How to start a magazine?

Question

My husband and I are running a travel website and we want to start a magazine based on it. We want to know what it takes to get the first print.

Answer 1

Funding is the most important thing if you want to start a magazine. You will need money (lots of it actually, if you want to start with a broad reader base) to finance the cost of printing, distribution, and to pay for your writers’ contributions.

How much money you will need exactly depends on the number of copies that you want to print. It could be anywhere from $10,000 for a community magazine that you write yourself to $1,000,000 for a national magazine with a few writes under your payroll.

Answer 2

I think the most important thing in how to start a magazine is funding. One important thing that you should not forget before you start hitting the streets to find investors for your magazine is building a prototype. That is the image of your product, a hard copy of your ideas. Creating one shows people, and potential investors, how committed you are to your vision. It also allows them a glimpse of how great the final product is going to look when it finally hits the press. As it is only a prototype, you don’t really have to spend thousands to create one. But if you get it right and it gets your message across clearly, that piece of paper could be worth thousands in funding from your investors.

Answer 3

You have to do your own research first before starting a magazine. Devise a clear plan that clearly maps out your magazine’s niche, target audience, marketing strategy, funding sources, and management team. This seems a lot of work but publishing a magazine is no easy task in the first place. And besides, you can avoid some expensive mistakes by covering the important things early on.

One thing that could have a direct bearing on your magazine’s future is your target audience. Spend your time studying your potential readers and know what they want. A lot of magazines have folded just after the first print because they don’t quite hit it right with the readers.

Another factor that you must keep a close eye on is the competition. Go to the newsstand and observe what sells and what doesn’t. Are there other magazines that write about the same topics as yours in the area? Are they good? Things like these can help you decide on how to deal with competing magazines.