digital magazine business plan pdf

Magazine Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Magazine Business Plan

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their magazine companies. On this page, we will first give you some background information with regards to the importance of business planning. We will then go through a magazine business plan step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

What is a Magazine Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your business as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategy for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your business plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan for a Magazine Business

If you’re looking to start a new magazine business, or grow your existing magazine publishing company, you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the revenue growth of your business in order to improve your chances of success. Your business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Sources of Funding for Magazine Companies

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a magazine business are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans and angel investors. With regards to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to confirm that your financial projections are reasonable, but they will also want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business.

Personal savings is the other most common form of funding for a new magazine business. Venture capitalists will usually not fund a magazine business, but they might consider funding a one with a national presence, but never an individual location. This is because most venture capitalists are looking for millions of dollars in return when they make an investment, and an individual location could never achieve such results.  With that said, using a savings account and bank loans are the most common funding paths for magazine businesses.

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How to write an effective business plan for a magazine business.

If you want to start a magazine business or expand your current one, you need a business plan. Each of the key components of a magazine publishing business plan are detailed below:

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of business you are operating and the status. For example, are you a startup, do you have a digital magazine business that you would like to grow, or are you starting an online magazine business?

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan. For example, give a brief overview of the magazine industry. Discuss the type of business you are operating. Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target audience. Provide a snapshot of your marketing strategy. Identify the key members of your team. And offer an overview of your financial plan.  

Company Analysis

In your company analysis, you will detail the type of business you are operating.

For example, you might operate one of the following types of magazine businesses:

• Entertainment magazine : this type of magazine business focuses on topics such as arts, culture, fashion and leisure
• Academic and professional magazine: this type of magazine business focuses on subjects like finance, health, or science
• Home and living magazine: this type of magazine is devoted to cooking, home decorating, etc.
• Business magazine: this type of magazine typically focuses on business people, companies, emerging business or technology trends, etc.
• Digital magazine: this type of magazine is accessible via an electronic device, whether it be a smartphone, tablet, or computer. An internet connection is required to access or download the content, but once downloaded, it is available for viewing offline.
• Online magazine: this type of electronic magazine is similar to a digital magazine, but typically comes with fewer features. An internet connection is required to access the content.

In addition to explaining the type of magazine startup you will operate, the Company Analysis section of your business plan needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to question such as:

• When and why did you start the business?
• What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include the number of customers served, number of positive reviews, number of annual subscriptions, etc.
• Your legal business structure. Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry analysis, you need to provide an overview of the magazine industry.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the magazine industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.

Secondly, market research can improve your strategy, particularly if your research identifies market trends.

The third reason for market research is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section:

• How big is the magazine industry (in dollars)?
• Is the market declining or increasing?
• Who are the key competitors in the market?
• Who are the key suppliers in the market?
• What trends are affecting the industry?
• What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
• What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential market for your magazine business? You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: advertisers, consumers of varying ages and with varying interests, and authors.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of magazine business you operate. Clearly, business people would respond to different marketing promotions than teens, for example.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, include a discussion of the ages, genders, locations and income levels of the customers you seek to serve. Because most magazine businesses primarily serve customers living in their same city or town, such demographic information is easy to find on government websites.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can understand and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.

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Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other magazine businesses.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from that aren’t direct competitors. This includes social media platforms, other reading material, or alternative leisure activities. You need to mention such competition as well.

With regards to direct competition, you want to describe the other magazine businesses with which you compete. Most likely, your direct competitors will be house flippers located very close to your location.

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their businesses and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as:

• What interest or niche do they specialize in?
• What formats are their publications available in?
• How often is the magazine published?
• What is their pricing strategy (premium, low, etc.)?
• What are they good at?
• What are their weaknesses?

With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

• Will you provide better articles, features, and/or photos?
• Will you provide more opportunities for guest authors?
• Will you provide better customer service?
• Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.  

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a magazine business plan, your marketing strategy should include the following:

Product : In the product section, you should reiterate the type of magazine company that you documented in your Company Analysis. Then, detail the specific products you will be offering. For example, in addition to printed magazines, will you offer a digital version?

Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your marketing plan, you are presenting the services you offer and their prices.

Place : Place refers to the location of your magazine company. Document your location and mention how the location will impact your success. For example, is your magazine business located near a distribution center, or in an area known as a “hub” for the content you specialize in, etc. Discuss how your location might be ideal for attracting and retaining customers.

Promotions : The final part of your magazine marketing plan is the promotions section. Here you will document how you will drive customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

• Advertising in local papers and magazines
• Reaching out to local websites
• Social media marketing
• Local radio advertising

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your magazine business, including selling ad space, creating quality content, finding contributors, designing each issue, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to land your 10 th major magazine advertising account, or when you expect to have 5,000 subscribers, or when you hope to reach $X in revenue. It could also be when you expect to expand your magazine distribution to a new city.  

Management Team

To demonstrate your magazine business’ ability to succeed, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.

Ideally you and/or your team members have direct experience in managing magazine businesses. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act like mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in publication or marketing or successfully running small businesses.  

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statements.

Income Statement : an income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenues and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you publish one issue per month or four? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets : Balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. While balance sheets can include much information, try to simplify them to the key items you need to know about. For instance, if you spend $50,000 on building out your magazine business, this will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a bank writes you a check for $50,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement : Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and make sure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt.

In developing your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a magazine business:

• Location build-out including design fees, construction, etc.
• Cost of equipment and supplies
• Payroll or salaries paid to staff
• Business insurance
• Taxes and permits
• Legal expenses

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your office location lease or the wireframe for your digital publication.  

Putting together a business plan for your magazine business is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will really understand the magazine industry, your competition, and your customers. You will have developed a marketing plan and will really understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful magazine business.  

Magazine Business Plan FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my magazine business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily complete your Magazine Business Plan.

What is the Goal of a Business Plan's Executive Summary?

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of magazine business you are operating and the status; for example, are you a startup, do you have a magazine business that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of magazine businesses?

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Online Business | How To

How to Create and Launch a Digital Magazine in 7 Steps

Published August 22, 2019

Published Aug 22, 2019

WRITTEN BY: Janette Novak

With today’s digital magazine development software and digital design tools, you can start a new online magazine in a matter of weeks. Even better, depending on your skills and experience, you could launch a digital magazine for less than $200. This guide teaches you how to create a digital magazine and launch it with ease.

Here are the seven steps you need to master to create and launch a digital magazine successfully.

1. Develop Your Digital Magazine Business Plan

The first step in creating a digital magazine is to develop a business plan. You need to decide who your publication will serve, how you plan to make money, and establish a budget for magazine launch and management costs.

Selecting a Niche for Your Digital Magazine

If you take a look at any newsstand for traditional print magazines, you’ll notice that there are many different types of magazines on the market. Since digital magazines don’t incur the high printing costs of their physical counterparts, there are even more categories and subcategories for digital magazines. These subcategories are known as niches, which is the group of people with shared interests to which your magazine will appeal.

When selecting your niche, it’s essential to do your research. Look for both traditional and digital magazines on the market that serve the audience you’re targeting. Review competing magazines for what you like and don’t like about them, as this information will prove invaluable as you develop your magazine.

If you can’t find magazines in the niche you intend to pursue, then look for websites, books, or other sources that appeal to the niche. If you find plenty of evidence that others are successfully reaching your niche in various ways, then you may have a viable niche to pursue. If online content directed to your niche is sparse, there may not be a sufficient audience to support your selected niche. If that happens, it’s best to either change or expand the audience you intend to target.

Selecting a viable niche that’s relevant to a small yet adequate group is a key to launching a successful digital magazine. If your magazine’s audience is too broad, you run the risk of no one feeling like the magazine speaks to them. If your niche is too narrow, you’ll have a hard time getting enough readers for your magazine to make it profitable.

Wander digital magazine published by Springfed Creative Inc. targets the travel niche

Decide How Your Digital Publication Will Make Money

If your goal is to make money with your magazine, then you have many different monetization models available to you. Many digital magazine publishers use multiple sales channels to generate income from their magazines.

Here are a few of the ways you can sell your digital magazine:

• Sell your digital magazine on your website using a popular ecommerce plugin such as WooCommerce
• Generate sales for your magazine through mobile app stores, including Apple’s App Store and Google Play
• Create an online store through Shopify and sell single copies or subscriptions to your magazine
• List your digital magazine on online magazine newsstands and apps, such as Issuu and Magzter, Zinnio

You can also make money by selling advertisements on your digital magazine. Another way to monetize your online magazine is through sponsored posts, where you are paid to create content that features a certain product, brand, or person.

More than 15,000 digital publications are downloaded daily on Issuu

Digital Magazine Costs

You can create a digital magazine on a shoestring budget, or you can invest hundreds of thousands in developing and launching an online magazine. The choice is yours. No matter what type of magazine you’re creating, you’ll need to understand the types of activities required to develop and market an online magazine.

If you were to hire full-time employees for your magazine, including editors, writers, proofreaders, photographers, circulation managers, and more, you could spend hundreds of thousands of dollars easily to launch your digital magazine. Most new magazine publishers perform multiple roles themselves so that they do not have to incur these high staffing expenses.

You can reduce or even eliminate employee costs in other ways. You can find guest writers and photographers who are willing to provide content for free in exchange for publicity for their work. Also, nearly all digital magazines work with freelancers for their content development needs. You can find low-cost, high-quality freelancers for most of your magazine needs on sites like Fiverr and Upwork.

Non-staffing Costs Related to Launching a Digital Publication

If you’re on a shoestring budget, you can rely on the computers and technical devices you already own to create your first digital magazine. There are also several free online tools you can use. For example, Canva and PicMonkey offer free plans for image editing. You can get free photos for your magazine by taking them yourself or using free stock photos from sites like Pexels, Unsplash, and Pixabay.

Most magazine publishers create a website to promote their digital publications. You can launch a WordPress website with DreamHost for only $2.59 a month.

The more tasks you can do yourself or affordably outsource, the more you’ll save. If you’re diligent about securing free and low-cost resources to produce your magazine, you could launch the first issue of your magazine for $200 or less.

“My best advice for anyone who wants to start a digital magazine is to make sure you are fully capitalized, such as at least six months of expenses in the bank. It’s a marathon and not a sprint, and it’s hard to monetize a magazine based off of [Google Ads] and sponsored posts. The six-month runway will allow you to get your bearings while working out the kinks as you grow your audience.” ―Tom La Vecchia, Founder, X Factor Media and New Theory Magazine and Podcast

2. Build Your Digital Magazine Team

Very few successful magazines are started and sustained by a single person; you need a team that can help you create compelling, visually appealing content. As discussed above, that team can consist of full-time staff, volunteers, or freelancers.

Here are typical roles that you’ll see in the digital magazine world.

Typical Magazine Staff and What They Do

While new magazine owners typically take on several roles when first starting out, it’s unwise to do everything yourself. Unlike a blog, magazine readers expect to hear from different contributors in each issue. That’s why it’s smart to have many writers on your editorial team, even if most or all are volunteers.

3. Select Your Digital Magazine Software

In deciding how to create a digital magazine, you’ll probably want to use a software platform to make creating your magazine a whole lot easier. It pays to take your time in selecting the right software for your needs.

Digital magazine software programs perform a variety of functions, including helping you set up your magazine, turn PDFs into magazine-style flipbooks or apps, embed interactive features into your magazines, and much more.

Below is a list of top magazine software along with related costs.

• Joomag : This is an all-in-one digital publishing platform that helps you create interactive content, distribute your magazine on multiple channels, track magazine performance, and helps you monetize your magazine through subscriptions. Plans range from $79 to $149 per month. Enterprise plans are also available and come with custom features and pricing.
• Pub HTML5 : Create media-rich flipbook magazines with this easy-to-use tool. Plans range from free to $25 per month. Enterprise plans are available for $999.

Turn your PDFs into interactive magazine-style flipbooks with Pub HTML5

• Issuu : You can create your digital magazine and start selling single issues or subscriptions using the Issuu digital publishing and Issue sales tools. Plans range from free to $35 per month.
• MagLoft : This software builds mobile apps for digital magazine publishers. You can upload your own PDFs or ePUBs and then use MagLoft’s drag-and-drop editor to create interactive content for your magazine. Best of all, your digital magazine is responsive, which means it adjusts to the device the reader is using, and that makes for an optimal reader experience. That means no excessive pinching and frustrating left-to-right scrolling to read your magazine. Plans range from free to $499 per month.
• Flipsnack : You can develop, share, and embed online magazines into your website and social media channels with Flipsnack. The professional plan also allows you to sell your magazine directly on the Flipsnack platform. Plans range from free to $79 per month.
• PressPad/Magz : Using your PDFs, this software creates mobile magazine apps for iOS and Android devices. Plans range from $84.99 to $299 per month

The Style to the Aisle digital magazine app was created using PressPad/Magz

Each of the software platforms listed above come with a free trial. As the features among the various digital magazine software vary greatly, it is highly recommended that you take full advantage of the trial period to test out the software before making a purchase decision.

4. How to Sell Your Digital Magazine

Where you can sell your magazine depends on your magazine’s format. Digital magazines can be created as simple PDFs, electronic publications―also known as an ePUBs, which is the format e-readers like iBooks and Kindle Reader use―or as HTML5 documents using software like Pub HTML5.

You can sell your digital magazine on your website, on a Shopify store, through GumRoad, SendOwl, or any other site that allows you to sell digital downloads.

Some digital magazine software platforms like FlipSnack also allow you to host and sell your magazine on their platform. You can also publish your magazine on online newsstand sites, including:

• Magzter : This site boasts having more than 12,000 online magazines for buyers to purchase.
• Zinio : Featuring more than 6,000 digital magazines, your digital magazine will be in good company with top magazines like Time, Sports Illustrated, and Better Fast Company.
• Readly : This site offers a unique selling model. Subscribers get unlimited access to more than 4,000 magazines on its website for $9 per month.

Another way to create your digital magazine is to develop an app. If you create an app for your magazine, you can sell your digital magazine on popular app sites like the Google Play Store or Apple’s App Store .

The beauty of selling your magazine directly on popular app stores is that you have access to huge audiences where your digital magazine can be discovered. The downside is the app-developing magazine software tends to cost more than epub magazine software. For example, for a web and mobile app plan from MagLoft, plans start at $299 per month. Professional custom app developers charge well into the thousands.

Create a magazine app and sell your digital magazine on popular app sites, such as Apple’s App Store

5. Design Your Online Magazine

A digital magazine has many of the same characteristics as a traditional magazine. You’ll need to design a masthead, which includes the title of your magazine along with any other information that you want to recur on each issue. Your magazine’s cover design will change from issue to issue, but certain elements such as typography, size of fonts, borders, colors, and so on will remain the same for continuity.

Your magazine will also need a logical and yet imaginative page layout that will also be partially modified and still show consistency across all issues. Last but certainly not least, the photography for your magazine needs to be powerful and compelling. The best print magazines on the planet are known for stunning photography. Magazine readers have come to expect amazing photographs from digital magazines too.

These Time covers illustrate how a magazine can vary cover elements while still maintaining a recognizable look and feel from issue to issue

Digital Publication Layout and Graphic Design

There are many graphic tools that you can use to design a stunning layout for your magazine. Adobe InDesign is the most popular layout software among graphic designers. If you’re looking for an easy-to-use design program, you can access Canva’s magazine cover templates with Canva’s paid plan, which costs $9.95 per month when paid annually. Additionally, many of the magazine software programs mentioned in Step 3 offer magazine layout and design tools to make sure your magazine is sharp.

Another popular resource for design help for do-it-yourself magazine publishers is Creative Market. There, you’ll find dozens of different magazine cover and layout templates you can purchase to create your own design.

Example of a wedding magazine template designed by Bellenity Design as advertised on Creative Market

If there’s one area of your site not to skimp on it is on your magazine’s basic design. If you’re not a design professional, make sure you acquire professional design help to create the look and feel of your magazine. If you can’t afford a designer, you can purchase a ready-made magazine template to help you develop your digital magazine. Poorly designed magazines seldom turn into huge financial successes.

Digital Magazine Photography

There are many great sources for exceptional photography for your digital magazine. When paying for images or using free photos, make sure you understand the usage rights for those images. Also, double-check that the photos you choose can be placed on a magazine that’s being sold either by subscription or single issue, provided you’re charging for your magazine, and be transparent regarding any photo attribution notations that are required.

To protect yourself from costly legal nightmares, also verify that the images you’re using come from a source that has the rights to grant you usage privileges for the images you use. Sites like Pexels, Pixabay, and Unsplash have thousands of free images that might be perfect for your magazine. There have been instances reported where photos on free sites were posted without the owners’ consent. As a magazine publisher, you could be held liable for using any photo you did not have the right to publish.

If you need some help with the legal aspects of publishing a digital magazine, you may want to explore LegalZoom’s intellectual property services. LegalZoom can help you with magazine trademarks, copyright registration, and more. You can also speak with an attorney anytime you want through LegalZoom’s prepaid legal plans.

National Geographic magazine is known for its stunning photography

If your budget allows, consider purchasing royalty-free images from stock houses, such as BigStock, 123rf, Shutterstock, and Getty Images. These sites often have considerably higher quality images than you’ll find on free sites and usually have far more extensive photo collections. Also, when you purchase images on these sites, you have a third-party record that you paid for the right to use the images you are buying for publication.

Finally, if you have access to an exceptional photographer or if you are one, then original photos can set your digital magazine apart from others on the market. If you can’t find a local photographer that you want to work with, you can find photographers on freelance sites like Upwork and Fiverr. Another source for finding a photographer is Scoopshot, which is an online portal that matches photographers with clients needing photography services.

Example of a typical magazine page layout and common page elements from OutSource2India

Digital Publication Typography

Be selective when choosing typography for your magazine. Typography is an important design element that contributes significantly to the vibe your digital magazine exudes. If you’re not sure what to use, do some research. Review all types of magazines for the different fonts that are used as well as how type is used in headers, subheaders, call-out quotes, and so on. Choosing the right type combinations for your magazine should not be underestimated; typography has more influence on overall design look and feel of a magazine than most people understand.

Example of creative use of typography in Solitaire magazine designed by Natalie Shau

6. Create Content for Your Digital Magazine

The content for your magazine is what keeps readers coming back issue after issue. That’s why it’s important to be strategic with your content plan.

Most magazines include both in-depth featured content and shorter recurring content, such as a table of contents, letters to the editor, message from editor-in-chief, and various short-form columns targeting the magazine readers’ top interests. Note that for recurring content, magazines typically use a semi-standardized page design so that readers get familiar with these regular columns. Advertisements are generally spread throughout the magazine, though are less prevalent among the featured articles.

You need to create a plan for what content pieces you’ll add and where they’ll go in your magazine. For example, “front of the book” content is typically filled with short-form content, while the middle of the magazine, or “the feature well,” is where featured content for the issue is placed. The “back of the book” contains all the remaining information that a magazine publisher wants to include, but that is not considered top content. Advertisements here are typically cheaper and, hence, you’ll often see multiple small ads toward the back of the magazine.

Attracting Exceptional Writers for Your Online Magazine

If you’re thinking of launching a new magazine, you may already have access to some great writers in the niche you intend to pursue. If you’d like to expand your network of magazine writers, there are a handful of ways to do this.

Start following forums, blogs, and online articles by people who are addressing the types of issues you want to cover in your magazine. Reach out to anyone who you feel conveys the sentiments and perspectives you want to be shared in your magazine and invite these people to become either paid or guest contributors to your magazine.

You can also find terrific writers and editors on freelance sites like Upwork, Freelancer.com, and Fiverr. You can direct freelancers on the topics you want to be covered, the tone you want, and any other specifics you feel are needed to ensure the freelancer’s writing aligns with your magazine’s voice. Best of all, when working with freelancers, you don’t have to enter into long-term agreements. You can test writers’ skills and decide if you want to continue working with them for future issues.

Fiverr gives you access to hundreds of freelance writers, editors, proofreaders, and more

Landing Interviews for Your Digital Magazine

You’ve probably noticed that many magazines feature famous people on their magazine covers. Big names sell magazines. While you might not be able to land interviews with Oprah Winfrey or Elon Musk when you’re just starting out, that doesn’t mean you can’t go after an interview with a recognizable name for your audience.

Any person who has a new book or business venture to promote is a prime prospect for an interview. When approaching people for interviews, offer several different interview formats from which to choose. For example, you could do a live interview via Zoom, or chat on the telephone, or even conduct an email interview where you send the interviewee a dozen or so questions to answer at his or her leisure. Make it easy for people to say yes to you.

Another significant advantage of landing interviews with famous-to-your-niche people is that the people you interview typically have sizeable followings. When someone with a big audience mentions that he or she interviewed with you, that’s free publicity for your magazine.

The more great interviews that you land, the more people will seek you out to be interviewed. Interviews are a terrific way to gain credibility and grow interest in your digital magazine.

This issue of The City Magazine features an interview with Leonardo DiCaprio to gain interest for its magazine

7. Market Your Digital Magazine

As the publisher for your magazine, the responsibility for its success rests squarely on your shoulders. Don’t assume “if you build it, they will come.” You must market your magazine proactively and be relentless when it comes to attracting readers.

Building an Audience

You’re reading this article because you wanted to know how to create a digital magazine. This post has already walked through the how to’s of creating a magazine, but the seventh step, marketing your digital magazine, is perhaps the most critical step of all. After all, if no one’s reading your magazine, your publication will not be successful.

