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How to Start a Publishing Company: 2024 Guide

You can start your own publishing company with these simple steps:

  • Develop a business structure (usually an LLC)
  • Choose the name and location for your company
  • Register your business
  • Obtain your EIN and set up a business banking account

Want more detail? Keep reading. This article is detailed, informative, and easy to comprehend — even for someone who was as legally inept as I used to be.

  • If you should set up a publishing company
  • The benefits of setting up a publishing company
  • How to set up a publishing company

Table of contents

  • What does a publishing company do?
  • Should you start a publishing company?
  • Benefits of Starting Your Own Publishing Company
  • When should you start a publishing company? 
  • 6 Steps for Starting a Book Publishing Company
  • Setting up a Publishing Company with MyCompanyWorks
  • WCU’s Publishing MA Program
  • And don’t forget to check out my podcast where I spoke with my lawyer about publishing business structure.

A publishing company sells and distributes books (and magazines, newspapers, digital content, etc.) They may contribute to the editing process to ensure their published content is up to snuff. The publishing company decides what kind of marketing (and where to advertise) will best help sell their books.

Starting your own book publishing company is a crucial step in boosting your author brand, selling other people's books, or protecting yourself and your assets.

For many people, establishing your own company can be confusing, tedious, and downright painful. To be honest, it’s a lot of work.

Thankfully, this step-by-step guide will help you determine if you should start a publishing company and show you how to achieve such a daunting task.

Let me make 2 disclaimers:

  • Although I have a lot of experience setting up LLCs, including my own book publishing company, I am by no means a lawyer or CPA and cannot speak on their behalf. If you have any questions, it is best to seek legal advice before moving on. This article does not constitute legal advice and should not substitute for the advice of an attorney.
  • Some of the paperwork and legal steps listed in this article are pertinent to the US only. Each country will have its own laws for setting up such things. Many of the steps and recommendations below will be relevant to your startup, no matter which country you’re in.

There are 3 primary reasons to start a publishing company:

  • Financial protection

Of course, there are many reasons to start a publishing company, but these are the big three. For example, if you want to publish other people’s books, you can do that without an LLC. But if you do establish an LLC, you are protected and legitimate.

With today’s publishing platforms, you don’t have to start a publishing business to publish your own work or even other people’s stories.

However, starting a publishing company has several advantages. Here’s a more detailed list of reasons you may want to establish your own publishing business:

  • Conveys professionalism and expertise
  • Protects yourself, your work, and your personal assets in case of a lawsuit
  • Manages of your intellectual property
  • Allows for certain tax write-offs
  • Maintains control over your work
  • Gives you access to more than one Amazon KDP account
  • Shifts your mindset from a hobby writer to a business owner
  • Fulfills your dream of being The Boss/CEO/Founder of your own publishing company
  • Establishes a legal entity to contract co-writing and licensing properly
  • Facilitates future opportunities to publish books by other authors

How do publishing companies make money? Publishing companies make money by taking in book sales, minus the royalties they pay out to authors and other artists. Royalties are 100% negotiable.

There are 6 excellent benefits to starting your own publishing company:

  • Tax benefits, write-offs, and more
  • Liability protection
  • Increased credibility
  • Ability to expand your brand
  • Double the number of KDP accounts
  • Co-writing and licensing

Of course, I could go on and on about the benefits — like being your own boss. But I’ll just take you through the main benefits, then along to the step-by-step process.

1. Tax Benefits, Write-Offs, & Wealth Building

Yes, there are tax benefits to having your own book publishing company. When April 15th approaches, you can write off a surprising number of business expenses.

A company helps you differentiate between your personal income and business income. All those business write-offs may save you a lot of money during tax season.

If you have your own company, I recommend getting a tax accountant (the fee for whom is a tax-deductible expense) to help prepare your taxes. During the year, an accountant can help you make the best choice in certain situations to take full advantage of the tax code.

