold events, advertise online, start a forum or discussion (on mediaPro or LinkedIn or similar networks) for your magazine to get people to know (and I think its one of the good route to take to talk about what you are doing)

Design: if you design, its good to do it yourself because its a subject close to your heart. Then ask for expert advice from others in the community to provide feedback on your design and the content of your magazine. Tweak the design of the magazine depending on the feedback.
And if you have not designed then find someone who can design the magazine for you. Of course, you will have to find someone who can do a good job and since you are a start up request that person not to charge some outrageous amount.

Content: Most important part of your magazine. Structure your content according to the focus you want to have within the magazine. Once you decide on the focus then its relatively easy to build the content. You can then probably look at different aspects of your focus (design, business, online, etc).

Print production: Very important to find a good local press who can do a relatively good job of what you have sought out to do. Probably you should know who you will print with before you design. Once you know what the printers strengths and weakness are, and know which paper you are going to use, it would then help you design a better product controlling your design, color options and style.

Distribution: the toughest part... to get this right you should use different mediums to reach out to the audience. You probably would need to start looking at distribution before you print your magazine and start cracking deals. Also, my recommendation is to have a website too for your magazine and get people to subscribe to it.

Overall what i would like to say is its very difficult for one person to manage all these activities if you have set yourself a target of few months to do this. It can be done, no doubt, but its time consuming, energy extracting and laborious.

I offer to help you with design, content and website in any form, should you want me to. I can understand these startups can be very very daunting.

Hope you find this advice helpful. I could go on writing endlessly but then you will get bored reading it. You can mail me for further clarifications or any queries you would have.

Cheers mate, keep the good work on.

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Permalink Reply by Alex Theberge on September 17, 2008 at 6:04pm

In all honesty I had no idea what to expect from making this post.

I can't stand most of the publications that come out of this state, well except for one - but that has yet to be published. ;-)

I believe it's the lack of focus on the area - pubs around here aren't using print as it's meant to be - a cultural force. Maine has it all, but you wouldn't know it. Whose going to uncover the secrets of life in Vacationland? and why?

Print is exciting, it's loose yet disciplined. I know that the internet is information on demand - anyone can find out what's going on anywhere, whenever they want - right? Except that someone had to publish it - someone had to investigate and reiterate the idea - the feeling - the story. You may never meet this person, nor get the oppurtunity to argue, or laugh or understand them - not as you can with a community paper. Anyhow - can you enjoy anyarticle with that banner ad flashing viagra in your face. (Adblock rocks!)

What this post gives me are answers to some questions I hadn't even thought of - yet. I don't make light of good advice; I have printed your bullets and posted them on the wall. It will absolutely take me some time to get it all together - thanks to you that time has already begun.

-Alex

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Permalink Reply by Joshua Thomas on September 19, 2008 at 11:32pm

Great input Sachin! You definitely hit the major points!

Many would be publishers are unaware of how vast the magazine publishing industry is and how many different pieces of the puzzle there are. Not to try and discourage the daring, independent publisher from moving forward ... but there is definitely a lot to take into account and I thank you, Sachin, for painting a clearer picture of what's ahead!

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Permalink Reply by Katy Ryan on September 17, 2008 at 4:52pm

I'm not even going to try to compete with The Dark Knight's response -- what great feedback!! I admire your optimism and self-starter attitude. I, too, believe print isn't going anywhere in even the distant future, so I wish you the best of luck.

Before I accepted my current job as a magazine editor, I was preparing to start my own publication in the Kansas City area. I'm sure you're steps ahead of me on this, but make sure to have a business plan. It keeps you organized, focused and allows you to map out your strategies, resources, goals, etc.

I would also recommend that you capitalize on free and inexpensive forms of marketing. You've already made great headway by creating fliers and using sites like Craigslist -- I would also promote yourself on Facebook, LinkedIN, Twitter, etc. It's common to see both editors/publishers/staffers and publications using these as basic web sites that allow you to quickly reach a large audience--and potential advertisers.

