Suggestions for magazine publishing

Mystic Blossom said:

I work for a college, and I'm trying to develop a proposal for a student lit mag. It's not a wealthy school, so online POD publishing services are our best options. What would you folks recommend as a good service for magazines? I would like it to be in color, so we can showcase student artwork, if that turns out to be a financially reasonable option.

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Why not make it .pdf only? No printing required unless readers want to print their own.

Color printing is expensive, alas.

--Ken

Mystic Blossom said:

I want something that students can hold in their hands, that they can buy for their parents, and that we can keep copies of in the library. Their sense of accomplishment and pride in their work will be much greater if they have something physical.

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In that case, you might want to talk with local print shops -- maybe some cooperative arrangement can be worked out to trade publicity for a discount on the printing cost. That is where I would start. (Local Chamber of Commerce members might also help to underwrite the venture. I am a member of my local C of C, and my sense of it is that a project like what you describe might be happily adopted for support.)

--Ken

To save, I'd go with black and white rather than color.

As far as POD is concerned, Create A Space is among the cheapest, but if you are planning on a press run of at least 250 to start, I'd go with off-set printing rather than POD.

Main Street Rag was reasonable when I used them to print my literary magazine (the bindery / printhouse arm - they also have a publishing arm, which is different). I'm using CreateSpace this year becuase I'm going with a smaller initial press run due to financial reasons, but I used to run 250.

I'd get quotes from local printers, heck even kinkos. We do a 28 (8 1/2 x 11) page history quarterly at work called Historical Wyoming (for the county in NY, not the state)that has been in print since 1946. Ours is offset. Heavier pound stock for the cover. Ours is black and white. We do 900, and the cost is about 1.80 a piece. So the quantity as it goes up brings the unit price down.

No mater which way you go, color is what will be the killer in price. Selecting the same signature page to do the color will help if you choose offset. Instead of all the pages color, maybe only a few. In offset, if you're using 11 x 17 folded, one side would be two 8 1/2 x11 pages (makes a signature page). For a simple example 1 and 4 (signature page) are on the same side, and 2 and 3 on the other. So one run through the press could make page 1 and 4 color, the other side could be black and white. If you put color on page 1 and 3 instead, then you would be charged for two color runs.

The best example is when you take a part a newspaper. Color is run on a few signature pages, but when it is folded all together it looks like color scattered throughout.

I'm not sure how a kinkos would charge, I would still think it would be how many sides were color, rather then by images, but its something to check into.

Since it is writing and art work, and its for a school, maybe you would be eligable for a grant through a local arts council for part of the cost.

Any trade schools that have printing departments in the same district or close? You may be able to get a good price that way too since you are also a school.

There are, of course, affordable color laser printers starting at about $250. Please consider spending the money to get the best color laser you can afford because color ink jet, which looks okay, just isn't good enough.

Next, as pointed out above, you will need a Photoshop that can reproduce color copies on slick paper. Use slick paper. It looks better and it feels lie a real magazine. You can even use slick paper as your cover rather than something heavier be use it's a magazine.

Total cost to create a color 28-page magazine galley should not be more than $5, preferably much less (as much as half tat cost or slightly less - chances are high it will not be less than $2 on the low end).

Get yourself a GOOD editor, someone who's willing to spend long hours going over the magazine's submissions and layout, forgoing parties, beer, night life, social activities, etc., in favor if looting out the best product he possibly can for you. PAY THAT PERSON! They will be worth their weight in gold.

You have some work to do as well. You have to study other, professional magazines to see how they are laid out. Layout is extremely important. It has to be comfortable to the reader yet fairly easy to duplicate issue after issue. You also have to ask yourself some serious business questions - are you going to do advertisements is the chief one.

Advertisements drive most modern print magazines in most genres outside of SF. That's because the advertisements pay for the cost if producing the magazine in it's entirety. If that upends, then your magazine has financial problems and you will experience difficulty keeping it's costs out of your wallet.

How much are you going to charge for this magazine? If it's free, realize that it's all going to have to come out of your pocket. Charge a rate that is not going to kill your expected readership to take out of their pocket and plunk down for, but which will let you recoup any out of pocket expenses you might incur in publishing.

Next, figure out what your initial print run is going to have to be. Start with the smallest you can reasonably expect to sell. Run with that number. If you sell out, gravy. You can run more copies next time.

That's just a few of the comments I have in regard to starting your own magazine, but my best advice is don't do it unless you can substantially subsidize it (or preferably get someone else to).

"How do you make a small fortune in publishing? Start with a large fortune..."