Here are the top ways most magazines build and sustain a following:

• Offer free samples : Create a premiere edition of your magazine and offer it for free on every channel possible like social media, ads, on your website, and so on. In exchange for receiving the free issue, request an email address so you can follow up with readers and invite them to become regular subscribers.
• Create a website : Most successful digital magazines have a website where people can explore what the magazine is all about as well as subscribe to the magazine. When you do a great job of search engine optimization (SEO) on your website, more people will discover your publication through Google. You can launch a magazine website on WordPress with DreamHost as your hosting provider for only $2.59 per month
• Do a social media blitz : Be unwavering in your commitment to creating and posting compelling social media content that promotes your magazine and introduces people to the new content in each edition.
• Guest blogging and guest podcast appearances : As a magazine publisher, you have a unique perspective to share with the world. Offer to write guest posts on popular blogs or appear as a guest on podcasts that have big audiences. This will help you to get the word out about your new magazine.
• Press releases : New magazine startups are news, so announce your magazine launch through press releases. Use a service like Newswire to get your releases out to as many outlets as possible.
• Advertising : Create niche-targeted advertisements for your magazine on Google Ads or appropriate social media sites.
• Create share-worthy content : The best way to get the word out about your new magazine is to create share-worthy content that has the potential to go viral. Remember that the most-shared content is often visual or interactive, so be sure to create infographics, illustrations, and quizzes that share-worthy.
• Invite readers to engage : Getting people to read all or part of an issue of your magazine is only half the battle. You want them to come back again and again, and even better, tell their friends about the magazine. The best way to make this happen is to engage them through interactive chats and participation pieces within your magazine.

The more you get people to interact with you on multiple channels, the more committed they will be to your magazine. Building an audience takes time, but your magazine will not thrive unless you devote adequate attention to this critical task.

“Build an authentic relationship with your readership. Reply to emails, ask for suggestions, and feature their comments in your social media. Your first readers need to feel like they are part of the family so that they can become your ambassadors.” ―Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Founder, Maker Mag

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About How to Create a Digital Magazine

If you still have questions about how to create a digital magazine, take a glimpse at the questions below to see if your top questions are represented.

How do digital magazines make money?

The three most common ways digital magazines make money is through subscription sales, advertising, and sponsored posts. In most instances, the larger the subscriber base, the more money a digital magazine can make.

How can I make a magazine at home?

You can create a digital magazine from home using any of the magazine software tools discussed in Step 3 . The most budget-friendly are Pub HTML5, Issuu, and FlipSnack. In most cases, you will start with a PDF, then upload it to the software platform of your choice to add interactivity, videos, and more.

How many pages should a digital publication have?

Unlike print magazines, digital magazines have greater latitude when it comes to length because they don’t have print dimension and print cost restraints. Most magazines range from 30 to 120 pages. Your digital magazine should be as long as you feel it needs to be to achieve your goals.

Do I need to trademark my digital magazine?

It’s essential to make sure you’re not violating anyone else’s trademark when naming and designing your magazine. You can search the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) trademark database for free. If your goal is to monetize your magazine, getting a trademark for your magazine is a wise move. LegalZoom makes it easy to trademark your magazine.

Bottom Line

There are just seven steps to creating a digital magazine for less than $200. You start with a clear business plan and a talented team. Then, choose your publishing format and magazine software. Next, you’ll create your sales, design, and content strategies. The final step is building a loyal audience through smart marketing tactics.

This guide explained how to create a digital magazine but, as mentioned throughout the article, you’ll need help. Fiverr offers all types of freelance services that can help you with magazine design, photography, article writing, advertising, copyediting, and more.

Visit Fiverr

About the Author

Find Janette On LinkedIn

Janette Novak

Janette Novak is a business journalist who primarily writes about starting, marketing, and growing online businesses. As a seasoned business consultant, she helps entrepreneurs and business leaders develop winning marketing and business growth strategies. She previously served as the Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer for an international leader in professional development and business training.

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Written by Nathan Chan | November 5, 2020

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How do you create a digital magazine from scratch?

At Foundr Magazine, we get countless messages every day asking us how to start a digital magazine. When it comes to creating a digital magazine from scratch, it’s not as simple as people make it seem (and it sure wasn’t easy for us, we promise you that).

That’s why, for the first time ever, we’ve decided to completely unpack our own process for our readers, and share all of the behind-the-scenes secrets we’ve learned along our journey so far. Foundr is always about actionable advice, so we have an actionable, step-by-step, easy-to-digest article that lays it all out for you.

Let’s start at the first step: the beginning.

How We Started Our Own Digital Magazine

Foundr Magazine started like any company: small. On March 5th, 2013, Issue #1 of Foundr was published. It made $5.50 in profit with 79 downloads that day.

It’s a little different from what we publish today, isn’t it?

When it comes to launching your first digital magazine, chances are it won’t be perfect, but it’s a necessary step you need to take in creating that perfect version. The Foundr magazine you may be familiar with today wasn’t always that way, and issue 1 is proof of that.

Even today, we are still tweaking and improving our magazine. Our cover has been graced by some of the world’s biggest entrepreneurs, including Richard Branson, Arianna Huffington, Seth Godin, Marie Forleo, and Daymond John, but we never forget that it all begun with that first issue.

Launching a digital magazine takes a lot of work, but it’s super fun and can be an incredible platform for your business. We’ve broken down our process of creation into easy to follow steps, helping you to understand all the important stuff for planning a digital magazine.

READ MORE: How to Build a Profitable Marketing Strategy

So, You Want to Start a Digital Magazine?

A digital magazine is good for nearly any business, but there are a few questions you need to establish early on. Asking yourself these questions will give you a clearer idea of why you want to create a magazine, but more importantly, it will help guide your decisions further down the track.

Is a Digital Magazine Right for Your Business?

The first thing you need to do before launching your own digital magazine, is you need to make sure that it’s the right move for you and your business.

First off, check to see if there are successful digital magazines in your niche. If not, this may be a red flag that a digital magazine is not well-suited for your target audience. It may be that your target audience is older, and prefers print magazines. Or perhaps there isn’t enough varied content in your niche to create regular publications. You can only find out by doing research to prove your concept.

What’s Your Financial Situation?

Another consideration is money.

Startup costs required to create a quality digital magazine can be relatively high (as detailed below). To compound the problem, digital magazines do not have high price points—in some niches, you’ll find the prices hovering around only $0.99 an issue. In order to recoup your investment and start generating profit, you’ll have to amass a large audience, which may require some further investment.

A digital magazine may not be what gets you to a very high-income point in the short run. That’s not to say that magazines don’t make plenty of money. For example, Forbes magazine generates millions per year. But here at Foundr, we’ve found that a magazine is valuable beyond the profits it directly brings in. Those who will be winning in the future of media will no longer be companies that focus solely on publications.

The reason?

Generating revenue from ads, the primary model used by media historically, is no longer a viable option. You’ll be better off using your magazine as a tool to create diverse revenue streams rather than as the end destination.

Our suggestion? Use your magazine to create a mass of loyal followers, generate some recurring capital, and become positioned as an authority in your niche. Then, it’s all about developing a multi-platform strategy. You want a magazine, but you also want a podcast, a blog, digital products, social media presence, a newsletter, and more.

A magazine is the perfect multi-functional, front-end product for your business:

• Marketing: It’s a great way for people to learn about your company and offers huge value to interested customers.
• Building relationships: Magazines build trust between your business and your audience. Here at Foundr, we’ve also been able to use the magazine as a method to build trust and relationships with influencers as well.
• Recurring revenue: Magazines are born for subscriptions, and if you play your cards right, you can depend on them for consistent and recurring income.
• Influence: Nothing spells influence in your niche than having a quality magazine going out regularly. It’s more work than a blog, but the dividends in influence are proportional.

As great as this all sounds, keep in mind that magazines take as much work and time as any other business. Our CEO Nathan Chan worked on Foundr Magazine for a full year as a side-hustle before he was able to quit his job and grow his company.

But if you’re up for committing to the work, then read on.

The Tools You Need to Create A Digital Magazine

Digital magazines are easier than physical magazines for several reasons. There’s no need to worry about the logistics and expense of physically delivering the magazine, finding a good printing house, or worrying about misdeliveries.

Nonetheless, the technology landscape for setting up, distributing, and getting paid for your digital magazine issue is important. You need to have the right tools to build your magazine on a solid foundation. Lots of digital magazines will cut corners when it comes to tech, and as a result, they will freeze, break, and readers will bounce. Don’t let this be you!

Foundr Magazine only uses the best tools to support our digital distribution, and we vouch for all of the products that we use below. They’ve all been in use consistently at Foundr for more than two years, successfully distributing our magazine to our now 20,000+ readers per month.

READ MORE: How to Develop Powerful Business Core Values and Mission Statements

Using an App for Your Digital Magazine

When it comes to digital magazine technology, the core decision you’ll need to make is: app or no app?

You can certainly host your magazine on the web, and countless magazines do.

However, there’s something awesome about being able to flip through a magazine on your iPhone, anywhere, and anytime. Most importantly, you can get an app in front of a whole slew of new eyes through app distribution platforms.

This is why Foundr took the app route.

Our first issue of Foundr magazine was sold on the App Store and Google Play. We chose to get in front of a market that had buyers. Steve Jobs conditioned customers visiting the App Store to be prepared to pay for content. What’s more, these stores handle all of the billing, delivery technology, and might even help you with marketing (via “Featured” apps and other sections).

For these reasons, we’ve come to the conclusion that building an app to support your digital magazine is a much stronger play than a web-only magazine.

Digital Magazine Tools

MagCast is the technology that Foundr Magazine used to create our app, and from which we publish all of our issues. It allows you to upload your magazine’s PDF through the platform, and publish using the technology. MagCast takes care of the rest—they build your app and set it up in the App Store. They also make it easy to configure your magazine to look good in app form.

• Monthly: $ 297
• Quarterly: $ 787
• Annually: $ 2,997

Mag+ is another magazine app creation platform, which fulfills a similar function as MagCast. We don’t use it here at Foundr, but there it is for your consideration.

The pricing for Mag+ is variable, with flexible options depending on your needs. They have a “Pay As You Publish” option, as well as an “Unlimited Option”, but as this is your first digital magazine, these options may not be suitable for you.

• Monthly: Ranging from $499-$699
• Annually: Ranging from $5389- $7549

Issuu is a web-only magazine publisher. It’s of particular interest to those who are planning on using their magazines as ad revenue-generating machines. Issuu is great for beginners as it allows you to create for free.

• FREE, and up to $279 annually

FlipSnack is a handy little website that transforms your PDF into an interactive flipbook, which can then be presented on your website. This is the technology that we use to upload past and present copies of Foundr Magazine.

FlipSnack has a tonne of other useful tools for digital creators, including printing services and SEO management, so have a look through and see if it suits your magazine’s goals.

• FREE to $948 a year

Apple iTunes Store and Google Play

You need a place to distribute your magazine, and where else to go except the iTunes App Store and Google Play, where there are huge audiences waiting for your content. These stores already have the authority, audience, and infrastructure there for the taking. You’ll have to get registered with these platforms and follow their terms of agreement and pricing.

Apple iTunes Store:

• $99/year + 30% of the revenue from your sales

Google Play Store:

• $25 charge to register + $100/year + 30% of the revenue from your sales

When you start your magazine on a shoestring budget, it’s all about wearing many hats (publisher, editor, writer, interviewer, etc.), and it might stay that way. But if you decide to grow, you can start to flesh out your process and bring on a team. At this point, you may need to expand into productivity and management software. Otherwise, the technology for deploying a digital magazine isn’t too complex, and definitely within reach of the most tech-averse entrepreneur.

READ MORE: 10 Instagram Growth Hacks For More Engaged Followers (Without Running Ads)

Create Awe-Inspiring Designs

Today’s online business landscape is so incredibly competitive, no matter what product you’re selling. That means that you need to find new ways to impress your market and grab their attention.

One key way to do this is with a stellar, standout design.

How many digital magazines have the same serious covers, with predictable font choices, colors, and layouts? Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but the truth is, those things don’t stick out anymore.

You can’t stand out by fitting in, just look at these covers you’re competing with:

Great design is a minimum requirement.

When it comes to digital magazines especially, your potential buyers will not invest in a copy of your work unless it looks great. That’s just part of the experience they’re paying for. Great design also gets you to that trust threshold required for someone to hand their money over the internet. It’s legitimizing.

But the design that gets your digital magazine thousands of readers has to go far beyond this threshold. You can’t just be great—you need to be awesome.

Here at Foundr, everything we put out not only has great design, but we strive to make it unique, edgy, and even daring. We know that our magazine is read mostly by young people, who are full of energy and ready to make a change in this world through entrepreneurship. Our design has to convey that energy:

There are no shortcuts or formulas to good design. It really is just a question of hiring the right person for the job. Finding a quality designer isn’t easy, nor is it cheap. You shouldn’t expect to pay bottom dollar for top work.

There are plenty of websites that connect you to remote designers. These are great because they give you access to a global pool of talent:

These websites include:

• Behance: Search through the portfolios of thousands of designers and post a job to get applications.
• Dribbble: Search through portfolios of both individual designers and agencies. Pitch to them individually instead of posting a job and getting deluged by applications.

You might have to go through a few designers or agencies before finding the one that matches your vision and market. Here at Foundr, we went through two designers before landing one designer we work well with.

To find the right designer, always have a trial period or a test project. It could be as simple as having them create a short PDF based on a checklist.

The quality of the designer’s work is just as important as the speed with which they create it. Equally important is the relationship that you have with the designer. Do you jell with them? Do your working styles meld nicely?

In the end, you need to pick a designer you can trust. There is nothing that bothers creatives more than when clients micromanage their work. Many designers will drop clients that do not give them enough creative control.

Round-Up Top Content

You’ve got your magazine looking good, and you’ve got the right tech to put it out into the world. Now it’s time to focus on providing useful content for your readers.

Foundr Magazine is made up of three different “types” of content:

• General content related to entrepreneurship
• Feature articles based on top entrepreneurs we interview
• Virtual Mentor Q&A section

We round the magazine out with an editor’s note at the beginning and Actionable Takeaways at the end. The overarching goal of all of our content is to give great, actionable, fun-to-read content for our audience, who will then take this knowledge to apply it to their business-building efforts.

Overall, we keep the magazine relatively short compared to your standard print publication, at between 10,000-12,000 words an issue. Most articles are between 2,000-5,000 words, with our features and front features leaning on the longer side. We also tend to run shorter pieces at the beginning of each issue.

As a good general rule, we find our readers enjoy the content they can take away and do something with afterward. Whether it’s something that inspires them or gives them precise instructions, we recommend making sure that your content is helpful to your readers in some way.

We’ve also found that it’s best to also include some pieces that are lighter in tone and subject matter since most of what we cover is about the business world. We like to insert some lifestyle pieces that would still add value to a busy entrepreneur’s life, but also offer a bit of a break.

READ MORE: How to Start a Podcast on a Budget

How do we manage to get such amazing content?

The first step to creating meaningful and engaging content is finding excellent writers.

Spend some time searching for a good writer, and always ask to see examples of their work to gauge whether or not their writing style is what you need.

At Foundr, we firmly believe that you get what you pay for. While we do look to keep costs as low as possible, you cannot expect a life-changing magnum opus from a writer if you are offering them peanuts. Be fair with your budget, and consider whether the writer’s budget is doable for quality content.

The second step is getting a great copy editor.

A copy editor will take your magazine from good to high-quality.

They root out those grammar and spelling mistakes that you will miss during writing and editing. It depends on the editor, but ours also assesses the entire product and returns headline suggestions and stylistic feedback, such as the order of the articles, to produce the most polished and cohesive issue possible.

This person provides a fresh, outside set of eyes to go over what you’re creating, and offers insights you would likely miss.

When starting out, you may not be able to afford a professional copy editor right off the bat. Even if you are able to, it’s good to have an understanding of what these people do, and how it is important to creating a quality publication.

First and foremost, copy editors police your use of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. But they also help ensure a consistent writing style for your magazine.

This means making sure the way you spell certain words, punctuate quotations or present things like titles and headings is the same throughout your writing. It might seem inconsequential, but readers will notice when your publication has all kinds of crazy punctuation, or “startup” in one sentence and “start-up” in the next. This will give your readers the idea that the publication is unprofessional, sloppy, and not worth the money.

A great default tool for this is the Associated Press Stylebook. It’s the style bible for most of the professional media world. It can be old-fashioned at times but is the standard-bearer of all the media rules of the road.

As you grow and bring on more writers, you’ll find that having an internal “Style Guide” specific to your magazine will prove extremely helpful. A Style Guide is like a rule book that you set up, which outlines the conventions that your particular magazine follows—that is, the length of articles, how you handle things like headlines, first and last names, titles, the spelling of branded words, etc.

This can serve as a reminder to yourself, and a quick reference for any new editors or writers you are bringing onboard.

At Foundr, we have a style guide that we use with all our copy. Simple things like “US English only”, and “no curly quotation marks” are what helps to keep us consistent.

In the end, the style of your magazine will come down to what you feel will speak more to your audience.

If your publication is aimed towards more professional career people, it may not make sense to adopt a casual tone. If your publication is aimed towards a very tech-savvy audience, it may make more sense to throw in technical jargon or acronyms without much explanation.

Whatever the style of your magazine might be, it’s important to define it and stick to it.

READ MORE: Psychographics 101: Everything You Need to Know; How It’s Used in Marketing

Creating the Layout of Your Digital Magazine

Your magazine will need to have some kind of layout and will most likely have recurring sections.

For example, we have a recurring section called “Life Hacks” as well as our “Virtual Mentor” section, where an industry expert or entrepreneur answers questions sent to us via our Virtual Mentor email box.

In terms of layout, we place our content between the editor’s note from Nathan Chan, and our concluding section, “Actionable Takeaways,” where we list the best actionable ideas from the magazine issue.

How should you layout your magazine? There is no set way, but as with everything, get some inspiration from your own favorite magazines. Grab a few copies of your favorite digital magazine and study each one for:

• How it organizes its layout
• Which recurring sections it contains
• Use of visual points of entry
• If they have themed issues
• The length and tone of their articles (First-person? Long narrative stories?)

Historically, magazines are separated into some main sections:

• Front of the Book (F.O.B): This is the first third of the magazine. It contains elements such as contents, the masthead, letters to the editor, recurring features like Q&As or book reviews, regular columns, mini-stories, infographics, product reviews. The F.O.B. usually tends to be heavy on quick, visual pieces, not long pieces of text. It can sometimes extend to the first half of the entire magazine.
• The Well: Also known as the “Feature Well” is the heart of the issue. It holds the main stories, including the cover story. These articles take up big chunks of the magazine and are longer, with large pieces of text and illustrative photos mixed in. Sometimes a special issue will have closely themed features, but usually, the topics vary.
• Back of Book (B.O.B.): This is the last portion of the magazine. It’s usually pretty short, and usually contains one or two shorter pieces to round things out. Sometimes it includes additional resources for readers. Often magazines will have a one-page recurring feature on the last page of every issue.

Whatever you do, keep in mind that variety is a worthy goal for any magazine, new or old. Even in the Feature Well, keep your readers engaged by avoiding too many very long stories in a row.

Don’t be afraid to mix things up a little, keeping in mind that your consistent and recurring features create something that readers can look forward to, while variations provide pleasant surprises.

READ MORE: FREE TRAINING: Explode Your Instagram Account With Our IG Hacks Masterclass

Get Interviews with Hard-to-Reach People

Interviewing hard-to-reach people will likely be something many, if not all, digital magazines will be interested in doing. Whatever your niche, your magazine will benefit immensely from having a leader or influencer in your field appear in your magazine.

Nathan Chan was struggling to get people to accept interviews with his then small and unknown entrepreneur magazine. Everything changed when Richard Branson was interviewed and featured on the cover.

Nathan knew that he needed a big name to propel the magazine and raise its profile. He aimed right for the top with Richard Branson.

Branson has quite a few books out there, so Nathan thought to first contact the book publishers. From there, he found out who the head of PR was for Branson, which leads him to his main contact person at Virgin.

He then pitched to that assistant at Virgin.

Find your target’s gatekeeper, whether that’s an internal head of PR, their personal assistant, or an agency that represents them.

But the effort wasn’t over yet. Nathan had to call this PR person four or five times, leaving voice messages each time. When he finally caught her over the phone, Nathan made his case and emphasized that he really wanted Branson on the cover of his new publication

The PR person then agreed to an email interview, and the rest is history. The Branson issue was a major turning point for Foundr, with our interviews only getting better and better from there.

The Branson issue and the many other rockstar entrepreneur interviews we’ve done have had what is known as the “Oprah Effect” for Foundr Magazine. That’s when you’ve interviewed so many awesome and successful people, that people become interested in what YOU have to say.

That makes YOU the new influencer.

READ MORE: 3 Ways to Create a Facebook Sales Funnel That Will Convert Customers on Autopilot

Promoting and Marketing Your Digital Magazine

When starting Foundr Magazine, we were able to grow at a rapid pace by using many different marketing tactics and strategies. That initially meant throwing things against the wall and seeing what stuck. In the early days, Nathan had to work out and test many channels that were effective for growing Foundr. Below is what worked the best.

Social Media

Nathan was trying out loads of different marketing tactics over social media but was struggling to gain traction.

That was until he tried Instagram.

Once he broke the Instagram marketing code, he started seeing consistent growth in email sign-ups and magazine sales. Instagram has been the top channel for Foundr Magazine’s growth.

On Instagram, Foundr managed to generate 10k followers in two weeks, built an extremely powerful sales funnel, and landed some huge exposure for the brand.

When it comes to Social Media, there’s too much opportunity to put just in this article alone. We have a tonne of content, how-tos, and other hacking guides, so be sure to check out our other articles when you’ve finished with this one.

Keyword optimization for the App Store is not as complex as web SEO, although it is no less essential. You want your magazine to rank for key search terms in your niche.

If at all possible, you need to get your keyword into the title of your app. For us, “entrepreneur magazine” is a major keyword for our market, and is featured in our app title: “AA+ Foundr – A Young Entrepreneur Magazine.”

