
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

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
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. T
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
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
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:
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

I write to each writer that
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

Each cover has a photo of a bouquet of flowers that
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
We take photos submissions and also we use photo libraries. Sources such as

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

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.
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.
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