The most common tax-deductible business expenses:

  • Salaries, wages, and contract labor
  • Most insurance policies
  • Vehicle expenses
  • Office internet
  • Supplies and office expenses
  • Business meals
  • Advertising and marketing
  • Accounting fees
  • Interest on the business-related debt
  • Conferences
  • Rented office space
  • Home office
  • Property purchased for business use
  • Depreciation on that property

Saving money on taxes isn’t just about short-term gain. The benefits of establishing a publishing company allow you to see this business as an opportunity to build wealth and plan for retirement.

2. Liability Protection

Starting your own publishing company gives you a certain level of liability protection. If someone sues you for writing-related reasons and you have an LLC, they cannot attack your personal assets — only the company’s assets. There are some cases of copyright infringement though, where the author would be held liable for their actions, but in total there is much more protection for such things.

If you don’t have a company and your book, product, or service gets sued, then your personal finances and a public record will be absolute fair game.

Although it’s rare, lawsuits happen.

Vocabulary time: LLC stands for Limited Liability Company.

Ask me about my own experience getting sued. It was a false claim from a competitor looking to knock my book off the shelf. The world is full of jerks who are willing to lie and cheat the system (shocking, I know).

Starting a company gives you legal liability protection and distinguishes between the business’s finances and your personal finances. The courts, or collection agencies, would not be allowed to come after you — only your company’s assets.

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3. Increased Credibility

When you start your own publishing company, it gives you increased credibility. Even though self-published authors are legitimate, having your own LLC sounds more legit and offers you and collaborators more legal protection.

Sharing that you’re a self-published author can be intimidating — you might have a fear that others will hear that you self publish and assume you couldn’t get published by a “real agency.” 

But sharing that you have your own publishing company, through which you publish your books, gives you a sense of legitimacy.

Credibility isn’t just important for your sense of accomplishment, though. Collaborators, authors, and business partners may also be more likely to work with an established publishing company.

4. Ability to Expand Your Brand

Starting your own publishing business improves your ability to expand your author brand .

Author branding is convincing someone to read your book over anyone else’s. This involves establishing credibility, proving your creativity, and maintaining a professional image that doesn’t distract from those books you worked so hard on.

This process is related to book positioning: convincing someone that your book is right for them. Good author branding makes book positioning easier and vice-versa.

Also, having a publishing company can make it easier to collaborate with other authors . Each author has access to each other’s audiences, expanding both author brands.

Having a publishing company not only adds legitimacy to your career but also allows you to maintain control over your book marketing and lets you expand your author brand in so many other little ways.

5. Double the Number of KDP Accounts

Another added benefit to starting a publishing company is that you’ll be able to create another Amazon KDP account and remain within your rights.

Amazon's Terms Of Service (TOS) state that an author can only have one KDP account.

However, the cool part of owning your own publishing company is that your company would have its own EIN and bank account, which allows it to open its own KDP account within the TOS of Amazon.

So the first account is your personal account, and the second one is the company’s publishing account. Two accounts come with the added benefit of increased author pages through Author Central, and therefore more exposure and the use of more pen names .

6. Co-writing & Licensing

Starting your own publishing company lets you co-write with another person or license another individual’s work while maintaining legal protection, liability protection, and legitimacy.

Going through a publishing company is the preferred method of contracting with others to bind with legitimate operating agreements legally. So it’s good to have your own company.

Having a publishing business becomes your platform for licensing and contracting future opportunities, such as co-writing or publishing someone else’s work.

Keep this in mind for later when we discuss naming your company .

You should start a publishing company if you have over $2,000 in book sales, want to protect your personal assets, want to publish other people’s books, and/or want to take full advantage of the US tax code.

I'll be real with you — not everyone should do this.

If you're just starting off or still see writing as a side gig or a hobby, then don't add the extra steps of starting a company to your already-busy schedule. Instead, focus on writing your book and nailing your marketing.

If you meet any one of the below requirements, I recommend you create a publishing company:

  • You make more than $2,000 a month in book sales.
  • You write in technical areas or health areas that could put you at risk of legal action.
  • You want to publish other people's books.
  • You're selling more than just books, such as courses, physical products, etc.
  • You're an American citizen, but you live outside of the US and want a base of operations.