Using keywords can also get you in the top five apps pages, allowing you to piggyback off of the successful and well-known apps. For example, Foundr Magazine benefits from the fact that we show up along Entrepreneur Magazine in the top five apps under “entrepreneur.” We also show up when people search for “Forbes” or “Harvard Business Review.”

You can use tools like Sensortower to help you research your keywords, your competitors’ keywords, and more.

Don’t worry about the competitiveness of the keyword, get it into your title if at all possible. As always, perform A/B testing to refine the keyword that you include in your title.

READ MORE: We Went From 0 to $50,000 in Sponsorships in 4 Weeks & How You Can Too!

As mentioned earlier, the design and look of your magazine is of prime importance. Put yourself in the shoes of your audience. They are browsing the store, looking for something cool to read. Your front cover is therefore a marketing tool. Spend time working the covers and headlines because they are the difference between a reader and someone who brushes you aside.

Free App and a Free Issue

Without question, your magazine app must be free to download. This will reduce the friction getting from the App Store to your actual magazine. Up the ante by offering a free magazine issue. Offering even a couple of free issues is very effective in creating long-term subscribers.

At Foundr we give one of our best interviews (Richard Branson) and our guide to 10,000 Instagram followers for free, using our free app. Our 20,000+ monthly readers speak to the effectiveness of this tactic.

The more (positive) reviews you have, the better you will rank in the app store. To get good reviews, you need to make sure that your magazine is of top quality. Furthermore, you need to make sure that your technology works perfectly—no crashing, no unnecessary slowness, no annoying technical glitches. That’s why we recommend you go with a dependable publishing technology company, like MagCast, which will take care of that whole aspect for you.

Otherwise, you can collect positive ratings by prompting users to review you in the digital stores, preferably a few times over the course of the user’s interaction with the app.

Influencers

Foundr Magazine does double duty when it comes to influencers. Not only do we get to offer incredible value to our readers by interviewing the top entrepreneurs from around the world, but these Influencers also promote their features to their own audiences, serving as a valuable source of marketing.

Even if you aren’t looking to do interviews for your magazine, you can still network with influencers in your field and ask them to promote your work (for a fair exchange, of course).

READ MORE: 30 Expert Tips on How to Get 10k More Followers on Instagram

Making Money: Pricing the Digital Magazine

The production costs of your magazine will be much lower than a traditional magazine, and as such, you may be tempted to have this reflected in your price.

Don’t guess at your magazine price. Do a methodical competitive analysis. That is, go into the channel through which you will be distributing your magazine—whether that is the App Store, Google Play, or the web—and check out your competitors in the space.

Collect the prices, calculate the median and average. See how these magazines structure discounts for longer-term subscriptions and back issues.

For example, here’s how Foundr has structured its pricing (all pricing in USD):

• Individual issues cost $4.99
• 1 Month Subscription costs $2.99 (savings of 40%)
• 1 Year Subscription costs 21.99 (savings of 63%)

As we’ve done, incentivize your audience with savings for longer-term subscriptions, which offers them a deal, and provides you with higher per-customer revenue.

READ MORE: Building the Perfect Sales Funnel for Your Shopify Store

Ready to Start Your Online Magazine?

When it comes to launching your own digital magazine, the most important takeaway from this post is to explore different revenue models for your magazine. As mentioned above, traditional media based on ad revenue is on its way out, and we are seeing an emergence of new and exciting models.

Magazines are now hosting conferences, creating courses, selling coaching, and even creating physical products. It’s an exciting time to be a creative entrepreneur in media. At this turning point, the most daring and creative among media entrepreneurs will define the winning business models and become leaders in the field.

But what do you think? Do you think this new model will succeed? Are you thinking of starting a digital magazine? Comment with your thoughts below.

About Nathan Chan

Nathan Chan holds a Master of Business from Victoria University and is widely respected as one of the brightest minds of his generation. An expert at entrepreneurship, he started Foundr -- a global media and education company that reaches out to millions of people across the world. In the last seven years, Nathan has interviewed some of the most successful entrepreneurs of our time such as Richard Branson, Arianna Huffington, Mark Cuban, and Tim Ferriss. He currently leads the team at Foundr as their Chief Executive Officer.

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Magazine Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Magazine Business Plan

You’ve come to the right place to create your Magazine business plan.

We have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans and many have used them to start or grow their Magazine businesses.

Below is a template to help you create each section of your Magazine business plan.

Executive Summary

Business overview.

Happy Trails Magazine is a startup magazine company located in New York City, New York. The company is founded by Lawrence MacGuire, who has experience in traveling and offering podcasts from around the world. Now, with the expertise of knowledge and business acumen, he has determined he can confidently start and effectively grow a successful magazine company. He believes his experience of strategic planning, marketing skills, financial capabilities, and wide and deep knowledge of traveling practices will provide everything needed for long-term growth and profitability.

Happy Trails Magazine will provide a comprehensive array of articles of interest for a wide variety of travel-loving customers. The Happy Trails Magazine will be the premiere travel magazine, providing services and products to each customer, while supporting the strategic goals of the company. Happy Trails Magazine will be the ultimate choice in tourist travel for customers to ensure that every need and desire of all travelers is fully and completely met.

Product Offering

The following are the services and products that Happy Trails Magazine will provide:

• Unique and exclusive content creation
• Experienced writers who provide superior journalism and reporting
• Photography from around the world
• Art and illustrations that support the travel articles
• Special offers of travel and related products for publication subscribers
• Online magazine offered in addition to hard copy publication
• Fun quiz and explorer’s facts for readers
• On-time delivery every month

Customer Focus

Adults within the New York City region. Customers who love to travel. Global customers who want to read about travel and enjoy excellent magazine articles. Advertisers who will purchase space and positions in the monthly magazine release. Collaborators who partner with Happy Trails Magazine to effectively market products and services.

Management Team

Happy Trails Magazine is owned and operated by Lawrence MacGuire. He recruited managers from his former place of employment at a nationally-known magazine company, including Derek Flanagan, as his Operations Manager, and Sherry Culver, as the Senior Administrative Manager.

Lawrence MacGuire is a graduate of Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, where he earned a degree in the Art of Hospitality and Travel. He has been employed by a global resort chain with over 500 hotels for the past ten years.

Tracey Newthorn is a graduate of University of Ohio, where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in business in the hospitality industry. She has spent the past two summer sessions in international travel and is an accomplished photographer. She will be the Artistic & Photographic Manager of Happy Trails Magazine.

Alex Hawkins, an experienced magazine editor, will be the Executive Manager & Senior Editor of the Happy Trails Magazine. His former position was as the Senior Manager of Horizons Over Hawaii Magazine for over 20 years. His experience with travel and journalism leads to the new position of executive management.

Success Factors

Happy Trails Magazine will be able to achieve success by offering the following competitive advantages:

• Friendly, knowledgeable, and highly-qualified team of Happy Trails Magazine
• Comprehensive menu of accurate and complete travel-related stories, as well as multiple photographic demonstrations of places to visit and things to see.
• Additional value added with each subscription via a number of special offers found in Happy Trails Magazine labeled, “For Subscribers Only!”
• Outstanding photography and illustrations that highlight the beauty of world travel
• Happy Trails Magazine offers the best pricing in town. Their pricing structure is the most cost effective compared to the competition.

Financial Highlights

Happy Trails Magazine is seeking $200,000 in debt financing to launch its magazine. The funding will be dedicated toward securing the office space and purchasing office equipment and supplies. Funding will also be dedicated toward three months of overhead costs to include payroll of the staff, rent, and marketing costs for the print ads and marketing costs. The breakout of the funding is below:

• Office space build-out: $20,000
• Office equipment, supplies, and materials: $10,000
• Three months of overhead expenses (payroll, rent, utilities): $150,000
• Marketing costs: $10,000
• Working capital: $10,000

The following graph outlines the financial projections for Happy Trails Magazine.

Company Overview

Who is happy trails magazine.

Happy Trails Magazine is a newly established, full-service consumer magazine published in New York City, New York. Happy Trails Magazine will be the most beautiful, consumer-relatable, and cost-effective choice for a global reading and subscribing community. Happy Trails Magazine will provide a comprehensive menu of editorial articles, In-Style pictorials, Go-To suggestions for hotel/travel bargains and special discounts for any reader to enjoy. Their full-service approach includes a comprehensive website with multiple gateways to information and related services.

  Happy Trails Magazine will be the premier travel magazine in the publications industry. Led by the team of experienced professionals, the magazine will entice travelers to explore the world, while advertisers and interested parties will enjoy purchasing ads, placing click through ads and offering specials throughout the hard copy and digital magazine. Happy Trails Magazine removes all headaches and issues of traveling globally and ensures all travel negatives are addressed and diminished, while delivering the best customer service.

Happy Trails Magazine History

Lawrence MacGuire is a graduate of Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, where he earned a degree in the Art of Hospitality and Travel. He has been employed by a global resort chain with over 500 hotels for the past ten years. During his prior employment, he recognized that many of the world’s finest destinations have been passed over in favor of traditional, favored locations. After much research and industry information-gathering, he started the Happy Trails Magazine to appeal to youthful travelers and old alike as they traveled the world.

Since incorporation, Happy Trails Magazine has achieved the following milestones:

• Registered magazine, Happy Trails Magazine, LLC to transact business in the state of New York.
• Has a contract in place for a 10,000 square foot office at one of the midtown buildings
• Reached out to numerous contacts to include Happy Trails as a source for advertising.
• Began recruiting a staff of 3 and 2 office personnel to work at Happy Trails Magazine.

Happy Trails Magazine Services

The following will be the services and products the Happy Trails Magazine will provide:

Industry Analysis

The travel magazine industry is expected to grow over the next five years to over $24684 billion. The growth will be driven by an exponential interest in travel exhibited during the recent pandemic years, as most consumers were sequestered with no ability to travel. The industry is also expected to grow now as people begin to explore once again, looking for places off the beaten path. While travel costs remain high due to shipping and supply line issues and the economy, consumers find delight in exploring travel magazines and the pleasure of escape they offer.

Costs will likely be reduced as the process of production and print continue to fall due to technology advancements. The software that drives the consumer-provider relationships will also change, as most redundant or fairly simple administrative tasks will be given software solutions rather than handed over to a live publication agent.

Customer Analysis

Demographic profile of target market, customer segmentation.

Happy Trails Magazine will primarily target those young adults and adults who live within the New York City region. They will also target customers who love to travel, including global customers who want to read about travel and enjoy excellent magazine articles. Advertisers who will purchase space and positions in the monthly magazine release will be welcomed. Collaborators who partner with Happy Trails Magazine to effectively market products and services.

• Young adults through seniors
• Those who love to travel
• Those who want to travel to exotic, almost unknown destinations
• Those who enjoy viewing beautiful photography
• Those who like to read magazine articles about travel
• Advertisers and interested parties who want to sell through or collaborate with Happy Trails Magazine

Competitive Analysis

Direct and indirect competitors.

Happy Trails Magazine will face competition from other companies with similar business profiles. A description of each competitor company is below.

Sunset Magazine

Sunset Magazine, started in 1953 by a married couple, Ernest and Columbine Trentom, who were experienced global travelers. They began the magazine in a home office and quickly built their subscriber base to over fifteen million at the height of popularity. In recent years, the popularity of Sunset Magazine has waned, due to the loss of advertisers and poor construction of the magazine during production. The subscriber base has moved to new, more trendy, travel accommodations and travel styles.

Sports Illuminated

Sports Illuminated was founded by Cissy Travers, an ardent sportswoman and enthusiast of global sports events. With distribution to over 10 million readers, Ms Travers maintains complete control of the magazine and related ventures, which include sporting goods sales, sports apparel sales and global sports items.

The magazine was founded in 2001, when Cissy Travers took a medium-grade local magazine in upstate New York, and began to manage the content within. During the following five years, she single handedly engaged sports writers of the highest caliber and photographers who traveled the world on behalf of the magazine to shoot pivotal sporting events. Since that time, the magazine has continued to grow as new sporting events are added globally every year.

Taft & Hanson

Taft & Hanson Magazine was established in 2003 by Rogert Taft and Renee Hanson, a couple who traveled throughout the United States in their luxury recreational vehicle. The magazine is dedicated to the ultra-expensive and luxurious recreational vehicles manufactured and on the roads of America, with each monthly edition highlighting both the features of the vehicles and the features of traveler’s retreats around the nation.

The magazine is published once each quarter and is available by subscription only. Each edition is priced at $125 per copy. Designed to entice readers to purchase new recreational vehicles as they are released from manufacturing, the magazine makes it’s return on investment by selling to manufacturers and consumers alike.

Rogert Taft and Renee Hanson travel extensively throughout the nation, each reporting and writing about various aspects of living the “luxurious recreational vehicle life,” and the accommodations in which they choose to stay, which is used by the magazine publishers as another form of revenue in advertising. The magazine has earned a five-star rating by the Travelers Trailers International and has a following of over 100,000 subscribers.

Competitive Advantage

Happy Trails Magazine will be able to offer the following advantages over their competition:

Marketing Plan

Brand & value proposition.

Happy Trails Magazine will offer the unique value proposition to its clientele:

• Highly-qualified team of skilled employees who are able to provide a comprehensive travel experience via the magazine and website.
• Additional value added with each subscription via a number of special offers found in Happy Trails Magazine labeled, “For Subscribers Only!”
• Unbeatable pricing for customers; subscribers are offered the lowest pricing of any travel magazine on the market.

Promotions Strategy

The promotions strategy for magazine is as follows:

Word of Mouth/Referrals

Happy Trails Magazine has built up an extensive list of contacts over the years by providing exceptional service and expertise to hospitality and lodging clients. The contacts and clients will follow them to this new company and help spread the word of Happy Trails Magazine.

Professional Associations and Networking

Trade Associations for travel and travel accommodations will be joined and actively pursued by the Happy Trails Magazine staff. Professional Networking in the New York City region will also be conducted to increase visibility and engage additional subscribers and advertisers.

Print Advertising

Limited print advertising will be offered within travel magazines and news periodicals. The bulk of the advertising will be found on the internet within various social network channels.

Website/SEO Marketing

Happy Trails Magazine will fully utilize their website. The website will be well organized, informative, and list all the services and products that the magazine provides. The website will also list their contact information and list their top-rated travel spots and special discounts for subscribers. The website will engage in SEO marketing tactics so that anytime someone types in the Google or Bing search engine “travel magazine” or “travel reading near me,” magazine will be listed at the top of the search results.

The pricing of the magazine will be moderate and on par with competitors so customers feel they receive excellent value when purchasing their services.

Operations Plan

The following will be the operations plan for the Happy Trails Magazine. Operation Functions:

• Happy Trails Magazine is owned and operated by Lawrence MacGuire. He recruited managers from his former place of employment at a nationally-known magazine company.
• Lawrence MacGuire is a graduate of Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, where he earned a degree in the Art of Hospitality and Travel. He has been employed by a global resort travel magazine affiliated with over 500 hotels for the past ten years.
• Derek Flanagan will take on the position of Operations Manager, with a professional background of several years in management within the travel magazine world.
• Tracey Newthorn is the Artistic & Photographic Manager of Happy Trails Magazine. She is a graduate of University of Ohio, where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in business in the hospitality industry. She has spent the past two summer sessions in international travel and is an accomplished photographer.

Milestones:

Happy Trails Magazine will have the following milestones completed in the next six months.

• 5/1/202X – Finalize contract to lease office space
• 5/15/202X – Finalize personnel and staff employment contracts for the magazine
• 6/1/202X – Finalize contracts for magazine advertisers
• 6/15/202X – Begin networking at industry events
• 6/22/202X – Begin moving into magazine office
• 7/1/202X – magazine opens its doors for business

Financial Plan

Key revenue & costs.

The revenue drivers for Happy Trails Magazine are the fees they will charge to subscribers for their services, in addition to charges they solicit from advertisers who place ads in their publications. .

The cost drivers will be the overhead costs required in order to staff the magazine. The expenses will be the payroll cost, rent, utilities, office supplies, and marketing materials.

Funding Requirements and Use of Funds

Happy Trails Magazine is seeking $200,000 in debt financing to launch its travel magazine. The funding will be dedicated toward securing the office space and purchasing office equipment and supplies. Funding will also be dedicated toward three months of overhead costs to include payroll of the staff, rent, and marketing costs for the print ads and association memberships. The breakout of the funding is below:

Key Assumptions

The following outlines the key assumptions required in order to achieve the revenue and cost numbers in the financials and in order to pay off the startup business loan.

• Number of Subscribers Per Month: 750
• Number of Advertising Accounts Per Month: 50
• Average Revenue per Month: $550,000
• Office Lease per Year: $100,000

Financial Projections

Income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, magazine business plan faqs, what is a magazine business plan.

A magazine business plan is a plan to start and/or grow your magazine business. Among other things, it outlines your business concept, identifies your target customers, presents your marketing plan and details your financial projections. You can easily complete your Magazine business plan using our Magazine Business Plan Template here .

What are the Main Types of Magazine Businesses?

There are a number of different kinds of magazine businesses, some examples include: Entertainment magazine, Home and living magazine, Business magazine, Digital magazine, and Online magazine.

How Do You Get Funding for Your Magazine Business Plan?

Magazine businesses are often funded through small business loans. Personal savings, credit card financing and angel investors are also popular forms of funding.

What are the Steps To Start a Magazine Business?

Starting a magazine business can be an exciting endeavor. Having a clear roadmap of the steps to start a business will help you stay focused on your goals and get started faster. 1. Develop A Magazine Business Plan - The first step in starting a business is to create a detailed magazine business plan that outlines all aspects of the venture. This should include potential market size and target customers, the services or products you will offer, pricing strategies and a detailed financial forecast. 2. Choose Your Legal Structure - It's important to select an appropriate legal entity for your magazine business. This could be a limited liability company (LLC), corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship. Each type has its own benefits and drawbacks so it’s important to do research and choose wisely so that your magazine business is in compliance with local laws. 3. Register Your Magazine Business - Once you have chosen a legal structure, the next step is to register your magazine business with the government or state where you’re operating from. This includes obtaining licenses and permits as required by federal, state, and local laws. 4. Identify Financing Options - It’s likely that you’ll need some capital to start your magazine business, so take some time to identify what financing options are available such as bank loans, investor funding, grants, or crowdfunding platforms. 5. Choose a Location - Whether you plan on operating out of a physical location or not, you should always have an idea of where you’ll be based should it become necessary in the future as well as what kind of space would be suitable for your operations. 6. Hire Employees - There are several ways to find qualified employees including job boards like LinkedIn or Indeed as well as hiring agencies if needed – depending on what type of employees you need it might also be more effective to reach out directly through networking events. 7. Acquire Necessary Magazine Equipment & Supplies - In order to start your magazine business, you'll need to purchase all of the necessary equipment and supplies to run a successful operation. 8. Market & Promote Your Business - Once you have all the necessary pieces in place, it’s time to start promoting and marketing your magazine business. This includes creating a website, utilizing social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter, and having an effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. You should also consider traditional marketing techniques such as radio or print advertising.

Learn more about how to start a successful magazine business:

• How to Start a Magazine Company

The Definitive Guide to Publishing Digital Magazines

March 28, 2023.

Looking to publish a digital magazine?

Maybe you’re creating a digital edition for the very first time. Or, maybe you need to revamp your digital edition to make it easier to read. (If your readers have to pinch and zoom their way through your digital magazine, you’re not providing the best possible experience.)

This guide shows you how to create mobile-optimized magazine content with single columns that look great on any device—so your content is always legible.

Plus, we offer a list of publishing platforms that will work for any media company, creator, or enterprise.

The benefits of publishing a digital magazine

There are many reasons why your media company might be considering going digital.

But when it comes down to it, the motivation is usually to…

• Reach readers outside of your geographical distribution
• Cater to readers looking for content instantly (can be purchased on the go from anywhere)
• Scale your readership at a low cost
• Appeal to digital-first readers

How to publish a digital magazine

To publish a digital magazine with a top-notch reader experience, follow these steps:

Step 1. Upload a PDF, HTML, or other supported file

The first step is to upload a supported file type to your digital magazine publishing platform. PDF is most commonly used. You’ll want to make sure you’re using a platform that reflows the PDF into a mobile optimized reading experience rather than just embedding it in a viewing widget (see our list of software below).

Step 2. Review and adjust the styling

Next, the platform will automatically convert your PDF into single-column content that is legible on any device. Here’s an example of what this looks like in eMagazines:

You should review every article to check the styling. eMagazines will automatically use the branding in your pdf, including fonts and colors for headlines, bylines, copy, and more. Your job is to check for brand alignment, and adjust anything at a global scale. You should also review the articles for any errors or quality issues.

Step 3. Test out the table of contents

The table of contents will also be automatically generated. This allows readers to easily hop around your digital edition and select the article they want to read instead of just flipping through.

All you need to do is check the headlines, bylines, and descriptions.

Step 4. Add deep links to your cover page

One of the awesome things about digital magazines is interlinking. Not only can readers click on articles from the table of contents, but they can also click on articles in the cover page.

You can create a link for an article featured in your cover page and then draw a square on the area where you want the link to go. Do this for all of your cover articles.

Step 5. Preview the magazine on multiple devices

The final step is to preview your magazine as a reader.

Test it out using a mobile phone, tablet, and computer.

Now your magazine is ready to be distributed. Scroll to the bottom of this article for tips on delivery and distribution.

For more details (including how to automatically add article audio to your digital magazine), check out this tutorial on PDF to digital magazine conversion .

Top 5 digital magazine publishing software

Check out these top tools for publishing digital magazines:

1. eMagazines

eMagazines is a software and service provider for converting print magazines to digital magazines. Unlike basic PDF magazine conversion tools , which embed your PDF in an online viewer , eMagazines completely reflows your content so that it’s easy to read on any device. Readers never have to pinch and zoom in an unoptimized PDF. Instead, they can scroll and flip through single-column content. In addition to a superior reading experience, eMagazines also offers services to help you sell, deliver, and distribute your digital magazine.

