New Magazine Startup Guide

Having the text keyed-in and thoroughly proofed before it goes to production can help reduce errors and costs associated with revising proofs.

Many people have a "Great Idea" for a magazine but before you begin a magazine launch there is a lot you need to know and plenty of financial support will be required.

Unfortunately, there is no guide book, start up course, or specialized business consultants to help new magazine developers learn the terminology of the industry or the perils that could lie ahead. Unless you have been involved in the magazine business in some form - everything will be new and unfamiliar.

Approximately only one out of ten new magazine ventures will ever be successful. If an individual or business entity cannot absorb the loss of investment in starting and growing a magazine venture, then such a venture should never be undertaken. Magazine publishing is both speculative and risky.

Successful magazines seem to find a special niche or have an identifiable difference from magazine titles that are currently on the market. Also - the successful titles seem to serve a relevance or a need for the consumer market they cover. Many magazine titles serve consumer's passions with increasing numbers focusing on very specific niches. Give your magazine the difference and relevance test.

Magazine Publisher's Startup Guide is just an overview. It was written to help individuals and businesses looking to develop a magazine get a better understanding to what is involved and needed in a magazine startup. It is intended to give you a better overview of the new challenges ahead and a better understanding of magazine requirements and terms. After which you can find more detailed and useful magazine information within web site www.MagazinePublisher.com

Let's Do It!

Design & Layout

You can hire a professional production company to design and layout your magazine pages...or do the work yourself. Keep in mind there are technical specs in which magazines must be submitted in order to print. Only a few layout programs are acceptable. For complete details see Magazine Publisher's "Custom Magazine Design" or "Submitting Print Ready files".

Content

Organizing content for your issues can be a detailed application. It is your responsibility to pull together all editorial and advertising content to be used in each issue. If you have multiple writers it is important to convey to them how you want their stories submitted. It is important that advertisers supply their ads in proper formats. Clearly communicating on the front end what you expect will help eliminate headaches.

It is best to first organize all advertisers that will be included in the upcoming issue of your magazine. Identify placement (if the advertiser has requested a specific location like inside the cover) and verify that all the digital art for each advertisement is complete. Any ads needing creation by the digital department will need to be done first so the advertiser has time to approve the layout. The next step is to categorize your articles and pull together the text files and accompanying photos to be used. Having the text keyed-in and thoroughly proofed before it goes to production can help reduce errors and costs associated with revising proofs. 

Once completed and organized it is time to turn over the files for issue production to your production staff. Remember a clear identification of stories text, photos, captions and ad placements can help direct production artist as they begin to digitally create each page for the magazine. A small hand-made "mock-up" magazine can even be put together with notations on what goes where to help direct the production artist.