If you don’t meet any of these requirements, I recommend not starting your own publishing company.

So you've decided this is what you want to do. Now it’s time to actually start your own business!

Here is a step-by-step guide for starting a book publishing company:

  • Evaluate your business goals.
  • Develop a business structure.
  • Choose a name for your business.
  • Choose a location.
  • Make it official.
  • Grow your team.

That gives you a good idea of what to expect, but let’s dive into the nitty-gritty. I’ll detail each of these 6 steps below.

Step 1 : Evaluate Your Business Goals

The first step in starting your own publishing company is to evaluate your business goals. You need to figure out what your business’s point is — a business plan, of sorts.

A lot of you reading this want to publish your own books through your own publishing company. That’s great. You evaluated your business goals. But go beyond that. Write down a list of goals you can reach for.

For many of us, the goal is to provide extra legal protection and tax breaks.

For some, the goal is to encourage author collaboration or co-author ventures.

It’s smart to estimate what kind of income you plan on bringing in. This helps you plan ahead and lets you compare end-of-year income to expected income.

Ultimately, where do you see your publishing company headed in the next 5-10 years? It’s nice to have business goals set in place so you can aim for specific goals.

Step 2 : Develop a Business Structure 

Before you can start creating your own ebook or book company, you need to decide which type of business structure you would like to make.

There are many different types of businesses. Each has its own pros and cons.

  • Corporation : A corporation is a group authorized to manage the company as a single entity. This includes stockholders, a board of directors, officers, company bylaws, etc. Establishing a corporation (S-Corp or C-Corp) requires a great deal more formalities and paperwork than the other items on this list.
  • Sole proprietorship : This is a business owned and operated by a single person under their personal Social Security number rather than an EIN (Employer Identification Number). This is the simplest business form, though not the safest. The individual is personally liable in lawsuits. It’s wiser to get the liability protection of an LLC.
  • Partnership : This is when multiple people (or entities) officially agree to manage/operate a business together. 
  • Limited Liability Company : A Limited Liability Company (LLC) protects assets like a corporation, but with the pass-through tax benefits of a partnership or sole proprietorship.

Most self-publishers end up creating a Sole Proprietorship or an LLC. Here’s a great article that discusses in more depth the difference between a Sole Proprietorship vs. LLC .

In the end, the Limited Liability Company (LLC) is the best one for most book publishers.

An LLC is more flexible in how profit distribution and ownership are organized. It combines the features of a corporation and a sole proprietorship.

A corporation is a lot more rigid in its rules of operation than an LLC.

The controlling document in an LLC is called the “operating agreement.” You may write up this agreement in a myriad of different ways to suit your needs.

For example, your operating agreement may be where you create rules for how money comes in and goes out or for “successor members” (anyone who takes over after you).

An LLC has another benefit: It allows you to tax it as a Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, or S-Corporation. Basically, an LLC is the best of all worlds and fits nicely in the self-publishing business structure.

Chances are, your favorite authors or bloggers often use an LLC to protect their brand and business.

Before you decide which is best for you, do some additional research on each.

To find out more about each type, you can check out the IRS’s resource page on business structure .

Should I set up an S corporation?

Yes, you should set up an S corporation. In other words, you should charter an LLC, then file paperwork that tells the IRS to treat your LLC as an S corporation.

  • Business charter — A corporation and a Limited Liability Company (LLC) are business charters issued by state governments and may have state income tax implications.
  • Tax election — Subchapter S or an S Corp tax election is paperwork you file with the IRS for the unique tax treatment of a corporation or an LLC.

A business charter and tax election are tools to protect and preserve the wealth you create from your writing. The takeaway is that the S-Corp election would be something you do after you charter your company.

Authors should elect to have their LLC treated as an S Corporation. This is part of a broader tax optimization strategy and wealth creation. Instead of your company paying income tax, the company’s net income passes on to its shareholders to claim it on their personal taxes.

Yet you are still provided with liability protection.

Step 3 : Choose a Name for Your Business

It’s critical to choose a good name for your business that clearly says what you’re about, doesn’t potentially confuse your audience, and isn’t already trademarked or used in your area.