Best for : Magazine publishers (national, regional, and niche)

Top features :

• Mobile-optimized magazine reader
• White labeled experience
• No need for passwords or content downloads
• Custom services for production and delivery
• Automated article audio
• Subscriber back issue access
• Delivery to Apple News+
• Native app building and maintenance
• Customer acquisition partnerships
• Analytics and custom reporting

Issuu is a simple tool for publishing digital magazines. In addition to publishing digital flipbooks, you can also use Issuu for SEO blog posts, social media posts, and gifs. Keep in mind that this solution is best for content marketing and small business use cases, but it’s not a fit for distributing quality digital magazines to subscribers because the reading experience is too complex.

Best for : One-off publications

• Works for digital magazines and catalogs
• Project management features
• SEO optimization
• Fullscreen viewing
• Sales and subscriptions management
• Payment processing

3. Flipsnack

Flipsnack is similar to Issuu in that it’s a simple online software for creating digital flipbooks. If you want to publish a digital magazine, you can either upload a PDF that you designed using adobe or Canva, or you can use Flipsnack’s online design editor to create a digital magazine from scratch.

• Converts PDFs to digital magazines
• Catalog design software
• QR code generator
• Custom subdomains
• Team collaboration and project management
• Content viewing analytics

Heyzine offers a free plan that will appeal to small businesses and creators. You can use it for magazines, catalogs, brochures, reports, restaurant menus, and more. Heyzine does not offer a magazine design program, so you must have a PDF to upload. PDF content will then be embedded in a mobile viewer, however, readers will have to pinch and zoom because PDF content usually appears quite small when not in print.

• Mobile responsive
• Interlinking from one flipbook or page to another
• Supports videos, audio, and pictures

Foleon is a different sort of digital magazine software because it’s designed for enterprises rather than media companies. It offers content marketing features and integrations so that you can deliver digital magazine content at scale to both customers and internal contacts. The program can be used for marketing and employee communications campaigns.

Best for : Enterprises and marketing teams

• Content editor
• Drag and drop magazine design
• White labeled branding
• Templates for magazines, ebooks, and catalogs
• Integrations with marketing analytics software

Tips for publishing a digital magazine

Publishers have much to consider when creating a digital version for the first time or revamping their current digital edition process. Follow these tips for reader experience and growth.

1. Make sure the reading experience is mobile optimized (PDFs don’t cut it)

For small creators, PDF conversion tools might do the trick. But readers expect more from media companies.

Here’s an example of a digital magazine made with Heyzine (as you can see the font comes up quite small on a laptop).

And here’s an example of how easy it is to read single-column content created with eMagazines (from People):

As you can see, it’s a lot more legible! This mobile optimized content looks great in tablets, phones, and computers. And you’re still able to retain your branding through fonts and colors.

2. Eliminate the need for passwords

Consumers today have hundreds if not thousands of passwords. If you require a password to read your digital magazine, you’re setting yourself up for a constant stream of customer support requests related to login issues. Fortunately, it’s not necessary to require user passwords to distribute content securely to paying subscribers. Instead, you can deliver digital magazines via email and/or a mobile app.

Learn more about those options here:

• Email magazine delivery
• Mobile magazine app

3. Continuously experiment with new subscription offers

It’s important to A/B test your magazine subscription order pages so you can optimize your messaging and checkout flow. But A/B testing is about more than UX and copy. To really experience an uplift in conversions, you should test the offers.

For example, you might try different prices, subscription lengths, and trial periods. You can also try different content offers that come for free with a subscription. Along with a new subscription, you might offer access to five special issues or your entire back issue archive .

4. Increase retention with a great reader experience and extra benefits

Have you ever heard the phrase “surprise and delight?” It refers to the extra benefits you offer customers that they’re not expecting. You should have a retention strategy in place that will give customers additional reasons to stay subscribed and keep consuming your content. This might include special virtual events, special edition access, community forums, and other premium add-ons that digital magazine subscribers get for free.

Of course, you’ll also want to ensure that the reading and delivery experience is seamless so subscribers can easily and regularly engage with your main content.

5. Use distribution partnerships to increase your reach

You should always be looking for ways to scale your content beyond your own customer base. And the way to do that is through customer acquisition and distribution partnerships . For example, you could partner with Hoopla and Magazine Jukebox to distribute your digital edition in airports, airlines, medical offices, and universities. For some partnerships, you might get paid for the content and for others, you might provide the content for free in the hopes that readers want more and decide to subscribe.

Publishing a digital magazine is all about easy access. So make sure to choose the solution and strategies that will please your readers the most.

Learn more about eMagazines’ software and services.

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How to Create an Online Magazine in 10 Steps

Written by Matt Berringer

January 1, 2022

Digital publishing represents a massive opportunity for traditional publishers and marketers alike. We’ve been in the information age for some time now, and the digital world is still evolving at warp speed. High-value curated content has never been in higher demand, considering roughly 45.3% of U.S. consumers have read a digital magazine in the last 30 days, according to 2018 data.

Online magazines let print publishers find their share of the massive audience of digital natives waiting to discover their content. Small and mid-sized business marketers can incorporate online magazines into their content marketing mix. This high-quality, in-depth format can extend brand awareness and drive more customers into the sales pipeline.

If you’re ready to start an online magazine for your company, this guide is for you. Learn more about this format and the steps to take to get your own publications ready for launch, or see pricing for Interactive Magazine Platform .

Jump to a topic or speak with an expert:

• Identify Your Goals
• Determine Your Unique Value
• Establish a Budget
• Identify a Publishing Platform
• Create a Content Plan
• Decide on the Structure
• Create a Brand Strategy
• Identify a Revenue Model
• Develop a Marketing Strategy
• Talk to an Industry Expert

Common Uses for Online Magazines

Many marketers and publishers use online magazines to:

• Access reader analytics:  If you send out paper collateral or printed publications, you have no way of knowing what happens once they’re in your readers’ hands. With an online magazine on the right publishing platform, you can get detailed analytics. See how long readers engage with your articles and what pages they spend their time reading. These metrics give you immediate feedback so you can create more impactful content with every issue.
• Establish additional revenue sources:  An online magazine can help all types of publishers gain new sources of revenue. Print publishers can attract new subscribers who prefer digital media. They can also earn income through well-placed digital ads.
• Promote products or services:  Marketers often use online magazines as a form of in-depth content marketing. They may provide entertainment or helpful information to their target customers and pepper in promotions for their products and services along the way.

Industries That Benefit From Online Publications

Businesses across many industries use online publications as part of their content marketing strategy. Some of those companies include:

• Traditional publishers:  Publishers who have long been creating print magazines their readers love can reach new audiences in the digital landscape. An online edition can be an excellent freebie for print subscribers or available as a stand-alone subscription for digital natives.
• Higher education institutions: Schools can use digital magazines for alumni news or general marketing purposes. Published regularly, these assets can deliver campus news to alumni , students, professors, donors and other stakeholders.
• Sports leagues:  Those in the sports industry can update their fans on important team news with a monthly newsletter or produce exclusive content for their season ticket holders with a digital magazine.
• Travel and leisure companies: Hotels, resorts and state and local tourism commissions can use digital magazines to cover popular events and local attractions and generally encourage readers to visit.
• Associations:  Industry and trade associations like to keep their members updated on industry news, upcoming conferences and other initiatives the organization embarks on. An online magazine is an excellent way to engage members.

Learn More about Publishing Platforms

10 Steps to Creating an Online Magazine

Think digital magazines are right for you? Let’s talk about how to launch one for your own business.

1. Identify the Goals of Your Digital Magazine

First things first — what are you trying to accomplish?

Clearly defining your goals is the first step in any project. Like any publication, an online magazine requires you to make decisions regarding what type of audience you’re hoping to reach. This includes how you would like readers to engage with your content. For example, a digital magazine looking to gain subscribers will function differently than an online piece designed to sell a product.

Regardless of your primary goal, another vital part of starting an online magazine is to define your voice and overall brand style. You can often do this by creating style sheets or brand standards.

Decide early on the overall tone of your online presence and stick to it. When you become successful, you can curate a trustworthy team to help carry the workload while remaining true to your brand.

Learn more about content KPIs & Metrics:

• Developing KPIs
• How to Monitor Performance
• Modernizing Old Metrics
• What Causes Early Bounce

2. Determine What Makes You Unique

How can you develop a plan for sustained success through valuable differentiation? There are some key elements required for a sustainable online magazine business. Most importantly, though, you need to find how you will stick out in a crowded digital media landscape.

Will your content or your creative elements be unique? Will your marketing tactics be differentiated? And will those elements be valuable to your audience? We all need to ask these questions. The content we create must come off as striking and useful to readers so it’s most likely to attract return visits and subscriptions.

Once you’ve uncovered your value proposition and tested it as valuable to a segment of your target audience, it’s crucial to find an intuitive, engaging platform to host your content.

3. Establish a Budget and Estimate Your ROI

Depending on your purposes for creating a digital magazine, your budget can look quite different. If you’re a traditional publisher who already produces content for a printed periodical, digitizing it will require a publishing platform, some related technology and technical skills. If you’re starting a digital magazine from the ground up, you’ll need to budget for an editor-in-chief, writers, designers and other employees to manage content creation.

Once you have your content in hand, the main cost differentiator is in the platform you choose. On a shoestring budget, you can publish your magazine for free as a PDF. However, you’ll still need to find a way to host it online, so even this method is not a true no-cost option. Other low-cost publishing platforms may retain the rights to your work or display their own ads within your publication.

For the best returns on investment (ROI), we recommend starting at the mid-range level. Offering a better user experience and accessing reader analytics will help you grow your digital audience over time. Flipbook magazine publishing tools provide an excellent solution for a mid-range price , while high-end responsive design publishing tools will boost your ROI with a highly engaging user experience.

4. Identify the Best Platform

Every publishing option presents its own benefits and limitations. Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide what makes the most sense for your brand. While affordability is important, it is also necessary to strive for an impactful experience that will keep bringing your readers back for more.

Common Types of Digital Magazines

When choosing a platform for your magazine, start by considering what’s out there. There are many digital publishing solutions , and they each offer different advantages and disadvantages. Your options to create digital magazines online include:

• Flash magazines:  At one point, flash magazines were a popular way to deliver rich, engaging digital viewing experiences. They offered simulated page flipping alongside multimedia content. Since  Adobe announced Flash would meet its end  in 2020, flash magazines are now a thing of the past.
• PDF magazines:  The practically free way to go digital is to publish your magazine as a PDF. This option might be as simple as clicking “publish as PDF” on your document design software. However, this method comes with some drawbacks. PDFs are not mobile-first and add friction to the user experience. Because they have a fixed layout, mobile viewers often have to master a “pinch, zoom and slide” finger dance to view it. They also offer little analytics beyond how many downloads the document receives.
• Native app magazines:  Publishers with a loyal readership willing to download a separate app to view content can create a stunning mobile-first experience with their digital magazines. While they take a lot of effort to develop, the payoff is high. Publishers can control the digital experience, include multimedia content, use targeted advertising, and engage their readers with notifications.
• Flipbook magazines:  Also called the digital replica, a flipbook mimics the traditional print experience. Documents appear as they would in print and offer the satisfying experience of flipping pages. They’re a middle-of-the-road cost solution that elevates the experience above a traditional PDF. They also provide publishers with enhanced reader analytics.
• HTML5 magazines:  These publications use the same coding as a website, allowing for a responsive design. Text and graphics will reflow to any screen size for an awesome user experience from anywhere. They can be hosted online and require no downloading whatsoever. Plus, they offer detailed analytics and incredible design flexibility.

Let’s take a deeper dive into some of the options at your disposal.

See Examples of Great Content Experiences

What Are the Differences Between a PDF and a Flipbook?

The PDF is a widely-used platform for sharing digital content. It is inexpensive and easy to customize, but it lacks an overall impact. A standard PDF leaves much to be desired in terms of interactivity and can cause serious frustration when reading on a mobile device. We all know the pain of pinching to zoom on our phone screen.

Additionally, once downloaded, a PDF can no longer be tracked as the experience moves offline. In a time when data about your readers is so important, PDFs can leave you feeling out in the cold.

Flipbooks offer a more functional solution where you can actually recreate the feel of a print magazine in digital format. This is great for the desktop environment and functions well on tablets. Still, like the PDF, it becomes a bit of a challenge on a mobile device, as pinching to zoom is often a necessity.

In this way, PDFs and typical flipbooks offer lower-priced options that allow you to control the published content. They may fall short in impact and ease of use.

Here you’ll find an example of a Norwegian Cruise Lines flipbook in our nxtbook4 platform. It’s important to note we go beyond the standard flipbook interface by giving options for a scrolling text version of the content. This allows the reader to see the content without pinching to zoom.

See more examples.

When and How Should You Use Apps for Your Digital Magazine?

If phone compatibility is your priority, apps are a great add-on for sharing your online magazine. They also help you understand user engagement, as you’ll be able to track your most effective content.

Going with a native app has numerous advantages and disadvantages. First, it allows you to be an active part of the design process. Compatible with smartphones and tablets, apps are easy to use and will provide a seamless experience. The downside is that they can be challenging to create and often costly — especially if you don’t have a team dedicated to making sure the app runs smoothly.

If a native app is your preferred platform, read more about how Nxtbook Media can make this easier for you.

A subscription app is another option for those without a team of app developers. In this scenario, your online magazine exists on an app alongside various other publications. You may get more viewers due to the popularity of these platforms and the marketing done on your behalf by the app owner.

Unfortunately, this does limit your ability to control the design and functionality of the publication. The platform’s rules may limit what and how you share your content. Also, the subscription app developer will take a hefty cut of the subscription to your online magazine. In some cases, you give over the rights to your content when you place it on a subscription app. Be sure to read the fine print!

What Is a Responsive Online Magazine Solution?

Responsive digital magazines are adaptable to any device. In essence, no matter what device you are on, the content will reflow. This means no more pinching to zoom! Using this technology, your readers can fully participate in remaking the design on desktop, resizing it to an experience that fits best in their current content consumption. These platforms can even include video and audio. They’re ready for any and all content you could produce. By supporting rich media and mobile viewing, they can effectively increase magazine engagement.

Just as flipbooks and apps do, these responsive magazines provide data that gives you feedback for improving your publication. Using this data, you can track your readers’ behavior and cater your content accordingly.

Interested in how a responsive online magazine looks? Check out our work with Disney and the adaptability of our very own responsive platform , PageRaft.

See the costs of a content experience platform.

5. Create a Content Plan

Some brands planning to enter the digital publishing landscape are already creating content worthy of an online magazine. If you’re stuck or need support before creating your publication, there are great sources that can help.

You can find content writers easily online, and there are sites to  connect you with great writers who are eager to contribute. Stock photos and videos are also excellent ways to increase the appeal of your site or magazine. Images from  Unsplash , Pexels  and Pixabay are some of our favorites.

Before you know it, you’ll master the art of content creation, and you may even need to expand your team of editors and designers to help you maintain your growing online magazine. We believe you can do it!

Learn more about creating content experiences

• Building a Content Calendar
• Content Experiences at Scale
• How to Create Responsive Digital Content
• How to Find Content

6. Decide on a Structure for Your Magazine

Having a predetermined structure for your magazine will make it easier to manage. You’ll always know how many articles and pages of content you need to fill each issue. You’ll also have some regular topics that you know you need to cover. Break your table of contents into sections that are relevant to your reader — such as “Current Events,” “Arts and Culture” and “Sports,” or whatever makes sense for your niche. Decide how many articles or pages will fit into each section.

It’s also a good idea to map out every issue. If you’re planning on creating a flipbook-style magazine, consider how the left and right-hand pages on each spread will speak to each other. Set page limits or word counts to help you better manage articles that span multiple pages and how they’ll appear in the final layout. You may have predetermined slots for splash images or full-page ads.

If you’re planning on creating an interactive magazine with a responsive design , your finished product won’t look quite like a typical print edition. Users will navigate by scrolling or swiping left to right. Each article will fit onto one page, which the reader can scroll down on infinitely. Therefore, you don’t need to hit a specific page limit or word count with each article. They can be as short or as long as necessary to cover the story in depth, and pictures can appear wherever you like.

With a responsive magazine, your main concern will be structuring the publication to have enough articles. Since each piece will take up just one “page,” no matter how long, you’ll need a wide variety of individual articles to flesh out the publication. You’ll also want to pay attention to ad placement and how it breaks up the flow of your articles. Ads can take up an entire page or appear as thin columns between two articles.

Learn More from the Nxtbook Team

7. Choose Design Elements and Create a Brand Strategy

Some of the most famous print magazines actually obscure part of their own logos with the headshots that appear on their covers. That’s because these publishers have mastered branding so well that onlookers don’t even need to read the title to recognize it instantly. While your publication may not need to stand out on the rack the way a print edition does, digital magazine design is just as critical. A consistent visual style will help readers connect with and remember your brand.

Your visual identity will communicate what you stand for and who your content appeals to. Focus on sending the right message every time by developing a brand strategy , complete with a brand book of rules for all your designers, writers and editors to follow.

Consider the fonts, colors, photography style and graphic elements you want to associate with your brand.

Besides the design elements, your branding strategy should also include directives for language use, such as tone of voice and word choice. Even the most multimedia-rich magazine will be driven by well-written, consistent content. Ensure it all sends the right message and feels like it’s written by one person, even if your team is hundreds strong.

8. Consider Some Common Magazine Revenue Models

You’re likely creating an online magazine because it’s a potential money-maker . If you’re a marketing manager at a small business, a high-quality digital periodical can be a cornerstone of your content marketing strategy. By drawing in an audience, you’re also expanding your customer base. If you’re publishing articles as your main business, you have several potential avenues to monetize your content. Some of your options include:

Subscription Model

Just as with print magazines, you can charge your audience a monthly or annual subscription fee in exchange for access. The most successful publishers offer a range of subscription tiers and options. An all-access plan at the highest tier may allow readers to access digital publications, exclusive videos and extra content. Some subscription plans may combine print with digital, letting readers access both versions. Other options may allow readers to access the digital version only.

Advertising Model

Another way to make money on your content is advertising. Free magazines often have a wider readership because there’s no friction involved in accessing them. Some people think of the internet as a means to free information and may not be willing to pay a subscription for something they usually get for free. Publishers who don’t require subscriptions use advertising as their primary source of revenue. Periodical publishers generated $9.68 billion in revenue in 2019 through ad sales alone.

The right brands will pay well to get in front of the right audience. By developing a niche, loyal audience, publishers cultivate fertile ground for advertisers. They can embed ads directly or create sponsored articles that blend quality content with brand or product mentions.

If a reader must have a subscription to view your magazine, they’ll likely meet a paywall when they first try to access your content. A paywall is a barrier that allows your publications to rank in search engines without letting readers see it before paying. They may pay for access to the individual article or pay a subscription for unlimited access.

You can also customize your paywall to appear part-way through your magazine. This gives readers a taste of your content before asking them to pay to continue. Additionally, you can customize the paywall to kick in after they’ve viewed a certain number of issues or articles.

Magazines as Lead Generation

Content marketers may not be in the business of selling or monetizing their publications. Instead, they’re using helpful articles to convince customers to buy their products or services. A digital magazine may be premium content within that strategy. While prospects can still access it without paying, they offer up their email or contact information in exchange. This strategy plays the long game. The content itself can help push them further along in the buyer’s journey, and the marketing team now has contact information they can use to send more marketing materials their way.

Learn more about monetizing your content:

• How Digital Platforms Save on Costs
• How to Get ROI From Content

9. Create a Digital Marketing Strategy

Once you’ve created your magazine, you must consider distribution. How will your audience find it? How will you carve out a loyal audience? A solid marketing strategy for your publication should encompass five steps:

• Prepare for launch:  First, set a goal for how many downloads you want to receive in your first month. Consider the people most likely to read your publication and announce your launch where they’re likely to see it. If you already have a following on your website and social media channels, tease your launch there. Look for press opportunities where you can build anticipation for your new magazine.
• Create buzz: As soon as your magazine goes live, keep the momentum going by gathering reviews. Email blogs and reviewers in your niche and ask them to review you. If you’ve created a stand-alone app, ask your downloaders to leave reviews and ratings on the app store.
• Promote on all channels:  Add buttons to your email newsletter that take users directly to your new publication. Post snippets of your articles on social media and encourage your followers to read more.
• Let your readers preview:  While your current customers or followers may be your first subscribers, your magazine should also help you grow your audience. Find some way to let new visitors sneak a peak to increase the likelihood they will subscribe.
• Use reader analytics: Get better with each issue you publish with the help of detailed data. Look at how long your readers engage with your content and what articles are most popular. With this data, you can create the magazine your readers most enjoy interacting with. By satisfying your audience’s needs, you’ll increase loyalty and continue to find new readers.

Learn more about marketing strategies:

• How to Market Your Digital Content
• Develop an Effective Content Marketing Plan
• Developing a Digital Brand Strategy

10. Talk to an Industry Expert

Internet content is rapidly growing, and hence, so is competition for the eyes of readers. Now is the time to look beyond a PDF and embrace an interactive online magazine experience that truly garners your audience’s attention.

Nxtbook Media offers two excellent digital publishing solutions you can use for your online magazine. Our nxtbook4 software provides one of the best flipbook publishers for user experience. We also offer the fully responsive PageRaft platform for content creators curating a digital-first experience. We’d love to chat with you more about your digital publishing needs and show you what our software can do. Feel free to schedule a no-obligation demo  so you can see just how awesome your digital magazine can be.

For more on how to make your digital content shine with Nxtbook Media, read all the latest from our blog  and stay in touch through social media.