Network, network, network! Join your local Chamber, any media groups and any other professional groups that may pertain to your magazine or your role as publisher. People will be able to connect your face to the new magazine, and this is an ideal and informal way to connect with advertisers. Plus, Chambers and other business-related organizations often have annual expos or other conference-like events that allow you to exhibit and connect with like-minded individuals.

I have a friend in radio, and I started a trade with her so that they run announcements about our upcoming issues on the air, include us in e-mail blasts and team up with us for special events and remotes. Can you do something like that? As long as they're carefully defined and not overdone, I think trade relationships are vital to ensuring the success of the businesses involved, and it can be a great way for you to get a service or other component that would be otherwise costly.

You say you're going to do everything yourself. Please take this with the best of intentions, but do you have writing and editorial experience in addition to your design skills? Sure, advertising revenue provides the revenue that will keep you going, but if you don't have compelling, well-written content (that's aesthetically appealing, of course), then you aren't giving readers or clients a reason to subscribe or seek out your publication. You could use freelancers for content, although if you don't have the existing capital to pay, you may have to work with students at a nearby college or university unless you have writer friends that owe you big favors! :)

Embrace the likelihood that it will take many, many months, even years, to turn a profit. Of course, some cases are the exception to the rule, and I hope that's true for your magazine. Still, as you're seeking forms of capital and defining expenses, be prepared for that reality and ensure that you can support yourself and pay for the necessary resources/supplies to print your magazine until the happy day when you're in the black.

I hope that this is helpful -- you can feel free to send me a message via MediaPro if you'd like. Please keep us posted on your progress -- this is such an exciting venture, and I wish you the best of luck and continued success.

~k.

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Permalink Reply by Sachin Ghodke on September 17, 2008 at 10:13pm

K, this is a good response.

A practical way to approach with a startup. The points you mentioned are correct and this requires Alex to be have networked well. As i have said in my post, if possible i would be more than happy to help.

But for a successful single person magazine example i would recommend you look at Revolution Art magazine. (http://revolutionart.publicistas.org/). Unfortunately this is only in PDF format and this magazine does not print.

Again a design magazine with less writing but yet successful. Graphic designers, photographers, advertising agencies, musicians, models and artists are invited to participate as part of this magazine.

Oh and by the way only first name initials makes it sound almost like MiB.

And print has been my first passion and it wont go out of fashion at all.

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Permalink Reply by Alex Theberge on September 24, 2008 at 2:33pm

That's a really nice eMag - I am going more towards general businesses than to a particular market. I can't reveal much since I'm a bit paranoid of idea thieves- but finding content won't be hard at all - and creating stories isn't going to be hard either! It'll be a great experiment in the business world. If my calculations are even close than this pub should do very well it's first year.

I do like the MiB idea too. :)

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Permalink Reply by Alex Theberge on September 24, 2008 at 2:28pm

Thanks you so much for your advice! I am a good writer, I suppose, but not one to do it all that regularly. I don't want to reveal the type of magazine I will be creating in this public forum, but it's quite different than any I have seen personally out there. It's a very regionally focused idea and will assist businesses greatly in Maine.

A business plan/model is definitely something I've been wrestling with for quite some time now. I have just recently refined my general goals and have yet to continue into the particulars. I do have a solid direction I'd like to go with this magazine, It will begin as a monthly mag, but eventually it will be a weekly.

Since I'm a father, design student and busy body for the state things will be slow going at first. But I certainly will be filling a need that yet exists and will hopefully make a profit the second issue! We'll see how it goes. If anything an online presence first may be the way I go until I can get enough interest in my venture.

I thank you for the invitation to pick your brain! I will definitely take you up on that.

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Permalink Reply by Sachin Ghodke on September 29, 2008 at 2:42pm

You are always welcome. A good startup with the right ideas, always welcome. J:-)

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