You may consider using your name or your genre, like “Chesson Publications” or “Space Pants Press.” It is a good idea to have backup names ready in case your first choice is not available.

There are 3 things to consider before choosing your business name:

  • Make sure it’s not trademarked by anyone.
  • Check that it’s not already used by someone in your state if you’re in the U.S.
  • Do not use the words “corporation” or “inc.” unless you set up your business as a corporation.

If you’re setting up a Sole Proprietorship, you’ll likely file a DBA (doing business as), also called a “trade name registration” or “fictitious name.”

The good news is that the name availability is state-specific. This means that even though a company called “Intergalactic Press” is registered in New York, you can still use the name if it hasn’t been registered in the state you use to file.

How do you check if your company name is taken? Check to see if your company name is taken by going to your respective state’s name search, by typing “Secretary of State business name search (Name of the selected state)” into Google.

The desired website is often the first result. Start hunting to see if your potential business name is available.

Step 4 : Choose A Location

In setting up the business, you're going to need to choose the State you set up the company in and the actual place of business.

The State of the Business

States issue articles of organization for LLCs (articles of incorporation in the case of a corporation). The first step in location selection is the state of the organization.

For those thrifty business people looking for tax breaks or lower annual registration costs, you may have heard about incorporating in states like Wyoming and Nevada .

A word of caution: The state where you reside and do most of your work expects to be paid income tax . If you live and work in California, setting up an LLC in Nevada doesn’t get you out of California’s income tax.

In fact, doing an out-of-state charter can cost you more money as most states need you to register “foreign entities” to legally do business in the state. Some states are more lenient than others.

Remember, the primary purpose of setting up an LLC is to have the legal separation and protections that come with it. Don’t blow that by not having the appropriate registrations in the state you actually live/work in.

Place of Business

Now that you know your business state, you need a physical place of business where work actually happens.

When setting up an LLC, many self-publishers will make their personal home their place of business since they need a physical place of business. However, this may cause problems down the road.

The address of your business has to be a physical location where legal documents can be served. If you list your home as your place of business, your private information will become public.

In some states, while the owner’s name will be confidential, there must be a registered agent on the public record. You can be your own registered agent in most states, but your own name will be on public record along with your address.

Don’t list your personal home address as your place of business. Do the following instead:

  • Rent a Physical Location: Renting a physical location may be nice if you actually need to go somewhere to do your work — for example, if your personal home is a distraction. I don't need to explain that renting is very costly and not a viable option for most of us.
  • Get a UPS Mailbox: Most states do not allow you to put a P.O. Box number on the application. Luckily, you can get a UPS mailbox number that looks like a regular address. By choosing this option, you will need to show up in person to set up the mailbox. Once you set up your mailbox, you can have them forward your mail to your real address.
  • Use A Registered Agent: Just about every state has registered agents that will act as your office for you. There is a fee associated with this, but it usually includes setting up your LLC as part of the service. This will eliminate your name as the registered agent being on the public record.
  • Set up a Virtual Office: Personally, virtual offices are my favorite option. They’re professional offices that give you a specific mailing address, collect your mail, forward it to you, and can be your Registered Agent (an extra level of personal protection). Furthermore, most virtual offices will give you a 1-800 number and record and send your voicemail to you electronically. This option is excellent for those who travel or reside in a state with extraordinarily high business tax rates. You can set it up from your home in a different state or from a foreign country — such as Sri Lanka, as I did.

Step 5 : Make It Official 

Now that you’ve identified your business goals, business structure, business name, and business location, it’s time to make this official!

Below are 7 quick steps to making your new business official:

  • Register your business.
  • Obtain your Employer Identification Number (EIN).
  • Set up a business bank account.
  • Set up an accounting system.
  • Register your domain name.
  • Create a publisher's KDP account on Amazon.
  • Schedule an annual business meeting and take minutes.

1. Register your business.

You have 2 main options on how to register your business:

  • Do all the required registration and paperwork yourself . Each state has different requirements, so I can’t walk you through those specific steps.
  • Or keep it simple and use the services like My Company Works or GovDocFiling to get your publishing company started fast and make sure it’s done right.