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How To Start An Online Magazine: A Step By Step Guide

Well hello there, potential magazine-maker! You're about to embark on an enjoyable and fulfilling adventure if you're thinking of starting an online magazine.

Are you mentally prepared, though? 🧐

Creating and launching a successful print or digital magazine requires long hours and hard work.

However, it comes with great reward by bringing together the excitement of creative expression and business , not to mention the opportunity to work with many types of people from editorial to design and marketing.

While the world of print publishing has had to endure some losses and adapt to the increasingly digital world, magazines still are and will continue to be a popular source of entertainment and insight.

They've just moved online .

And that, friends, is good news! Because it means it's easier to make them and more people have access to reading them.

All the hugely successful print magazines have turned into fantastic online magazines, such as RollingStone , Vogue , Harper's Bazaar , National Geographic , and The New Yorker .

Below, we're going to give you a step-by-step guide on everything you need to know about how to create, launch and monetize your online magazine successfully.

Before we get started on the steps, let's distinguish between the different types of online magazines real quick.

What Are The Types Of Online Magazines? 💁🏼‍♀️

The steps to creating an online magazine 👣.

Important disclosure: we're proud affiliates of some tools mentioned in this guide. If you click an affiliate link and subsequently make a purchase, we will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you (you pay nothing extra).

Back in the day, it was simple - there was print and only print.

Now, the world of written content has much more variety and encompasses online magazines, digital magazines, blogs, news sites, apps, and more.

It's easy to end up clumping these together, but there are differences worth knowing.

❖ Online Magazines

These are magazines that are hosted, distributed, and read online. With online magazines, there wasn't, isn't, and never will be a print element.

❖ Digital Magazines

This refers to any magazine that can be read on an electronic device (for example, laptop, iPad, or mobile device).

❖ Digital Editions

The name pretty much says it all – these are the digital editions of your regular print magazines.

Online and digital magazines utilize technologies such as videos and links, making them a lot more interactive (and often profitable) than digital edition magazines, which come without any bells and whistles – they are the digital version of their print counterparts.

❖ Flipbook Magazines

Flipbook magazines are embedded on websites and replicate the page-flip feel of a magazine. This makes it more engaging and adds a bit of that real-life, tactile experience.

Speaking of engagement, digital magazines created with software such as Flipsnack are also a great way to connect with your readers. By enhancing them with interactive features , you’ll make your publications look more attractive and keep your audience more engaged and interested in flipping through them.

Add videos, virtual tours, links, captions, GIFs, and whatever else you find necessary to hook your readers.

❖ HTML5 Magazines

These use a responsive layout design that adapts to the screen of the device it's being viewed on, instead of the more fixed layout of a PDF or flipbook.

HTML5 magazines are created with coding technology such as CSS, HTML, and Javascript.

❖ Magazine Subscription Apps

Native apps such as Issuu, Amazon Kindle, Readly, and Zinio allow you to subscribe for a monthly or yearly fee which allows you to access thousands of digital magazines through their platform.

Distributing your magazine through an already-established app is a great way to reach a large user base and save yourself the trouble of creating your own app.

It’s important to do your research and understand each type of online magazine so you can choose the right one for you.

In this guide, we will focus more broadly on the steps needed to create an online or digital magazine.

Let’s get into it.

Developing a magazine from scratch is a mighty task!

It's both an entire business and a large creative project that will need creative collaboration, business development , and content strategy.

With a large and complex project like this, it's important to break it down into a step-by-step plan that will guide the process and keep it exciting instead of overwhelming.

1. Before You Do Anything: Research 📖

Just like when you write an article, the research and planning needed to start an online magazine is half the work on its own. Writers must design a content brief, do their research, and take any other steps before even putting pen to paper.

It’s a lot like the tip of the iceberg analogy 🧊

The finished piece is what you see – concise, neat, and (hopefully) a pleasure to read.

What you don’t see is the rest of the iceberg – mind maps, hours of research, and a lot of rewriting.

This notion stands strong when it comes to starting an online website.

While there are certainly several technical steps you need to take to get your website up and running, the research beforehand is going to be just as, if not more, time-consuming and intricate.

Read our tips on how to become a better content writer 🖋

2. Establish The Basics - What's The Vibe? 🏝

The first step to starting an online magazine is to decide what you want it to be about.

You'll be asking questions like:

• What is the magazine topic?
• How are you going to curate your magazine?
• Is it a tech, fashion, or travel magazine?
• When you visualize your magazine’s appearance, is it more Vogue or National Geographic ?
• Is it going to cover current affairs in a certain sector or review new films and series?

You will need to look at existing magazine templates and research the type of magazine format you would like.

You'll want to know things like:

• Are you going to model your online magazine according to an online publication or a print publication ?
• Will you be using a magazine template or creating your magazine from scratch?
• What type of mobile experience are you looking to give your audience?
• What are your business goals ?

3. Find Out If People Are Interested 🤓

Once you have decided on the basics, you need to find out if there is a market for what you want to offer .

If not, it might be worth going back to the drawing board, or adjusting your idea to accommodate the needs and desires of a potential audience.

You'll be able to gauge peoples' interest levels through various market research techniques.

Doing market research is a vital step in creating any product. You have to know that people are going to want what you intend to offer.

There is tons of info online about how to conduct market research, so you won't be short of guidance on how to do it 🙂

Understanding the interests of your audience will be an ongoing process.

You will have to adapt your content to accommodate your audience constantly, so don't think this is just a once-off in the initial stages.

An authentic desire to connect with an audience and build a community is an important part of creating an online magazine and is vital to your success.

4. Develop A Business Plan 🗺

Once your research is done, and you have a clear vision of where you’re going, it’s time to develop a business plan (or business model).

This is where the real work takes place.

A business plan is the foundation of your project. It will help guide where you're going and detail goals and objectives to help you succeed. It's like a map to the success of your online magazine project.

Your business plan will include things like:

• A mission statement ( 👈 find some inspiration here)
• A description of what the magazine is about
• Who will read it
• How it will make money
• How you'll market it

There is tons of information about how to create a business plan online.

How lucky are we to live in times with unlimited access to information right? 🤯 💚

5. Name It And Domain It  👩‍💻

Once you’ve established some direction, it's time to set up a domain .

A domain is the address people will type into the search bar to access your online magazine.

Your domain name will reflect the name of your magazine.

Think of it like this : if your website were a restaurant, your domain name would be the street address.

Your domain name will have to be the same as the name of your magazine, such as www.vogue.com , or perhaps something abbreviated like www.nyttimes.com.

You can buy your domain name through many domain name registrars, such as Blue Host and Domain.com . Each registrar has different pricing and packages, so you’ll need to do your research into what exactly you’re looking for and what your budget allows.

Choosing a domain is sometimes the easiest OR the most challenging part.

You might have known the name of your online magazine for years, easy peasy!

Or you might be changing the name every five minutes (a common struggle for creatives and entrepreneurs) .

You might have a name you ♥️, but the domain is taken 😕 #buzzkill .

The domain registrar site you are using will help you with alternative suggestions , and you will find the right thing.  

6. Target 🎯

Decide who your target audience is and what you will offer them. Google Analytics is a great tool for discovering information about your magazine readership.

Suppose you’re eventually going to be charging subscription fees to monetize your magazine.

In that case, you will need to offer your audience something they do not already have access to – something they are willing to pay for . You need to think about and strategize how you will set yourself apart from your competitors.

7. Invest In Startup Costs 💵

First, let's look at the costs involved in starting and running an online magazine. We'll tackle the intricacies of monetizing the magazine later. Keep reading.

It’s important to know that you might not make money for the first while and might be spending a little to invest without making a profit.

Because you need to let your audience get to know you and give them a reason to keep coming back.

If you are going to be building your website for free (for example, on WordPress or another trusted CMS ) and promoting it for free via social media, you won't be spending money.

Still, it will also likely not look and read as professionally as it would if you took the route of a paid app , sponsored ads, or web designers. It all comes down to your budget.

Startup costs aside, most of your expenditure will go to the creatives (writers, copywriters, freelancers, and web designers) you outsource.

Initially, your budget will likely be quite small , and so you’ll either have to be doing a lot of the creative work yourself, or you’ll have to find creatives willing to work for what you can afford.

Somewhere along the line, you'll hopefully generate enough revenue to get a marketing manager or small team who can help with marketing tactics to get your magazine more exposure, which will help you acquire subscriptions.

To sum up, your main startup costs will involve:

• Magazine creation tools
• Hosting and domain subscriptions
• Advertising
• Social media marketing
• Creative work such as design and content writing

8. Choose Your Tools 🛠

Aside from the obvious – paper versus no paper – the biggest difference between a physical and online magazine is accessibility.

Although the primary goal of both types is to create premium content, digital publishing and print publishing are very different.

Digital publishing is way more accessible than print because it allows more people to create their own magazines and larger audiences to access publications from any part of the world.

Because compiling an online magazine is not quite as straightforward as write-print-sell, it can be argued that a lot more back-office work goes on with online magazines.

The big question you will need to ask is, app or no app?

However, this is a good time to add that things may differ a little here, depending on if you are starting an online magazine, digital magazine, or digital edition.

If you’re going to go the digital magazine app route (which many argue saves a lot of time) , there are many to choose from:

• Publuu magazine maker

👆 These are some of the most popular magazine software platforms used, but there are many more to choose from.

As with domain names, you will need to research what you require and what your budget allows, and then you can decide on one from there.

9. Create The Content

Now that the behind-the-scenes and admin elements of starting an online magazine are in check, it’s time to move on to where the magic happens.

⭐   The content ️⭐️

This is the core of your product, so it has to be high quality if it's going to get anywhere.

Again, much of this will vary on the type of online magazine you’re creating, how big your team is, what your budget is, and who your audience is.

For this step, let’s assume your magazine is a small to medium-sized startup and you’re outsourcing freelancers.

9.1. Writing  ✍️

Your business plan will be the guiding force when it comes to keeping the content on track.

The focus of your magazine, the content plan, and the target audience will determine the style of writing used in your articles and the type of writers you work with.

A good idea is to create a style guide for your magazine.

Style guides keep content consistent when you have a variety of contributors and connect with the audience through a tone of voice they learn to become familiar with.  

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Research how your competitors are writing about your magazine’s chosen topic (tone, style, and length) and find what inspires you, what's practical, and how you'll differentiate yourself in terms of style.

When you advertise for writers, give a brief description of the type of writer you are looking for.

For example, if your magazine is a formal tech magazine, you will note that you require writers who specialize in formal writing and have knowledge of technology.

From there, shortlist candidates and send them a test article subject along with the style guide you compiled.

Once you get the articles back, you will have a pretty good idea of the type of writers you are looking for and begin building up a contributing writer database.

Freelance sites are also an option for sourcing writers. A strong editorial team is vital for a successful online magazine. You will also need to decide on the writing and content tools you and your writers will utilize.

There are several SEO and grammar optimization tools available that can improve your magazine’s content.

• Frase helps writers generate content briefs quickly and effectively
• Grammarly allows writers to improve the spelling, clarity, and engagement of their work.‌‌

9.2. Visuals

Photography and graphics play an enormous role in the success of an online magazine.

Opening an online magazine with fun and eye-catching images enhances the user experience and can grasp potential readers.‌‌‌‌

Again, back to the business plan. The source of your images is going to depend on your budget.

If you have little or no budget to start with, you are going to have to rely on either your own photographs, those taken by a photographer you know who has given you permission, or ones you have found online that you have legal permission to use.

• A few stock image sites like Unsplash allow the public access to free usable images.
• If you have the budget for photos, you could hire a freelance photographer or pay for a subscription to a stock photo site like iStock .

Don't forget that video is also a part of visual content in online magazines, so consider whether you're going to include a video element and to what extent.

9.3. Design

The final part of the magic is the design and layout of your online magazine. Content, photography, and design make up the holy trinity of magazines.

When it comes to magazine design and magazine layout, you really are better off with a pro.

The design process of an online magazine is intricate, and having someone on board with a background in graphic design will be a real advantage.

If your budget allows for it, we recommend hiring one immediately as part of your initial magazine creation process. They say we eat with our eyes, and the same goes for the content we consume – if something is visually enticing, we read on.

10. Make Money 🕺

Finally - back to the money .

Now it’s time actually to generate revenue. Once your magazine is up and running, you’re going to want to start bringing in some profit.

Although generating revenue through print magazines was a lot more straightforward, it was also limited.

Online and digital magazines can utilize many potential revenue streams, including digital ads, audio content, affiliate links, and website banners.

Ads, Ads, Ads (but not too many)

The fastest way to creating a new website revenue stream is with ad income, and Google Adsense is usually the obvious choice.

There are many different types of display ads such as banner, classified, and of course, sponsored content or “native ads.”

Note: You can advertise anything, but your readers are more likely to engage with it if it relates to your magazine.

Get 'Em To Subscribe (smartly)

Subscriptions are a traditional and popular advertising revenue for magazines but become trickier with online magazines.

If you put everything behind a paywall, many potential readers are turned off and immediately look elsewhere.

On the other hand, if your entire magazine and editorial content are freely available, your readers have no reason to pay a subscription fee.

The trick is to find that sweet spot in the middle regarding digital magazine subscriptions. A model that works quite well offers plenty of free online content but only allows readers access to the best content behind a paywall.

11. Build Your Team 👩‍💻 👨🏽‍💻

You get to work with all kinds of people when creating a magazine.

In the beginning, most content creators and entrepreneurs wear many hats. They will be marketers, accountants, and writers all at once.

But a time will come when you need to hire and outsource.

Building your dream team is a vital part of any project. It's not just about finding people with the right skills; it's also about finding people who believe in the project, who you get along well with, and find creative synergy with.

The types of roles you'll have in your online magazine team are:

• Writers, editors, and proofreaders
• A marketing and social media manager
• Photographers
• Copy editors
• Video creators and editors

It's usually grouped into the editorial team (everything related to writing, images, and video) , the marketing team, and the management team.

As your magazine grows, your team will grow.

Plus, you'll get creatives coming to you to have their stuff featured in the magazine, which will minimize in-house creation.

Ready To Get Started? 😃

Starting an online magazine from scratch is no small feat.

Online magazine publishing is hard work and takes a lot more marketing strategy and effort than a regular blog post or social media post on a company profile.

Whereas blogs are often started for fun and as a hobby, many online and digital magazines’ ultimate goal is to generate revenue eventually.

But here's the good news: the journey can be so rewarding financially and personally.

If you're willing to put in the work, stick to a business plan, and make certain sacrifices, you've got a potentially great road ahead of you. Buckle in 🚗

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How to create a digital magazine in 7 steps

9th June 2023

Jane Robathan / Calculating...

Content marketing ,

Content production ,

Digital magazines are perfect if you want to try a new content format, or you’re a print pro looking to diversify. And they’ve really moved on in terms of features.

This guide explains

• How digital magazines have evolved to become fully immersive experiences
• How you can increase readership in a few clicks
• How to get started, fast

What’s a digital magazine?

Digital magazines present magazine content interactively online, make it accessible across different devices and can potentially return reader analytics – if they’re good. Pages have high-touch layouts, just like their glossy print counterparts.

Pages are instead flippable and combine dynamic content for a deeper reading experience – think of GIFs, polls, videos, or links to other content.

Types of digital magazine

Most digital magazines started as static PDF documents or pages on websites with very little interactivity.

Unlike traditional print and PDF magazines, digital magazines can be an interactive experience for the reader. Knowing which type to choose is ultimately down to your content goals and wider marketing strategy. We’ve created a short list here to help you decide.

The PDF route

It is still somewhat viable to use PDFs as your format for digital magazines, though you will likely run into some problems. PDFs are designed to look the same across all systems however this doesn’t always ring true for mobile and with the ever-increasing use of mobile platforms and devices you may find users struggling with this format as well as lacking any interactive elements.

Using the same coding as websites, HTML5 based digital magazines offer a huge breadth of creativity and interactive options. It does require having a team that can build this for you, which can increase the costs and time taken to create each issue of your publication.

Mobile apps allow your readers to view your content anywhere at anytime on their mobile device. This is a fantastic option if you have a dedicated readership that are willing to download an extra app to access your content, though these steps can be off-putting to newer users.

Flipbook (Like Turtl!)

We may be a little biased, but we believe Flipbook-style digital magazines are the way forward. These can be hosted on any platform and replicate the look of a traditional print magazine with page-flipping animations and interactive elements unavailable to PDF users. You will also see detailed analytics which will help not only understand your audience but how you can change your content for increased readership and engagement.

What’s the difference between a digital magazine and an online magazine?

They sound similar, but digital and online magazines have big differences.

It started when print magazines became able to upload PDF pages of an entire magazine issue to an online platform for distribution. The question of how to get people to pay for an edition was tricky – back then, they’d rather ‘own’ a physical copy. Online magazines still exist, with and without paywalls, allowing people to flip between pages of a beautifully designed magazine online. And some have evolved a little further.

A digital magazine takes functionality up several notches. This type of magazine is built to deliver an immersive, engaging and interactive reading experience. Content is created, managed and housed on a digital magazine platform like Turtl’s, which gives an authentic reading experience by putting readers in control over how they consume content.

Readers can view or listen to video or audio, easily navigate and digest content, while text, forms and images can link out to other content.

Both online and digital magazines have advantages over print:

• Cost and sustainability – no, paper, toxic ink or fuelled distribution is needed
• A new audience touchpoint has been created

Why you need digital magazines in your B2B content marketing strategy

When you plan your content marketing strategy , you need a variety of content formats that work across multi-channels to serve your customers with the right information, at the right time.

You also have to consider logistics: budget, resource, time.

Creatively and logistically, platforms developed to make and host digital magazines are more likely to have tools in place to attract, track and increase a magazine’s readership while easing its launch and distribution. You should be able to do it all on one platform – making your readers and your content team, very happy.

Customer brand engagement

The holy grail of content marketing : customers that actively engage with your brand and content.

Digital interactive magazines are great lead generators if you’ve got a long-term content strategy and a well-stocked team of writers. If your content’s relevant and interesting enough, you’ll get magazine subscription sign ups that can lead to product sales further down the line.

Your magazine could also be the product if you put it behind a paywall. Offer free articles or a first free issue and you’ll generate subscriptions if the content meets your customers’ needs.

Engagement goes both ways. So should your content. Digital magazines have some nifty interactive elements that make engagement a two-way street. With polls, quizzes and forms, it won’t just be social media metrics that give insights into how your customers interact with your brand.

Increase customer reach

If you have a print magazine, you could reach more of your audience if you take it online. You’ll create more touchpoints for your customers as the format’s more shareable across email or social channels.

An alternative content format

Digital magazines still fly slightly under the content marketing radar. But the numbers speak for themselves. Turtl’s digital magazines can increase engagement by up to 10x.

Newsletters, case studies and blogs are produced in their hundreds of thousands each day. Digital magazines are an alternative that cut through the noise, bland webpages, and reams of PDFs.

• pull your content topics together more coherently for readers
• create better user journeys and give readers the autonomy to self-serve through content
• act as a storytelling device across one piece, or a whole issue of magazine content
• educate or entertain readers to open up your brand

Keep your content up to date

You can make real-time updates to your content much faster than other content formats.

When you combine it with the analytics that show how your customers are engaging with the content, you can make improvements such as moving or changing CTAs or buttons, or swapping articles around on the fly.

Fewer resources and quicker production time

With their own platforms, you don’t need to rely on development teams to code your digital magazines, avoiding bottlenecks. All content management is scalable and is managed within your marketing team. Using Turtl’s digital magazine software , brands have saved up to 90% on content production time and resources.

Stretch your budget further

If you’ve got a print magazine, you’ll know about material and distribution costs. A digital magazine is cheaper to create. Plus, a creation platform creates more content than just magazines.

Generate revenue

If your revenue goals reach further than customer acquisition, digital magazines are an easy way to generate revenue, through subscription models and selling advertising space.

Where digital magazines fit in your B2B content marketing strategy

Digital magazines are versatile and there are lots of ways you can maximize their use in your content marketing strategy.

TOFU or awareness:

Mofu or consideration:, bofu or decision:, what content to include in your digital magazines.

You don’t need to be a seasoned print pro to create an interactive digital magazine. Here are some suggestions for the type of content you could create, as well as repurpose from elsewhere, to add to your strategy.

• Product features
• Ads – your own or third-party
• Editorials, eg how to’s, top 5
• Opinion pieces
• Case studies
• Thought leadership articles
• Brand awareness
• Existing blog content
• Existing newsletter content

Put the ‘interactive’ in interactive digital magazines

Make the most of your digital content and bring your articles to life with interactive elements.  Turtl’s digital magazines  let you include all these elements (and more) to engage your readers and drive subscribers.

• Video/animation
• Charts and tables

Easy to create and manage within your CMS

Little to no resource or budget required

Easily shareable

Trickier to package up your content and distribute it when it’s spread over many webpages with different URLs

The editorial doesn’t hang together as coherently as a magazine

The content style of a blog and a magazine differ

How to create a B2B digital magazine in 7 steps

1. set your strategy.

You’ll need to think about:

• What is its purpose and what types of content you need?
• Where in the funnel does it sit? Are you generating new leads or nurturing current customers?
• Will it be free, will some of it free or will it be under a subscription model?
• What do you want readers to think/feel/do after reading it?
• How often will you publish?

