How to publish a magazine – find out how…

I’m asked how do you publish a magazine frequently, so here is a post to answer that question in the way that we do it at iola magazine. I hope that this helps you if you are thinking of publishing a magazine. Scroll down to get free magazine planning worksheets and resource list. This post contains affiliate links to services and products that I use and recommend.

Printing or publishing?

When I’m asked “How do you publish a magazine?”, usually, what people really want to know is ‘how do you get it printed?’ The short answer to this question is Amazon. Initially, I used a print on demand service called Createspace which is now Amazon’s kdp select. This is for a few reasons but one of the main ones being it is a print on demand service which means I don’t have to have a garage full of magazines that I have bought up front. I upload my files to kdp, then order however many I want and it is then also listed on Amazon for purchase.

How to publish a magazine

If you ask that question but really do mean how to publish a magazine? well then let’s break that down. Publishing means – sourcing content, editing, design and layout, marketing, printing, and distribution.

Magazine publishing

Magazine Content

I had quite a clear idea of the kind of content we needed based upon who the reader for this magazine is and what they want to read. This is the first step of any creative project: decide who it is for, and what it is for.

Many of the writers are members of a writing community (hope*writers – they have the best training for working writers) I floated the idea to them and others. A few were keen to write articles for the project and be involved. In return I could offer to share and support their writing, and offer them reduced copies to sell and share with their readers.

I open the magazine up for submissions from writers that are writing regularly, building a readership and want to be published in a beautiful magazine to share with their readers.

If you would like to know more about writing for iola then you can find out more here.

If you are wondering how to publish a magazine you can get worksheets to help you answer the questions you’ll need to consider and a list of resources here:

Subscribe

Powered By ConvertKit

Magazine editing

Each issue has a one-word theme. When choosing which of the submissions for the issue I am aware of the reader, what they want, and what this issue can offer them. That makes choosing which submissions to use easier. I am also looking for pieces that are written well, and have some kind of story arc to them.

Within each issue there is also an order that the articles and other content need to run in. There’s a reason and conscious decision for that order. I print out each article to read, make notes on them and then decide on the order I want them to run in.

I write to each writer that has submitted their articles and let them know either way. As we are small I can still do this and I am aware of how hard rejections can be, so I try to respond encouragingly to each person. It might be that the article is not a good fit or is too similar to others.

Magazine copy-editing

I will then do the layout for the magazine, I like to see articles in situ before copy editing them. It is then printed for editing on paper.

Magazine design

The inside pages and cover are templated. Typefaces and text styles are set. Headers and graphics have a feature colour for each issue. The overall design of iola is one that includes large photo pages and lots of white space, these are integral parts to the overall look and feel. iola magazine is premium so everything needs to look and feel high quality and considered.

Each cover has a photo of a bouquet of flowers that is held by someone. We are currently keeping this look consistent as we want the magazine to be considered like a gift of a bunch of flowers. We want the magazine to be a gift, and flowers on the cover make it feel like a gift. The magazine offers words of encouragement, comfort and inspiration from real people, so the flowers are held by someone.

The choice of photos for the magazine are of flowers and nature as these are ones that we feel feed the soul through their beauty.

Magazine layout

I use Adobe Indesign for layout. Each page uses a three column grid and each article starts on the right hand side with a set look for the header and text start height. The layout for iola is intentionally more book-like than busy magazine layout, that’s because we want a calm feel as the magazine means to provide an overall feeling of calm through the photos, articles, creativity, space.

We take photos submissions and also we use photo libraries. Sources such as istockphoto, creative market and unsplash. Photos are used as full pages or as half pages. Sometimes illustrations feature. Each issue has one landscape as a double page spread. We choose the photos to go with the theme and the articles and the overall look and feel that is iola.

Magazine marketing

Many would think of marketing as the part that comes next. As the part after creating the magazine and now telling people about it. But that is advertising. Everything that I have just shared with you above is marketing. Marketing is creating something for a market to buy.

[Side note: marketing is not bad. Marketers get a bad rap, as if they are all evil and out to get you, con you and swizzle you out of your hard earned cash. But it’s not true of everyone.]

We created iola magazine. It is good. iola was created because we would love to read something like this. We’d love to tell you about it. You might enjoy it so we want to share it with you. It costs money and time to create it and run a website for it, so it needs to generate some income towards those costs. You don’t have to buy it. It is not for everyone, but for the people that it will serve we want you to buy it and enjoy it.

As part of sharing iola I email my list of people who want to hear about it. I have an email service provider where I can collect email addresses and create emails called Convertkit. We share about iola and the writers and photographers who helped to create it on Instagram and Facebook. Articles are also shared on the iola website. We also are running advertising campaigns on Amazon and Pinterest. iola is also sold at events.

Magazine printing and distribution

As mentioned before, Amazon is my printer. I choose Amazon at this point because they print on demand. Which means that they print a run, they hold stock and I can buy however many I want. It also means that I can ship internationally more easily. Our writers and photographers are from Canada, the US, and the UK. Through Amazon I can print and send contributors copies in Canada and the US. US and Canadian based customers can buy copies on Amazon if they prefer. UK based customers can buy copies on Amazon.

I have found the print quality to be as good as anything I could source from a local printer. In fact, I think the print quality improved after Createspace went over to KDP.

It does mean that production costs are high which means the price can be high but that keeps the focus on creating great content high too.

Want magazine planning worksheets
& resources list?

leave your email and I’ll send them straight out to you.

Subscribe

We won’t send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.

Powered By ConvertKit

I hope that this article has helped to answer your questions on how to publish a magazine. If you have any more questions then do email me them.

If creating a magazine is a dream of yours you may like these articles:

When following your dreams feels ridiculous 

How to find the time to write or be creative

How to create a stop motion for Instagram