And just like that, you could be a President/Owner/Founder of your very own small business!

How much does it cost to start a publishing company? Costs to start a publishing company vary from state to state. Generally speaking, the lowest fees are $50, and the highest is $800. There are usually annual fees due each year. If you plan to use a registered agent, then expect additional fees for those services. Most authors see somewhere from $200-$500 a year in fees.

Some authors need to maintain extra levels of confidentiality — perhaps because of the genre they write in or their personal preference.

Certain states like Wyoming keep member information confidential. Only the registered agent is public, so you could set up a company there and use a registered agent.

In some cases, you may need to create two LLCs to form a legal barrier between you and the public. This doubles the cost of starting a business, but it might be necessary to give you the confidentiality you desire.

Now that you've become an official business in the eyes of the government, it's time to take specific actions to ensure you're a legitimate business. You need to do certain things to get the most out of your publishing company and ensure its legitimacy.

2. Obtain your EIN.

An Employee Identification Number (EIN) is used to identify a business entity. Also known as a Federal Tax Identification Number, an EIN is a 9-digit number that the IRS uses during tax season.

Upon registering your business, you'll get an EIN — like a Social Security number for businesses. When you have an EIN, ensure the documentation for any accounts that you've set up are associated with this number.

3. Set up a business bank account.

To keep your personal income and the business’s financials separate, you need to have a business bank account. Separation of personal funds from business funds is essential.

You may set up an account with a traditional brick and mortar bank or an alternative online banking service like PayPal.

4. Set up an accounting system.

Whether you hired a professional accountant or are keeping detailed Google Sheets, you have to keep track of your financials from the very beginning. And it has to be perfect. All those I’s dotted and those T’s crossed.

Two popular options for accounting software include Quickbooks and Wave Financial . 

5. Register your domain name.

People need to be able to Google your business. You don’t want those leads to go to waste. That’s the main reason you need to register your domain name — a URL.

A professional author website is the best way to tell people about your business and your books.

Official social media accounts also help like Instagram , LinkedIn, Facebook , etc.

6. Create a publisher's KDP account on Amazon.

If you've published books before on your own personal account and you want them to be in the business' account, then you need to do one of two things:

  • Change your personal account to the business' by changing the necessary information in your settings to reflect the company (address, EIN, etc.).
  • Make a new KDP account and move your books to it.

As per Amazon's TOS, a person is not allowed to have 2 accounts. But don't worry. You have an account, and your business has an account. Those are 2 accounts you control, which is still in compliance with Amazon’s TOS.

7. Schedule an annual business meeting and take minutes.

If you're an LLC or Corporation, you must have at least 1 annual business meeting a year and ensure you document it and place it as your minutes.

Without this, your legitimacy as a company wanes.

For example, my wife and I will schedule a dinner once a year on the company's dime, have a business meeting, and take detailed minutes.

8. Publish a book.

This is the whole reason for a publishing company! Imagine how sweet it will be when you publish that first book.

Whether it’s a children’s book , a biography , a mystery , a short story , an ebook only, or print-on-demand, you’re now a part of the publishing industry.

You need to purchase an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) for each work to sell books. An ISBN is an internationally-recognized 13-digit number that is supposed to simplify sales and distribution. Bowker is the official ISBN agency for the US and Australia.

Step 6 : Grow Your Team

You're now a full-fledged publishing company! With your business made official, it's time to grow your team. (If you intend to be the sole employee of the company or the only author represented by the company, then you’ve already finished the last step.)

Who do you need on your team? Here are some possibilities for expanding your publishing company beyond just yourself:

  • A dedicated accountant
  • Other authors you can now publish
  • Freelancers for cover art , formatting, editing , web design, etc.
  • Marketing or social media specialists to maintain your online presence

Look for authors whose works you’re interested in publishing. You can even split royalty through your new, legitimate publishing house.

If your newly minted publishing company manages co-authored projects, you'll have an extra challenge ahead of you.