2. Plan it out

• Create a content calendar
• Mock up templates in the CMS or platform
• Decide on topics to cover and the content type to fit
• Think about elements that will enhance the content, eg videos, images, polls
• Plan production timescales, including writing, editing and sign- off

3. Get writing

• Commission and brief your subject matter experts (SME)s
• Plan your content briefs
• Decide on word counts
• Plan your CTAs
• Keep in tone of voice and house style

4. Build your magazine

• Design your front covers and content pages
• Create and drop your copy into article templates
• It has a built-in branding toolkit, so once you’ve set up your brand guidelines you’ll never fall outside of them
• Templates are already set so you can simply drag and drop content boxes in and paste your copy in
• Add interactive elements with a drag and drop editor

5. Edit, proofread and sign-off

• Check your copy for errors
• Check all your links, CTAs and interactive elements work
• Get a fresh pair of eyes from a colleague
• Send it through your sign-off workflow
• Send it out into the world! Whether that’s uploading to your website through a PDF or flipbook file, uploading to Kindle, an app, or creating the URL for your Turtl Doc
• If needed, set up your subscription model with a payment structure and an ecommerce service to take payment
• Promote it through multi-channels such as email and socials

7. Analyze and iterate

If you used Turtl to create your magazine, you can track its performance using the analytics dashboard . You’ll see what’s worked well, and what to improve, based on readers’ behaviors. You can then make changes in real time, based on your insights.

How to get the most from your digital magazine

Put your readers first.

Do your research – what do your readers want to read about? And how will you meet their needs? Do keyword research to see what they’re searching for.

Make it engaging, but accessible:

• use alt text for images
• make sure the format works with screen readers
• check your text and visuals work together
• make titles, headings and sub-headings clear and distinct
• use white space and readable fonts for easy reading

Make it interactive

Don’t just copy your print magazine. Readers will engage up to 10x more when there’s a variety of content and elements they can interact with.

Get audience insights

You can access different audience data, depending on what format your magazine takes. Turtl’s digital magazine software shows you audience behaviors, so you can update your content in real time, based on evidence.

Simple ways to promote your digital magazine

If your magazine’s goal is to generate leads, you’ll need to cast your distribution net wide. Luckily, digital magazines are easy to promote thanks to their easily shareable format. So whether you’re sharing a link or a document, traditional channels work well:

• Email or newsletter
• Social channels

Tips to monetize your digital magazine

Finally, here are our suggestions to maximize your magazine’s purpose and make some money:

• Advertising and sponsorship models: Sell your ad space or allow other brands to sponsor an issue. You can charge different amounts depending on the size or placement of the ad.
• Subscription-based revenue models: A way to ensure predictable income. You can set up payment by issue or by month. If you have a print magazine, you could create exclusive digital content that the print version doesn’t have to drive sales.
• Paywall strategies: Also known as gated content . You offer up some content for free, but the reader must subscribe to carry on reading.
• Single copy sales : Not the most profitable, but gives your customers the power to pick and choose your content.

Digital magazine examples

We’ve pulled together some examples of digital magazines that use Turtl so you can get some inspiration for your publication!

IR Magazine Fall 2022

Standard chartered industries in transition, workday’s smartcio, the turtl takeaway.

Print magazines are great for coffee tables, but content marketers can tap into a new content stream using this traditionally aspirational, much admired format. High-quality layouts are easily achieved, but by going digital, you get a truer understanding of your readership.

Curious to learn more?

See how IR Magazine raised subscription rates by 62%, bumped up average read time, and reduced production bottlenecks. Just by using a digital platform designed for magazine creation.

See what you can do

Convert one of your existing PDFs to a Turtl Doc for free now

More about Turtl

Turtl Format

Create interactive documents that amplify engagement and provide actionable insights

Create stunning editorial layouts and drive engagement with video and reader polling. See which topics your readers care most about to improve future issues.

Inspiration

What could you create?

Discover our collection of interactive content from leading businesses who publish with Turtl

Who is Turtl for?

For marketers serious about creating content to drive pipeline and revenue.

Content trends, tips, and insights to your inbox:

By submitting this information, I agree to the privacy policy and to receive the Turtl newsletter.

What is Turtl?

© Copyright 2024 Turtl. All rights reserved.

• Tel: 0161 737 5290

Your Magazine Business Plan: A Full Blueprint

Powerful integrations

Backed by industry standards

Over 37 million adults in the UK regularly read magazines. Whether online or on paper, the allure of perusing pages packed with interesting information is still going strong, 400 years since the first mag was published.

From baking to beauty and gardening to gossip, there’s a publication to match every hobby and to ignite many new interests.

With dozens to choose from on newsstands across the country, you might have decided that there’s one missing – yours.

If your dream is to launch a successful magazine , there’s a lot of work to do before you can enjoy soaring circulation figures.

Beyond the hours of preparation and lists of start-up costs, you’ll be entering a highly competitive market. And if your plans involve a printed version, be aware that annual numbers of printed magazines bought declined from 820.1 million in 2011 to 422.3 million in 2017.

But, if you find your niche, secure your finance and plan carefully, your editorial enterprise could be very lucrative.

Here we delve deeper into how to write the ideal. Follow it and soon you could be spotting people adding your magazine to their shopping trolley or happily devouring its contents on the train.

Why Do I Need A Business Plan For a Magazine?

Like any business, launching a magazine requires a carefully-considered, professional approach.

Beyond filling the pages with compelling content precisely targeted at your readers, you’ll first and foremost be running a business. You’ll need more than an ounce of acumen to secure your subscription base .

Your job will require you to:

• Recruit, train and engage staff
• Sell ads, regularly and consistently
• Persuade readers to take out a subscription and regularly part with their money
• Maintain circulation figures to attract advertisers
• Create and run an appealing website
• Organise production and printing
• Establish an efficient distribution system
• Set up an exceptional customer service offering
• Keep content fresh and engaging

At the heart of any successful start-up is a solid business plan. Your magazine business plan has to clearly set out your intentions for you, your team and your investors.

Read on to discover how to start your magazine adventure with the help of a well-structured and effective business plan.

Template Business Plan For a Magazine

1. Executive Summary

Kick off your business plan with a concise but informative executive summary. This should feature the key top-line points about your business: its name, aims and mission statement along with a financial summary.

Industry-specific detail can include:

• Both the name of your publishing company and the magazine(s)
• Target readership and how you’ll attract them
• Circulation targets for the first three years
• Frequency of publication
• Your magazine’s USP

Your mission statement should sum up your vision: focus on your audience and what your magazine will give to them.

Position the opportunity you’re taking advantage of, outlining the problem you’ve spotted and the solution you’ve devised. Will expert writers be sharing advice and insight? Will an online community provide a platform for exchanging ideas and tips?

From your executive summary, you can also extract juicy information to write an elevator pitch: your plans in a 60-second nutshell.

What would you tell a stranger in a lift about your business? What’s it called? Who’s it aimed at? What makes it unique? Aim to write a pitch that couldn’t apply to any other magazine on the market.

Perfecting this at an early stage will crystallise your vision. And, of course, allow you to spread the word about your magazine quickly and convincingly.

2. Objectives

Set yourself ambitious but achievable objectives right from the start. As well as giving you something concrete to aim for, sharing them will also provide ongoing accountability. When colleagues, friends and family know your targets, they’ll be keen to encourage you to strive for them.

So don’t just type them into a document and forget about them. Print them out in large fonts, stick them on your office wall, use them as your laptop and phone wallpaper: make them real.

And make them SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely. You could even make them SMARTER: adding evaluated and reviewed to your initial criteria.

In your magazine business plan , you could include KPIs such as:

• To raise £XX to cover initial publication costs and establish a cash reserve
• To publish XX pages in issue one, rising to XX pages by issue four
• To print XX copies of issue one, rising to XX copies of issue four
• To increase the advertising rate card by XX% by the end of year one
• To increase average number of ad pages sold from XX in issue one to XX in issue four
• To have XX subscribers by the end of year one
• To sign up XX subscribers to a regular payment plan, e.g. Direct Debit, by the end of year one

3. Market Analysis

To make an impact on the newsstands, you need to know – and understand – the competition. ask yourself the following:.

• What titles are already out there? Who publishes them? Are they multi-nationals with megabucks or small start-ups?
• How high, or low, is their circulation? How many ads do they feature? What kind of companies advertise – major brands or niche companies? How much do they charge? What proportion of advertisers pay the rate card and how many get a discount?
• Do they publish online as well as in print? Do they have an app?
• Are there already magazines based on a similar topic to yours? If so, is there room for another one? What will your USP be?

Alongside your rivals, you also need to research your target readers. Identifying them and getting under their skin is crucial to success.

So, define your audience as precisely as possible:

• Where do they live?
• What do they do?
• How old are they?
• What is their income?
• What are their interests?
• What qualifications do they have?
• What magazines do they currently read?

From there, think about the size and potential of that group and how you can reach them. Then use this to inform your sales and marketing strategy.

4. Business Structure

Make sure to outline your business structure clearly. Are you operating as a limited company or a partnership? How many staff will your team consist of? What approach are you taking to staff welfare and engagement? Why will talented people want to work on your magazine?

Stress how your employees will add to your competitive advantage by focusing on their strengths and the breadth of the roles available.

Depending on the restrictions of your budget and the extent of your ambitions, your magazine could need:

• CEO/Editor-in-chief
• Office manager
• Journalists and writers, probably with distinct specialisms
• Sub-editors and proofreaders
• Photographers
• Graphic designers
• Website manager
• Sales and marketing manager
• Subscriptions manager
• Distribution manager
• Customer service executives

As part of your business plan for a magazine , you can describe each of these roles and accompanying responsibilities in detail.

Highlight how your team will cover all bases to ensure high quality content, strong advertising revenue, a reliable distribution network and a loyal subscription base. Along with, of course, all the departments necessary to run a successful business: HR, accounts, customer service etc.

5. SWOT Analysis

Assessing the potential of your business, taking all criteria into consideration, will reassure prospective investors that you understand the challenges ahead.

The easiest way to do this is through a SWOT analysis: examining the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to your business that can impact on whether you sink or swim.

Share your strengths with confidence. Ensure that they position you as professional and prepared, ticking off the basics and beyond.

These could include the calibre of your writers, the award-winning portfolio of your chief photographer or your personal track record of running a profitable business.

Don’t be shy or overly-cautious. Recognising your weaknesses, and all start-ups have them, shows that you’ve spotted the potential pitfalls and are taking steps to address them.

Maybe you’re aware that your current funding isn’t sufficient to cover your ambitious marketing campaign or perhaps you’re concerned by a lack of suitable candidates during your recruitment process.

Whatever they are, turn your weaknesses around by detailing how you’re going to overcome them.

Opportunities

Showcase your dreams here: if you believe there’s a strong possibility of expanding your magazine brand into a book, an app or even a reader event, say so. Use this chance to express your passion for the project and inspire the same in others.

If you’ve already secured interest from advertisers, add it here. And if you’ve completed any market research, pick out the highlights that present the best opportunities for growth.

Be honest about threats. Demonstrate your understanding of the market and how it could jeopardise your future plans. Will the effects of Brexit deter advertisers? Could distribution costs spiral as you grow? Could you survive if a major publisher launched a rival title?

6. Sales and Marketing

Who came first, the reader or the advertiser? Neither can exist without the other. Both are vital to your success.

A comprehensive approach to marketing will make sure you secure sufficient income from each. Use your magazine business plan to outline what strategies you’ll be employing to achieve this.

For instance, maybe you’re recruiting a marketing team with an excellent industry track record. You’ll be encouraging them to hit their targets through ongoing training and incentives.

To initially attract readers, you could devise a direct mail campaign with sample content from your magazine. Accompanied by an enticing offer – try your first edition free – the responses will soon start to populate your customer database.

To spread the word to possible advertisers, introduce your title to companies large and small, ad agencies and, if relevant, public sector bodies. Hold events, send sample copies, gather feedback, offer deals and make your magazine memorable asap.

To establish your brand online, set up social media accounts and get the conversations about your magazine started.

Be thorough here. Your marketing will determine if your idea makes or breaks so have a clear vision early on about how it will work and what you want it to achieve.

Like all new businesses, getting your enterprise off the ground requires detailed financial planning and management. You’ll need to cover off start-up costs, ongoing expenditure and income generation, sales, profit and loss, and cashflow forecasts , and your pricing strategy.

Alongside this, you need to outline the source of your funding, plus any shortfall you still need to secure.

At this stage, start-up costs should be looming large on your agenda. List them clearly in your business plan to demonstrate that you understand the financial commitment.

Your initial budget for the first three months will likely include:

• Staff and/or freelance wages
• Office space rental fees
• Distribution costs, including vehicles
• Printing costs
• Equipment purchase/hire, e.g. computers, printers, phones and office furniture
• Website design
• Consultant fees
• Advertising and marketing

Start-up costs will be lower if you’re planning an online-only publication but still need to be carefully researched and recorded.

Your appendix should include spreadsheets covering cashflow, profit and loss forecasts, and sales forecasts. Each should include projections for at least the first three years.

Of course these will be based largely on guesswork but provided they’re backed up by your research and accurately calculated, it gives an indication of what is achievable.

8. Conclusion

End your magazine business plan on a positive note. Recap on your aims and vision, focusing on your passion and commitment while highlighting that you have the knowledge, experience and dedication to make your business a success.

Be prepared and you’ll be one step closer to taking the helm of a magazine that enjoys impressive circulation, happy advertisers and a healthy profit.  

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The definitive guide to making a digital magazine

Digital magazines are making a comeback. 

To most readers, this might sound strange. for many years, digital magazines have represented some of the worst aspects of digital publishing..

Many digital magazines feel like a poorly implemented afterthought, and are hard to find, clunky to read, and visually uninteresting.

Usually, digital magazines read like a print magazine, but worse. 

The good news is that this is changing. Publishing and marketing teams are increasingly investing in high quality content, which has helped drive a resurgence in digital magazine publishing. You can learn more about the rise of digital magazine platforms in our guide.

These teams are focusing on building immersive reading experiences natively on the web. They’re a far cry from the all-too-familiar ‘web PDF’ feel of many digital magazines. A great example comes from Imperial College, London . 

After nine months of publishing digital stories, Imperial saw 142% higher average unique pageviews and 50% higher average time on page. 

In this guide, we’re going to give you ten tips on how to make a great digital magazine — and get great results. We even practice what we preach. You can read about how Shorthand killed its blog and launched a magazine .

First things first, though: What is a digital magazine?

What do the BBC, Tripadvisor, and Penguin have in common? They craft stunning, interactive web content with Shorthand. And so can you! Publish your first story for free — no code or web design skills required. Get started.

What is a digital magazine?

A digital magazine — otherwise known as an online magazine or, once upon a time, an e-magazine — is a magazine that has been published digitally using the web or an app.

Unlike print magazines, digital magazines can include links, more high-resolution images, video, audio, and web animations. They can also take advantage of cheaper and potentially wider distribution than print magazines.

Digital magazines have been embraced by a diverse array of organisations, from corporates and universities, to non-profits and more traditional magazine publishers.

If you're looking for examples, check out this collection of excellent digital magazines .

Types of digital magazine

Digital magazines have been around since the dawn of 'digital' itself, and have passed through a range of stages since that point, from floppy discs to Flash (RIP). 

Today, there are five main methods for creating a digital magazine. The model you choose will depend your readership, budget, marketing strategy, and business model. 

An embedded PDF magazine

We've all experienced clicking through to an online magazine and seeing — with a sigh — that it has been published as an embedded PDF .

There are a range of services that allow PDFs to be embedded in a website, and organisations in a rush to create a 'digital' version of their magazine often use this method first.

The result is often a flip-book style copy of a print magazine, or a link to a PDF file. 

Unfortunately, embedded PDFs — and PDF files in general — make for a terrible digital user experience. They're especially poor on mobile devices. They don't give reliable analytics; they're also not usually accessible; they aren't great with SEO; and they generally won't perform as well as the alternatives.

Conclusion:  We know content teams sometimes love PDFs, but they simply aren't suitable for modern digital audiences. We've published more about their limitations in our article on the decline of the PDF .

An apple or android app

The next option for creating a digital magazine is to build a magazine app. The great thing about apps is that they make for a great experience on mobile, including iphones, ipads, and android devices. They also have built in distribution though the App Store and the Google Play Store. 

However, the cost of building a bespoke app is prohibitive for most content teams, and the generic app templates — which are cheaper — won't always meet your needs. If you are interested in building an app, you also need to be sure that you can have a rock-solid strategy for getting that app in front of your readers.

Conclusion : Apps can look amazing, but they are very expensive to create and maintain. It can also be difficult to get your app to stand out from the crowd. 

A Kindle e-magazine

With the rise of Amazon's Kindle, many traditional publishers opted to distributed electronic versions of their magazines using the Kindle news stand. These magazines are very easy to read on Kindle devices, and make for a great reading for those tired of reading on brightly-lit screens. 

Unfortunately, Kindle e-magazines are extremely limited in their functionality. You won't be able to include many images, and many readers won't experience them in colour. 

Conclusion:  This is a good model for established magazines that publish very 'writerly' content. But the visual experience is poor, and the audience is generally limited to Kindle power users. 

A collection of posts published to a CMS

For those wishing to simply get their magazine content online, a simple option is to use your existing CMS and publish each post to a unique URL path. With a landing page representing that magazine's 'table of contents' and cover, readers can navigate your magazine in the same way as they would any other content on the web. 

Your magazine, though, is typically different than short-form content published to your blog. Generally speaking, magazine articles have more attention — and resources — paid to their production. This results in higher quality content, which is intended to have a greater impact than ordinary blog or news articles. 

For this reason, many content teams are reluctant to publish this content using the vanilla visual presentation of their CMS. 

Conclusion : This is a good option for content teams looking to simply get their content on the web as quickly as possible, though it is unlikely to match the impact of more visually impressive and immersive content.

A digital publication of visually immersive digital stories

The final option is to create a digital publication of visually immersive stories. These stories typically have a distraction-free visual presentation, with high-resolution media. They also often use advanced visual storytelling techniques, such as scroll-based animation. 

The benefits of immersive storytelling include higher time-on-page, lower bounce rates, and better click-through-rates and conversions. You can read more about these benefits in  Shorthand's case studies . 

Immersive digital stories are usually built using a digital publishing platform. There are a range of factors to consider when choosing a platform, which we've outlined in this post,  An introduction to digital storytelling platforms .

Conclusion: Immersive digital storytelling is fully responsive and accessible, and is a great way to get better results from your magazine content. Some platforms have plans that allow unlimited stories, which makes it easier to scale your digital magazine content production.

Why create a digital magazine?

There are 6 key reasons why you might wish to create a digital magazine

1) You want to move away from print. Print magazines are great, but they're also expensive to produce. Also, younger generations increasingly engage primarily — and even  solely  — with digital products.

2) You want to supplement your print magazine. Sometimes, print is perfect for much of your existing readership, especially if they are predominantly from an older generation. In this case, many organisations create a 'digital edition' of the print magazine, which can sometimes act as a lead-generator. This is a good way to boost your reach without alienating an existing print readership.

3) You're launching a new magazine. Unless you have a strong distribution channel in place, your best bet from launching a new magazine is to go digital-first.

4) You want to ensure unlimited access. Print is a great format — but it can't easily scale. If you want your content to be seen by as many people as possible, digital is best approach. As many legacy publishers have discovered the hard way, it's hard for a print article to go viral on social media. 

5) You want to generate revenue. As the last two decades of media have shown us, the best way to generate revenue from digital content is to create 'premium' content for subscribers. Pricing for a digital magazine subscription can vary hugely depending on your niche. Regardless, people aren't going to pay for content that looks and reads as everything else on the web. Read more about generating revenue from content in our guide to content monetization .

6) Brand storytelling for your product or service. The final reason to create a digital magazine is to create content that will help you sell your product or service. Immersive brand storytelling is a great way to educate and entertain potential leads as you drive them through your sales funnel. Learn more about brand storytelling .

Now that we've covered the basics, let's move on to the remainder of our guide with ten tips on how to make a successful digital magazine.

1. Make it easy to read

Too many digital magazines are little more than PDFs, optimised for modern web browsers.

While these publications successfully mimic print magazines — including the ability to horizontally ‘flip’ through pages — they generally have a poor reader experience. 

Why is this? The first generation of digital magazines were, in effect, derivative versions of print titles. Rather than repurpose their magazine for online readers, publishing teams went with the easiest solution, which was to simply export a PDF of their magazine into an online magazine builder. 

While this makes sense for busy publishing teams, it has produced a swathe of magazines that can be frustrating to read. 

One solution is to build your magazine content using software designed and engineered to make the most of the modern web. Modern digital storytelling platforms allow publishing and marketing teams to create great reading experiences — without requiring you to hire a web designer or developer. 

The University of Queensland have long published Contact Magazine, and have produced some amazing digital stories. One favourite of the Shorthand team is Fear vs Reality , covering research into shark encounters in Australia. The piece makes great use of video, photography, and animated maps — all beautifully rendered on whatever device the reader happens to be reading on. 

2. Put the ‘digital’ in digital magazine

The classic magazine layout — a few dozen or more pages, stapled together in the middle — is a great format for print. But let’s face it: it’s a terrible layout for digital. 

If you’re looking to make a digital magazine, don’t try to mimic the behaviour and layout of print. 

Instead, embrace the norms of web publishing. Publish each piece of content to its own URL. Interlink as needed. Incorporate high-resolution images, video, and data visualisations. Animate natively in the browser. Create interactive infographics and other interactive marketing elements. Ensure quick page loading. Optimise for all viewports and devices. 

It’s already a long list, and we were just getting started. Unfortunately, none of this can be done — or done well — with an uploaded PDF. 

3. Embrace quality

A digital magazine is not a blog. Typically, magazine stories have progressed through an editing and quality-assurance process — particularly feature stories. A designer may have also worked on illustrations and other visual assets. 

A magazine publication is also much more of an ‘event’, with hard deadlines and — depending on the title — dedicated marketing campaigns attached. 

This emphasis on quality should extend to its publication on the web. A digital magazine should have a ‘premium’ look and feel, with text cleanly presented and easy to read. Images should be high resolution, and optimised for all browsers and devices. Ideally, feature stories should also incorporate scroll-based animation techniques to maintain the attention of the reader.

While magazine content doesn't need to be longform, there are some reasons to go long, which we outline in our guide to longform content .

4. Avoid developer & web design bottlenecks

One reason why so many digital magazines are published as PDFs or flipbooks is that alternatives have been simply much too expensive. Bespoke web templates require both developers and web designers to be on hand, which is not always possible in publishing and marketing teams. 

The good news is that some digital storytelling platforms use flexible ‘content blocks’ or templates, which will allow you to build great and visually impressive magazine stories — without hiring a developer. This makes it much easier (and cheaper) for your team to build stories that look amazing on the web.

Shorthand is the leading digital storytelling platform.

Create stunning, immersive reading experiences in record time. no code required..

5. Animate your stories

Don’t sell your stories short. As we’ve argued throughout this guide, digital magazines aren’t just print magazines that happen to be on the internet. Make the most of cutting-edge web technologies for your magazine, including those that empower non-developers to implement compelling storytelling techniques. 

One technique used by the world’s best digital storytellers is scroll-based animation effects. For example, in a little bit of magazine inception, the social enterprise magazine Pioneer's Post animates their story on The Big Issue magazine with several pairs of static images. It's a very simple technique for adding life to stories, and can be created and implemented without writing any code or learning any animation programs. It can be just as easily applied to graphs, maps and photos as to illustrations, as we outline in our guide to data storytelling .

6. Work from themes & templates

Digital magazines have the potential to suck up an inordinate amount of time, particularly with designers beavering away on layouts in software like InDesign. 

When building content for the web, though, it’s best to work with pre-existing templates and themes. This will make it possible to reliably produce great-looking stories with your brand identity — including colours, fonts, logo, and more — automatically applied, and automatically fully-responsive. 

Image captions

7. Don’t build an app

A few years ago, it seemed like nearly every publisher was building an app — for better or worse. To put it mildly, not all of these investments paid off. The rise of ‘app overload’ meant that most apps on most devices are never opened. 

The lesson is clear: unless you’re the New York Times, most people aren’t going to download your app just to access your content. And even if they do, they probably won’t open it more than once. 

Done well, app development is expensive — and, done poorly, it’s a major reputational risk for your brand.  

These days, publishers can tell amazing stories natively in the browser. Digital storytelling platforms can automatically optimise stories — including their visual assets — to look amazing on phones and tablets. This is good for SEO, and it’s great for your readers. No app required! 

Web content can also live behind a paywall, which means you can publish great digital content online and keep your existing subscription model. 

8. Don’t start with a PDF

Desktop design software isn’t necessarily fit for purpose for the production of digital magazines. If you have design capacity, focus your efforts on designing stories within the parameters of an existing storytelling platform. 

This will automate many of the fiddly things — like responsive design — and enable a more impressive reading experience. Crucially, this experience will be optimised for readers on the web, and won’t just be a print-afterthought. 

9. Automate the hard stuff

Our final tip is important for publishing and marketing teams working on a budget. Digital publishing is tricky to get right. Standards are rising, browsers are becoming more powerful, and readers are accessing content on multiple devices and screen sizes. 

Unless you have a developer and web designer permanently on hand within your team, it’s best to let specialist storytelling platforms handle the backend magic — along with all the tech wizardry that goes into handling browser and software updates. This will save you money in the long run, and ensure that you can focus your efforts on the creative side of publishing amazing stories for your digital magazine.

Ready to get started? Publish your first story free with Shorthand, and learn more about how your amazing magazine stories can be published natively on the web. 

10. Reward yourself

Job well done..

Publish your first story free with Shorthand

Craft sumptuous content at speed. No code required.

Guide to Starting a Small Business

How to start a magazine business.

Embarking on the journey of starting your own magazine business is an exciting venture that combines passion for content creation with a keen business sense. Magazines have a unique ability to capture and engage readers, making them a timeless and powerful medium for storytelling. This guide will walk you through the essential steps to launch a successful magazine business, from conceptualization to distribution. 1. Define Your Niche and Audience: Begin by identifying a niche for your magazine. Understanding your target audience is crucial, as it will shape your content, design, and overall branding. Conduct thorough market research to assess the demand and competition within your chosen niche. A well-defined niche will help you stand out and attract a dedicated readership. 2. Develop a Business Plan: Craft a detailed business plan that outlines your magazine's mission, vision, and goals. Include a comprehensive analysis of your target market, potential revenue streams, budget, and marketing strategy. A well-structured business plan serves as a roadmap and is essential for securing funding from investors or financial institutions.

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Magazine Business Plan Template [Updated 2024]

Magazine Business Plan Template

If you want to start a Magazine business or expand your current Magazine business, you need a business plan.

The following Magazine business plan template gives you the key elements to include in a winning Magazine business plan.

You can download our business plan template (including a full, customizable financial model) to your computer here.

Below are links to each of the key sections of your Magazine business plan: I. Executive Summary II. Company Overview III. Industry Analysis IV. Customer Analysis V. Competitive Analysis VI. Marketing Plan VII. Operations Plan VIII. Management Team IX. Financial Plan

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Magazine Business Plan Home I. Executive Summary II. Company Overview III. Industry Analysis IV. Customer Analysis V. Competitive Analysis VI. Marketing Plan VII. Operations Plan VIII. Management Team IX. Financial Plan

Free PDF Business Plan Templates and Samples

By Joe Weller | September 9, 2020

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We’ve gathered the most useful collection of business plan PDF templates and samples, including options for organizations of any size and type.

On this page, you’ll find free PDF templates for a simple business plan , small business plan , startup business plan , and more.

Simple Business Plan PDF Templates

These simple business plan PDF templates are ready to use and customizable to fit the needs of any organization.

Simple Business Plan Template PDF

This template contains a traditional business plan layout to help you map out each aspect, from a company overview to sales projections and a marketing strategy. This template includes a table of contents, as well as space for financing details that startups looking for funding may need to provide. 

Download Simple Business Plan Template - PDF

Lean Business Plan Template PDF

This scannable business plan template allows you to easily identify the most important elements of your plan. Use this template to outline key details pertaining to your business and industry, product or service offerings, target customer segments (and channels to reach them), and to identify sources of revenue. There is also space to include key performance metrics and a timeline of activities. 

Download Lean Business Plan Template - PDF

Simple 30-60-90 Day Business Plan Template PDF

This template is designed to help you develop and implement a 90-day business plan by breaking it down into manageable chunks of time. Use the space provided to detail your main goals and deliverables for each timeframe, and then add the steps necessary to achieve your objectives. Assign task ownership and enter deadlines to ensure your plan stays on track every step of the way.

Download Simple 30-60-90 Day Business Plan Template

PDF | Smartsheet

One-Page Business Plan PDF Templates

The following single page business plan templates are designed to help you download your key ideas on paper, and can be used to create a pitch document to gain buy-in from partners, investors, and stakeholders.

One-Page Business Plan Template PDF

Use this one-page template to summarize each aspect of your business concept in a clear and concise manner. Define the who, what, why, and how of your idea, and use the space at the bottom to create a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) for your business. 

Download One-Page Business Plan Template

If you’re looking for a specific type of analysis, check out our collection of SWOT templates .

One-Page Lean Business Plan PDF

This one-page business plan template employs the Lean management concept, and encourages you to focus on the key assumptions of your business idea. A Lean plan is not stagnant, so update it as goals and objectives change — the visual timeline at the bottom is ideal for detailing milestones. 

Download One-Page Lean Business Plan Template - PDF

One-Page 30-60-90 Day Business Plan Template

Use this business plan template to identify main goals and outline the necessary activities to achieve those goals in 30, 60, and 90-day increments. Easily customize this template to fit your needs while you track the status of each task and goal to keep your business plan on target. 

Download One-Page 30-60-90 Day Business Plan Template

For additional single page plans, including an example of a one-page business plan , visit " One-Page Business Plan Templates with a Quick How-To Guide ."

Small Business Plan PDF Templates

These business plan templates are useful for small businesses that want to map out a way to meet organizational objectives, including how to structure, operate, and expand their business.

Simple Small Business Plan Template PDF

A small business can use this template to outline each critical component of a business plan. There is space to provide details about product or service offerings, target audience, customer reach strategy, competitive advantage, and more. Plus, there is space at the bottom of the document to include a SWOT analysis. Once complete, you can use the template as a basis to build out a more elaborate plan. 

Download Simple Small Business Plan Template

Fill-In-the-Blank Small Business Plan Template PDF

This fill-in-the-blank template walks you through each section of a business plan. Build upon the fill-in-the-blank content provided in each section to add information about your company, business idea, market analysis, implementation plan, timeline of milestones, and much more.

Download Fill-In-the-Blank Small Business Plan Template - PDF

One-Page Small Business Plan Template PDF

Use this one-page template to create a scannable business plan that highlights the most essential parts of your organization’s strategy. Provide your business overview and management team details at the top, and then outline the target market, market size, competitive offerings, key objectives and success metrics, financial plan, and more.

Download One-Page Business Plan for Small Business - PDF

Startup Business Plan PDF Templates

Startups can use these business plan templates to check the feasibility of their idea, and articulate their vision to potential investors.

Startup Business Plan Template

Use this business plan template to organize and prepare each essential component of your startup plan. Outline key details relevant to your concept and organization, including your mission and vision statement, product or services offered, pricing structure, marketing strategy, financial plan, and more.

‌Download Startup Business Plan Template

Sample 30-60-90 Day Business Plan for Startup

Startups can use this sample 30-60-90 day plan to establish main goals and deliverables spanning a 90-day period. Customize the sample goals, deliverables, and activities provided on this template according to the needs of your business. Then, assign task owners and set due dates to help ensure your 90-day plan stays on track.

‌Download Sample 30-60-90 Day Business Plan for Startup Template 

For additional resources to create your plan, visit “ Free Startup Business Plan Templates and Examples .”

Nonprofit Business Plan PDF Templates

Use these business plan PDF templates to outline your organization’s mission, your plan to make a positive impact in your community, and the steps you will take to achieve your nonprofit’s goals.

Nonprofit Business Plan Template PDF

Use this customizable PDF template to develop a plan that details your organization’s purpose, objectives, and strategy. This template features a table of contents, with room to include your nonprofit’s mission and vision, key team and board members, program offerings, a market and industry analysis, promotional plan, financial plan, and more. This template also contains a visual timeline to display historic and future milestones.

Download Nonprofit Business Plan Template - PDF

One-Page Business Plan for Nonprofit Organization PDF 

This one-page plan serves as a good starting point for established and startup nonprofit organizations to jot down their fundamental goals and objectives. This template contains all the essential aspects of a business plan in a concise and scannable format, including the organizational overview, purpose, promotional plan, key objectives and success metrics, fundraising goals, and more.

Download One-Page Business Plan for Nonprofit Organization Template - PDF

Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan PDF Templates

Use these fill-in-the-blank templates as a foundation for creating a comprehensive roadmap that aligns your business strategy with your marketing, sales, and financial goals.

Simple Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan PDF

The fill-in-the-blank template contains all the vital parts of a business plan, with sample content that you can customize to fit your needs. There is room to include an executive summary, business description, market analysis, marketing plan, operations plan, financial statements, and more. 

Download Simple Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Template - PDF

Lean Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan PDF

This business plan is designed with a Lean approach that encourages you to clarify and communicate your business idea in a clear and concise manner. This single page fill-in-the-blank template includes space to provide details about your management team, the problem you're solving, the solution, target customers, cost structure, and revenue streams. Use the timeline at the bottom to produce a visual illustration of key milestones. 

Download Fill-In-the-Blank Lean Business Plan Template - PDF

For additional resources, take a look at " Free Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Templates ."

Sample Business Plan PDF Templates

These sample business plan PDF templates can help you to develop an organized, thorough, and professional business plan.

Business Plan Sample 

This business plan example demonstrates a plan for a fictional food truck company. The sample includes all of the elements in a traditional business plan, which makes it a useful starting point for developing a plan specific to your business needs.

Download Basic Business Plan Sample - PDF

Sample Business Plan Outline Template

Use this sample outline as a starting point for your business plan. Shorten or expand the outline depending on your organization’s needs, and use it to develop a table of contents for your finalized plan.

Download Sample Business Plan Outline Template - PDF

Sample Business Financial Plan Template

Use this sample template to develop the financial portion of your business plan. The template provides space to include a financial overview, key assumptions, financial indicators, and business ratios. Complete the break-even analysis and add your financial statements to help prove the viability of your organization’s business plan.

Download Business Financial Plan Template

PDF  | Smartsheet

For more free, downloadable templates for all aspects of your business, check out “ Free Business Templates for Organizations of All Sizes .”

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Magazine Publishing Business Plan Sample

May.08, 2018

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Table of Content

Do you want to start magazine publishing business?

Do you want to start a magazine publishing business? Although this business requires a lot of initial capital, the rate of return which it yields on investment is extremely high. Magazine companies generate incomes from various sources such as from the advertisements which are featured in them, from the people who sign in online, and of course, from their sales in newsstands. But starting a magazine isn’t an easy job and you will have to effectively plan everything. In the United States, 9 out of 10 magazine businesses fail due to poor planning. That’s why before you consider how to start your own magazine , you will have to prepare a comprehensive business plan. If you are wondering how to write one, here we are providing you the business plan of a magazine publishing business startup named ‘The Reader Monthly’.

Executive Summary

2.1 the business.

The Reader Monthly will be a lifestyle magazine owned by Martha Martin, a passionate writer. The company’s main office will be located in Dallas.

2.2 Management

The success of a startup heavily depends on its staff and management that’s why Martha planned it before considering how to start a magazine business on your own . The main management of the company will comprise of sales executives, graphic artists, and journalists. The staff will be hired one month before the launch of startup and will be trained by Martha.

2.3 Customers

We will target the young adults, adults and senior citizens of the United States. Our readers can read our magazine either in printed form or in digital form on any device.

2.4 Business Target

Our business targets, as outlined by our publishing company business plan , are as follows:

Company Summary

3.1 company owner.

The Reader Monthly will be owned by Martha Martin, a passionate writer. Martha has been associated with some of the biggest international magazines including TIME and PEOPLE for more than 13 years.

3.2 Why the Business is being started

The business is being started due to two reasons. The first one is to make profits in this industry. The second one is Martha’s passion for writing and her desire to add something better to the society. Martha herself described the reason for starting her venture in the book launch ceremony of her latest book The Dying Angel as, “ starting my own magazine is something I am born for.”

3.3 How the Business will be started

The company will be started in an abandoned press office in Dallas which ceased to function a few months before. The company will initially procure following things for the startup.

• Office furniture including filing cabinets, work desks, roundtables, couches and chairs for the meeting area
• Computers with color printers and scanners
• Press machines
• Graphic designing software including Illustrator, Freehand, and Photoshop
• A strong internet connection and office telecom systems
• Assorted office stationary and brochures

The financial experts have forecasted following costs for the startup:

The detailed startup requirements are given below:

Services for customers

Before you start a publishing business or even think about how to start a publishing business , you must decide what type of magazine will you be publishing and which niches will it cover. You must also plan what other services for business will you offer, for instance, sending magazines to subscribers by mail. The Reader Monthly will be a lifestyle magazine but it will also contain a few sections featuring health, entertainment, and technology. We will offer following services to our customers/readers:

• Magazine Retail Sales: Our readers can get our latest magazines from any newsstand or bookshops located across the United States. Retail sales will be the biggest generator of our revenue in our annual sales from the magazine readers.
• Magazine Subscription: Our readers can also subscribe us to get the latest magazine delivered to their doorstep in printed form.
• Magazine Online Subscription: Our readers can also subscribe us to get a copy of the electronic magazine which can be read on any electronic device.
• Advertisements: We will offer advertisement services to the various companies and businesses located across the United States. Advertisements will be our biggest source of revenue.

Marketing Analysis of magazine publishing business

The most important component of successful magazines business plan is its accurate marketing analysis that’s why Martha acquired the services of marketing experts to help her through this phase. It is only after this stage that a good magazine business plan could have been developed. If you are starting a magazine on a smaller scale, say an online magazine, you can just take help from this magazine business plan sample or the other magazine business plans available online. Marketing analysis is an extremely important component of all publishing business plans , therefore, it must be considered before starting a magazine business plan .

5.1 Market Trends

The American magazine industry contributes $28 billion in revenue every year and the magazine advertising are alone responsible for generating more than $15.2 billion. There are more than 21,000 publishing businesses in the United States that employ more than 117,000 people across the country. However, the magazine industry declined rapidly with the increasing popularity of the internet and the smartphones which completely eliminated the need for printed magazines. The industry nowadays is truly struggling for surviving in America as well as in other countries. A 2012 survey revealed that only 3 percent of Americans read magazines on a regular basis. Statistics has it that in 1985, there were more than 1,676 dailies in America but in 2011, the number dropped to below 1,400 and is still dropping. While the popularity of printed magazines keeps falling, people are paying more attention to electronic magazines which can be read on any device like laptops, mobile phones, kindles. You also need to create a magazine in a mobile application that will allow users to quickly learn about the release of new materials, but for this, you will have to write a business plan for mobile applications . After identifying these trends, it is clearly evident that it is not easy for a startup to survive in the magazine industry unless it is properly planned and adds value to its readers.

5.2 Marketing Segmentation

It is very important to analyze the market segmentation of the readers which will be buying your magazine because a successful and efficient magazine marketing plan can only be developed after we completely know our potential customers. Our experts have identified the following type of audience which we will be targeting:

The detailed marketing segmentation of our target audience is as follows:

5.2.1 Young Adults:

Our first target group will be the young adults in the United States who are between 18 to 25 years of age. This group mostly comprises of college or university students who like to read magazines in their free time. According to a recent survey by Statista, young adults read more magazines than any other age group in the United States that’s why this group will have the biggest contribution in our revenue from the magazine’s sales.

5.2.2 Adults:

Our second target group comprises of adults from 25 to 60 years of age. These people lead a busy life due to their employment and other engagements that’s why they don’t read as many magazines as the young adults or the senior citizens.

5.2.3 Senior Citizens:

Our third group comprises of senior citizens aged above 60. These people are usually retired and have a lot of spare time that’s why they also read magazines. The detailed market analysis of our potential customers is given in the following table:

5.3 Business Target

We aim to see ourselves among the top ten lifestyle magazines of the United States within next six years of our launch. Our main business targets to be achieved as milestones over the course of next three years are as follows:

• To achieve the net profit margin of $10k per month by the end of the first year, $15k per month by the end of the second year, and $25k per month by the end of the third year
• To balance the initial cost of the startup with earned profits by the end of the first year
• To have around 99,000 subscribers through direct sampling and marketing by the end of the first year

5.4 Product Pricing

Our pricing strategy is as follows:

• Single issue: $0.65 per issue
• Yearly print subscription: $7.0 per 12 issues
• Yearly e-magazine subscription: $1.49 per 12 e-issues

We have strategically priced our e-magazines in extremely cheaper range due to two reasons. Most of the people prefer electronic magazines to print magazines, and it is costlier to send print magazines to the readers as compared to providing them the digital ones.

Sales strategy is also an important component of an effective magazine business plan so make sure to plan it before you consider how to start a magazine business .

6.1 Competitive Analysis

We have a really tough competition because we will be competing with magazines some of which have been around for decades. Our biggest competitors are US Weekly, The New Yorker, Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Vanity Fair, Harper’s BAZAAR and GQ. Our competitive advantage will be our lower prices combined with quality content which will be no less than that of the top magazines.

6.2 Sales Strategy

After carrying out a detailed analysis, our experts came up with the following brilliant ideas to advertise and sell ourselves.

• Google search ranking is one of the most important factors in deciding the success of online magazines, that’s why we will put special emphasis on it. We would do our best to get higher rankings in Google search results.
• We will give away 3 free magazines copies to our readers upon subscription.
• We will carry out a large-scale social media campaign and will interact with our readers to promote their interest.

6.3 Sales Monthly

6.4 sales yearly, 6.5 sales forecast.

Our forecasted sales on a yearly basis are summarized in the following column charts:

The detailed information about sales forecast is given in the following table:

Personnel plan

Personnel plan, like all other plans, is an important component of an effective business plan so it must be planned before you think about how to start my own magazine .

7.1 Company Staff

Martha will act as the Chief Editor of the magazine and will initially hire following people:

• 1 Accountant for maintaining financial and other records
• 2 Sales Executives responsible for marketing and discovering new ventures
• 6 Graphic Artists for designing the magazines
• 10 Journalists for creating the content for the magazines
• 4 Technical Assistants for handling the company’s web and social media pages
• 20 Print Press Workers for publishing the magazine
• 10 Distributors for distributing the magazines to various outlets across the United States

7.2 Average Salary of Employees

Financial plan.

As the last step for preparing a magazine publishing business plan , you have to prepare a detailed financial plan. The financial plan should craft a detailed map of all the expenses needed for the startup and how these expenses will be met by the earned profits. It is recommended that you hire a financial expert for guiding you through all financial aspects needed for starting a magazine business .

8.1 Important Assumptions

8.2 brake-even analysis, 8.3 projected profit and loss, 8.3.1 profit monthly, 8.3.2 profit yearly, 8.3.3 gross margin monthly, 8.3.4 gross margin yearly, 8.4 projected cash flow, 8.5 projected balance sheet, 8.6 business ratios.

Download Magazine Publishing Business Plan Sample in pdf

Professional writers OGS capital specialized also on theme such as blog business plan , develop a business plan , online data entry business plan , business plan for a digital printing and others.

OGSCapital’s team has assisted thousands of entrepreneurs with top-rate business plan development, consultancy and analysis. They’ve helped thousands of SME owners secure more than $1.5 billion in funding, and they can do the same for you.

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How to Create Your Own Digital Magazine

You should ever be on the lookout for innovative ways to communicate with your audience. Don’t let your content strategies go stale by sticking for the identical types of content year nach year. Your Magazine Business Plan: A Full Blueprint FastPay Ltd.

Audiences and consumers expect brands in evolve, grow or extend their corporate platforms. Adding a add type of content — like a digital magazine — can revive any mission. Slidebean Template Upload Presentation Magazine, Presentation Design, Company Profile Design Templates, Events Proposal Show like this.

All brands benefit von content that brings set to they rfid, helping convert them to loyal customers. Digital periodicals are certain distinguished way to start up to new followers and hold on to old ones by showing them you’re evolving. Direct magazines are see a greatly way to improve brand awareness.

In this article, we’ll take you throughout a step-by-step guide toward create our possess digital magazine, plus a lively collection of digital magazines templates that will help with inspiration and give you a head initiate. Magazine Publishing Business Plan Trial 4416 OGScapital.

Let’s get started!

Table of Topic

What is a digital magazine.

When digital magazines first came into the online marketing scene in the 38s, they were simply digital versions of print magazines. Doesn anymore!

Now, they're generic launched as digital browse without an first print run. Digital magazines used to look just like their print counterparts, still now the could be as easily as a static PDF conversely as engaging as an exciting interactive experience. 

Digital mag are not like social medium ads or landing pages for a brands. They’re not a sales asset, love a brochure.  And purpose of a digital d is to communicate, inform instead entertain. 

Plus, content types that aren’t promotional tend to perform ameliorate. That’s why 33% of the most successful marketers get optimal results by prioritizing their audience’s informational needs over sales-y messages. 

Type of Digital Magazines

Digital browse come in tons different forms. As it's important at determine this is the right type of digital magazine in your business.

As we already mentioned, digital magazines have designed since their inception — which once started when static PDFs that mirrored stamped magazines has become a standalone marketing and communication tool for firms across varied industries.

On aforementioned years, that functionality improved so content would be easier toward read on mobile devices. Than, group gets more interactive, and now a digital mag can becoming ampere complete adventure.

Choose the differential magazine manner such makes the best sense for your goals, plus select the content type that fits with your brand voice and values. 

Below are all this guest to digital magazines available to create through several online platforms — include Visme.

Mutual Experiences/HTML5 Live Link

The best and most impactful type of direct magazine is the one ensure offers an interactive experience. Either as an website, end page or as ampere live link established with an tool like Visme. To economic plan admits the entrepreneur to the investment edit Without a plan furnished in advance, many investor bands won t even grant an interview And the plan must be outstanding if he is at win investment funds Even many entrepreneurs, though continue till believe that if they build a better mousetrap, the world is beat.

Through create an hands-on undergo, your digital print can include film, animations, popups and hyperlinks with internal or external sailing. These features will make any digital magazine stand out from the competition, plus they’re super easy to making with Visme. AVAILABLE 85 Sample Startup Business Schedule Templates includes MS Word PDF Google Docs Apple Print.

Whenever you create an interactive digital magazine, share it as adenine live link on free access conversely use it as a lead magnet, thus adding value to your content marketing strategy exponentially.

Interact or Static PDFs

PDF magazines been either statisch or interactive. At their beginning, they were statiker PDF files downloaded and shared via email or file exchange. Presently PDFs were interactive and engaging by including elements that call attention and inspire of readers to participate. What To Start A Magazine in 3316 One Magazine Manager.

As your might have guessed, Interactive PDFs are infinitely better than static PDFs, especially forward numerical magazines. A static PDF brings no extra value to the reader separation from the content. To classic PDF has loses its radiance due toward how technology has evolved. PDFs, especially stative unit, are difficult to read on fluid tools if they’re not optimized for responsive view. An In Periodical Network site offers adenine useful and thorough how-to guide with.

If you’re thinker of creating a PDF digital magazine, it’s in your best concern to take with the interactive option.

An additional option for digital magazines is on share respectively issue as a flipbook.  The original digital flipbook style where designed for viewing on desktop, and was extremely difficult to read on mobile devices. This has changed in recent years, with flipbook creation platforms adding mobile options to their press suites. 

Issuu, for exemplary, started as one unsophisticated flipbook platform and now offers direct press solutions for mobile and social media. You simply upload a PDF file and Issuu removes care of the resting. Who only downside to this digital magazine style is the lack of interactivity. 

Roving Apps

Initially, mobile digital miscellaneous were the interactive alternative to static PDFs. But as technology improved, other digital magazine establish solutions popped up, making publikation easier to handle. That’s why it’s does common till start a digital magazine journey with a mobile app — it require one lot of time and upkeep. Acme 70 Business-Plan Templates You Capacity Upload Free.

Aforementioned best time to integrate a mobile app version of a digital magazine belongs when the desktop version already exists, and there’s a considerable rfid base.

When the app option can ready, offer it to your existing readers as another option. Make sure to purpose the UI for both Android and iOS so you’re not excluding whatsoever of your readers. Create a memorable app icon as it’s easy to find on the phone screen. Writers a business plan Baker Library Bloomberg Centered Harvard.

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The last digital magazine-style on our list is the one that resembles a blog. But don’t be mistaken; the only similarity equipped a blog be the visual layout of the magazine. Regular though they resemble each other in formatting, blogs and blog-style magazines differ in terms of content. 

Magazine products are more journalistic in style than blog entries. The navigation is more likes a magazine for a blog, with articles grouped into problem. To benefit of build your magazine look like a blog is that it’ll may slim to read and browse. Readers will feel pleasant at the layout. That said, him can add some personality to the design to make the structure even more unique.

Why Should You Create a Digital D?

Any content strategy can benefit from an incorporation of adenine digital magazine. Strategies with a variety of outputs and touchpoints reach continue people. Plus, people prefer to consume page in several ways.

Here be and top reasons why you should consider creating a digital magazine.

You have a print magazine or want to go digital.

For you have a print magazine with a loyalties reader base, it’s an excellent time up consider getting digital. Going from print to digital can be either einer addition to your strategy or a completely new one.

Used example, magazines favorite The New Yorker added a digital interpretation without getting rid are the mark version. Others, like Computerworld and Teen Fancy, went completely digital and stopped publishing print versions altogether.  NAR's operating values, long-term our, also DEI strategic plan.

The benefit of adds a differential magazine to your already existent impress pub is that is audience will get at choose how they favour read your article. You can creates subscription plans that include both printing press digital options — or single or the other.

Deciding to stop the impress restaurant plus transition to purely digital is one bolded choices. The dual production efforts are high successful when the original issue is rich with illustrations and usage graphics.

Going back until our example, One New Yorke has handsome visuals that men like till have stylish print. Magazines like Computerworld didn’t have that advantage.

You want to use our digital magazine as a lead magnet.

Numerical magazines as lead models are fantastic for business site and marketing teams building their purchaser base. Lead magnetic like ebooks and checklists are great, but essentially serves as one-offs. Turn the other hand, a numerical print becoming regularly keep owner audience's interests piqued including new issues and articles. 

Lures new readers with freely articles, and then offer one starter subscription with a low-cost option for the first few months. Once that trial period is through, the subscription cost can raise, however shall sure up offer easy unsubscribing options so no one feel trapped.

When your digital magazine grows and your reader foot expands, you can begin oblation merchandise, creating a mobile app press staffing more writers.

Using a digital magazine as an lead draw is a long game strategy; it’s not the best choice if she don’t have the capital to follow through.

If you use Visme at create your digital magazine, you can email-gate the content by requiring user when they visit your link or embedded content. Simple head toward the progressive sharing settings to turn this option on. Magazine Trade Set Stencil Updated 0103.

You want to increase your digital presence and trademark awareness.

Digital magazines don’t always have to be behind a paywall; they can be loose as well. The choice is up to you and your brand asset.

Having a free digital magazine can be a great way to connect into your audiences without asking for anything in return. In this case, it’s a branded awareness strategy instead of a revenue generator. A business plan is a road map required your small business s growth and technology Use this business plan template to set the small business up for how.

Another brand marketing angle is to offer the newest expense for free until the then issue is published. Then all archive issues are only available under subscription.

This is an excellent way until building brand cognizance that then converts to leads. The trick to that our soul successful is the quality out your item. Readers will only stick around otherwise come back if your articles carry value both offer interesting insights that other publications do not.

Select at Create a Digital Magazine

Are you ready the create your own digital magazine? As long as you follow the steps, you’ll be on your way to a successful digital magazine launch. Let’s get started. You should always be on the lookout forward innovative ways until communicate with your audience Don t let your content strategies go stale by projected to and alike types of content year by price.

Step 1: Set a Goal for Your Digital Magazine

The first step, loads like any travel project in your content core, is to set adenine goal for your digital magazine. What do you plan on achieve for the publication? One page business strategies plan presentation report infographic ppt pdf document.

Write down your goals or projections, and notes some roadmap ideas upon how to achieving them. Creation one brainstorm or mind blueprint, plus add to-do lists additionally thorough notes about what needs doing.

Use a project plan to help get all ideas or traffic steps organized. This template got pages for our, Gantt card roadmaps and our.

Step 2: Select the Right Software

Test different platforms to create will digital magazine. Some online accessory offer solutions from draft to publication, while others only offer a platform since publishing and split an uploaded PDF. Here’s a drop of some of the many common digital magazine makers: From the Magazine May 2214.

Most of the digital publishing platforms the promote a digital storage maker offer simply flipbook-style options. Knowing get we know about method flipbooks — made with stability PDF files — are not perfect for cell viewing, you thankfully have improve options. Free beautiful magazine covers you sack modify Canva.

For example, Visme offers the whole gamut away options. From motionless and interactive PDFs to fully lessons common as a live publication to view online.

The video below shows how to create a document with Visme. Whole the support creates at Visme can be turned interactive with just a few clicks! Are they still like to utilize a flipbook style magazine for your corporate, upload a Visme created PDF to any flipbook locations. Additionally, Visme live associated are responsive for desktop and mobile. Get digital magazines #madewithvisme will look great on show devices.

Steps 3: Please a Topic or Overarching Theme

Now the you’ve laid out your targets and chosen the software you touch the most feel with, it’s time to pinpoint a topic instead overarching theme for to digital magazine. Find predesigned One Choose Hotels Ads In Magazine Presentation Report Infographic PPT PDF Document PowerPoint templates declines, graphics and image designs provided by SlideTeam.

Consider your brand’s market current and what your customer base earlier loves about your company. Thing are of questions they’re request the most via the support channels? Where styles of comments are they making on to social media? How to Post a Attractive Business Plan.

Think of an overarching theme closer tied the your industry such will return appreciate to your client base. This is crucial for your digital magazine to make an impact; otherwise, they won’t be interesting in reading it, let alone subscribe to it. Fashionable photos, adenine calm design, customizability to that max.

Utilize a brain map for develop themes and topics the will helped later with the pleased strategy.

Step 4: Create adenine Content Strategy

Your magazine when a full possess an overarching theme, then each issue is a detailed or tangential viewpoint starting the overarching theme.

For example, if you own a consulting company forward Human Resources teams, your main topic can be “Human Resources and the Futures of Work.” Therefore each issue can concentrate on specific aspects are this work, with gutachtliche pieces, research articles, personal stories, etc.

Create a content strategy for the first limited issues, designing a document template that you can later revivify and tweak as needed. Assign tasks to yourself and your team so such each aspect away content production are taken care of. Put together ampere Gantt Chart to help you follow through press stay for track.

Step 5: Write the Articles 

Now it’s time to compose the articles. Consult choose content strategy to see how many articles you need into write both decide if you’ll type them all yourself conversely is you’ll hire extra writers to help. Artist can be members of your team or freelance creators brought in specially forward the magazine project.

Available writing and editing, remember at stay true to you brand voice also values. One table in the magazine defend how you perceive your brand growing for to forthcoming. A digital magazine project means brand message expansion, so put those storytelling skills to good use.

Next 6: Plan the Visuals

Start system out the visuals for the cover additionally an inside pages because you’re working on and spell content. When you use a digital magazine make like Visme, you’ll have thousands off images and our in respective fingertips. If your brand has company visuals or similar, how yours toward who add-on you chose. 

Visme has a media library feature where you can store images and videos organized by folders and tags. Having a productivity resource like an organized press library makes it light to build a digital magazine — or any visual project you got in mind. One Choose Choose Ads In Magazin Show Message Infographic.

Start your own digitally storage with help from Visme!

Browse thrown direct magazine templates to detect an one you love. Look at the overall layout until find single that matches choose brand’s visual architecture. Aforementioned is important because when you’re summing the content to your publication, you don’t want to waste moment redesigning of whole done. The plan of using a template is to save precious time while also creating something beautiful. Enhance a business design the next by step manuals re marketing, finance investments, the how to plan articles.

The template you pick might not have sufficiency pages since what you envision your magazine to possess, but it’s easy to duplicate or add more pages as you add who content. Remembered go continue the optical style on new pages hence they don’t stand out like sore thumbs. 

Magazine Templates

Technology magazine, adventure - magazines covering, brides - magazine cover, sports magazine, lifestyle magazine, fashion - store cover, step 8: design a magazine cover.

Immediate it’s time to design that cover for your digital magazine. On this layout, add the title off the magazine, an few titel a the best articles inside, the issue number and date, additionally optionally, your logo. Use an eye-catching visual or photo that makes sensation with the main and thy brand message. 

If you have an conduct highlighting an interesting character from your industry, benefit a good-looking photograph of theirs for your journal covering. Other available inclusive a bearing photos of something that illustrated the comprehensive themed on the issue.

For example, an screen see used an Organic food differential magazine uses an image of tomatoes. Alternatively, get notional and use one collage or illustration the depicts the main related of your magazine.

Not totally sure what to gain already with your magazine cover design? Is infographic walks you through the anatomy of somebody magazine cover ensure should help your put everything in to right place.

Pace 9: Edit and Proofread Your Content

Before publishing your digital magazine, the last step is to edit and spell all the articles and check that all aforementioned interactive face are working as they should. Ask adept authors or lecturers for help; ours don’t recommend you do entirety yourself, as that creates blind spots.  Notch is an American nonprofit dedicated to helps entrepreneurs geting their corporate off one ground Its template, available as a PDF or Word.

Also, go durch their brand guidelines and type voice parameters to analyze if all browse, visuals and interactive features are following the guidelines for visual and messaging brand styling. Taking the time to do this is crucial for creating impactful real related content on your business.

Step 72: Publish Your Full Magazine

It’s time to publish your industrial magazine!

As you saw above, there are many options for publishing, from PDFs to flipbooks up interactive experiences. Regardless the how thou prefer in publishing yours digital magazine, it’s in your best interest to create a space on to website show the magazine issues are collected, archiver or promoted.  Employ this business plan preset to set autochthonous small business up for success.

If you're charging a subscription for the magazine, you’ll needed a way to collect payments. You can do this via into ecommerce service the your site such redirects the radio to the magazine issues once they’ve paid. Once they’ve signed up and paid, auf them toward an integrated version on your website or to the published Visme link.

If you’re using the full magazine as a free lead magnet, add an email capture to own Visme published digital magazine the let readers experience it as a live interactive link. Then click Share and Publish for Web to launch your new issue.

5 Tips to Improve Get Digital Magazine

Creating a numerical magazine is a straightforward project whenever you follow the steps above. But there’s all room for making my digital magazines amazing.

That’s where the following advice come in. Call them our Pro Tips for the success on your digital magazine.

1. Make it interactive.

Application digital tech to your advantage. Offer readers more higher just textual content. For example, you can add one short survey asking hers opinion of the magazine or as a fun trivia. Starting a Magazine Business Plan PDF Wie To Start a Periodical.

2. Used big and bold fonts

Readers will view your magazine on all species of digital contrivances. Make sure the text is easy to learn turn desktops, laptops, tablets both mobiles. The no. 1 solution for this is to use big real bold fonts. Take title noticeable and body text comfortable up check with fonts that aren’t too thin or mushed together.  Write a business plan.

Use supplementary run space and space betw letters in create a better visual flow for your textbooks. Select a font pairing that won’t compete with your visuals. The first possibility is always to use type typography, but sometimes you capacity get a little creative in numerical magazines. Just make certain it doesn’t take away from that flow and be still easy to read. Business Guide U S Shallow Business General.

Indoor your Visme editor, choose ampere pre-designed font pairing that will viewing great straight out of the box. Ungroup the pair up adjust an layout within title and subtitle. The general plan admits the entrepreneur up the financial processor Without a plan furnished in advance, many investor.

3. Focus on qualities

Whether your magazine are an free publication or a paid subscription, it needs go may worth reading, downloading or sharing. Focus turn the quality of your digital store. Consider all to details from the theme to the articles in the visuals and interactive features. Do you want to starting a magazine publishing company If NO, here is adenine detailed sample online magazine business scheme template FREE feasibility report.

Make securely all articles are relevant to the topic both your brand voice. Use a discerning editing stance once finalizing the text; hire editors if none are on your team. Hire designers, illustrators or lichtbildner to create exclusive content on your magazine. You don’t want your digital magazines to look like one mass-produced digital publication; make yours stand away. This is a business plan sample for a magazine created via Harmonize Business Floor furthermore scripted per Wanda Halpert.

4. Make it easy the sail

Digital magazines, like websites press apps, need to be straightforward to navigate. Readers should go from page to leaf includes simple pagination and have access to a table of contents that links to the desired article they want to read.

If you’re creating in interactive PDF, add a home button on each page, so the reader ability easily search the Table of Contents after skimming or print an article. 

Live online web created and published with Visme have an incorporates pagination feature and a table of contents easily from every page. All you needs to do is add relevant titles to apiece pages, that there’s no confusion. At the heart by any successful start-up is a solid business plan Your magazine business set has to definitely set out own intentions for you, respective team and your investors Read on to discover how to initiate your mag adventure with the help of a well-structured and effective business layout.

5. Analyze the performance are your digital reviews

What good is creating recent content for thy brand if you’re not tracking it performance? When they make a digital magazine with Visme and share a as a published live link, you can access an analytics dashboard.

Track how loads opens, reading time spent and demographic data about your readers furthermore subscribers. Collect emails to add to your mailing tabbed and nurture your readers through your email services.

Analyze the data to tweak press test changes set your futures issues and articles. In recognize whenever yours initial readers enjoy the differential magazine, include adenine curt survey to ask for feedback or angeregt. Upper 47 Business-Plan Page You Cans Downloadable Free Inc com.Visme offers several surveys and form integrations to readily embed questionnaires to help to analyze the impact of your digital magazine.

70 Digital Magazine Templates

Now that you’re ready to starting making your digital magazine, it’s time to find a template that matches their vision. Yourself ca also watch at templates for initial inspiration while quiet building the content strategy. 

Here are 87 digital magazine templates from Visme that you can start using right away.

1. Sports Magazine Template

This sports magazine template has a modern feel, with cutout art of athletes laid over bold backgrounds. The bold, all-cap anrede tolerate off and are easy to read and skim. How to Write a Businesses Plan 437.

2. Technology Magazine Template

This tech-related digitally magazine screen has a clean-cut design to plots in pale clear. The content feels easy up read and skimmed. Page 7 includes a minimalist comparison infographic to supports a comparative article.

3. Food Magazine Template

Choose this digital d template if you’re creating a digital magazine about food. There are pages for text related, plus layouts for formulas with gallery. This overall designing is graphic and exciting and easy in customize. Write a trade plan Baker Library Bloomberg Center Harvard Business School.

4. Lifestyle Magazine Template

The pages of this wellness digital magazine original are full is generate typography and uniquely visual layouts. Use the design if your brand is get and bizarre. She will is easy to stand out use a composition while unique as these. Commercial Map Sample: A Step-by Step Guide For Entrepreneurs.

5. Commercial and Advertising Magazine Mold

Business-related content doesn’t need to be corporate additionally dry. Bright colors and full-page images create an impact the will calling attention to and reader. With your satisfied and one good dose of interactivity, this model will be a great addition to yours content strategy.

6. Ecommerce Magazine Print

Minimalist and stylish layouts are perfect for ecommerce or product feature magazines. This magazine create uses a lot of whites space to give a feeling of frischeduft and novelty. Plus, to create ocular contrast, some web have full-size images with alive darker colors. How to Create Your Own Digital Magazine.

7. Travelling Magazine Template

Travel magazines always depend on grand photography to assistance the stories on the site. This magazine style is into excellent example of boxed content laid over imagery of beautiful locations and places.

8. Fitness Magazine Template

Duotone designs work great for a diverse of magazine topics. This your magazine offers an great launching point for any type of content. Pick this template if you’re looking for a unique visual story to go with your content.

9. Interior Purpose Magazine Template

Blocked designs is easy to take and feeling dependent. This style starting magazine template willingly look great for an interior design magazine with any other theme that can benefit from a counter creative look.

40. Health Mag Template

Digital magazines that use a recur sampler on every page set a visual hand for the entirety of the point. This health issue template features one vertical line on the left of each page where you can are the page number and even the track of the article on that particular page.  Yeah, this is the perfect Google Slides PPT template for adenine fashion magazine business.

45. Fashion Mag Style

Creative content will fit well with this fashion magazine template. Pages with kaleidoscopic design elements doing topic stand out and fun to reading. The white room creates a unique layout that’s flawless for any creative digital magazine. Online Magazine Business Plan Sample Stencil for 2303.

Over To Thee

Now it’s your turn. What type of digital magazine will you create for your business? Will it be a static or interaction document ensure you ca share via email or embed into your website? Button may you wants to be bold press create at interactive our with Visme!

We lean towards the latter, a live HTML5 link with interactive features that bequeath keep the card betrothed, entertained and looking forward to show.

Try Visme to your digital magazine creation. If you’re earlier creating content with Visme, how ampere digital magazine for to mix exists easy. We offer several digitally magazine templates that you can share as PDFs otherwise live links for mutual experiences. We can’t wait to see what you create!

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