Calculating royalties and dividends owed can be a hassle — especially if those need to be split up in any way. However, the good folks over at Draft2Digital have created a solution for that exact situation.

While PublishDrive led this charge with PublishDrive Abacus , Draft2Digital is our choice for book distributors, and they also have this revolutionary program in the publishing world. You can read their announcement here .

This program allows the authors to:

  • Calculate royalties between co-authors
  • Provide each contributor with detailed reports
  • And streamline the entire accounting process

This program is geared entirely towards publishing groups that publish on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited.

In order to be part of the royalty split program, your books do have to be enrolled on Draft2Digital, even for platforms like Amazon. But the headache it saves you could easily be worth the cost of the commission D2D takes.

See also our review of Draft2Digital .

If going through all the steps above to form your publishing company sounds like a lot of work, you can significantly simplify the process (for an added fee, of course) with a company like MyCompanyWorks , which is a business that helps you set up your own business.

While MyCompanyWorks doesn't take all the work out of the process (you'll still have to do things like visit your bank to set up a business bank account), it does make the process a lot easier.

Here is a brief walkthrough to get started:

From the homepage, you can hover over Order Now then select Form an LLC .

Then you select the state the you want to register under, as well as the desired package.

MyCompanyWorks also has a lot of additional services, some of which are useful (like “Prepare S-Corporation Election”).

Next, you begin inputting your information. I won't screenshot everything here (because it's a lot), but it includes your contact info, your name for the LLC, the list of people that manage the company, and the information needed to get your Federal Employer Identification Number.

MyCompanyWorks walks you through the entire process easily, and before you know it, you'll have a business ready to go!

Resources For Setting Up a Publishing Company

Check out these fantastic resources for setting up your own publishing company. I personally use or have used most of these.

Setting up an LLC, Corporation, or Sole Proprietorship can feel daunting. If you're like me, then you probably conduct plenty of research before carrying out such a monumental task.

Before I jumped into setting up my LLCs, I did a bunch of research.

Get a Master’s degree in Publishing with this Publishing MA program.

If you're looking to create a legitimate company publishing many books and want to take yours to the next level, then perhaps a formal education in publishing is right for you.

Western Colorado University offers a full-fledged Publishing MA program , one of the only such programs to embrace indie publishing.

It is a 1-year program (from July to July) and only requires you to spend two weeks in the gorgeous Colorado mountains while the rest of the course is taught online.

It is equally balanced between traditional publishing and indie.

Students will engage in innovative projects, such as:

  • Developing the concept for an anthology (which pays pro rates)
  • Soliciting submissions
  • Reading the slush pile and choosing the stories
  • Issuing contracts
  • Editing pieces
  • Designing and producing a book and its cover
  • Publishing that book
  • Making a marketing plan

As the final project, students will select a public-domain classic, acquire the text, and work through every stage of producing and releasing the book via a mid-sized publisher (WordFire Press), which will list their name on the copyright page.

The program is run by the award-winning and legendary science fiction author, Kevin J. Anderson, who personally teaches all the courses. Kevin has 56 national or international bestsellers and 23 million copies in print in 30 languages.

His publishing company, WordFire Press, has released nearly 350 titles from 95 authors in ebook, trade paperback, hardcover, and audio. He is a highly qualified publishing professor.

If you are interested in taking this program, you need to act fast. The program fills up quickly every year, so don't delay!

More Info on Starting a Publishing Company

Need more info? Here are a few articles I found useful when I was doing my original research on starting my own publishing company:

  • List of Resources for Setting Up a Publishing Company : This quick guide is great for the terminology and list of resources in each of the steps.
  • How to Form an LLC by WSJ : Who better to give you more information than the Wall Street Journal in setting up your own company?
  • 6 Mistakes to Avoid When Setting Up Your Corporation or LLC : What more can I say from that title than make sure you don't make any of these mistakes.
  • Pat Flynn's Personal Details on Setting Up His LLC : Pat Flynn of SmartPassiveIncome.com does an excellent job explaining why and how he did his LLC setup.
  • Nuts and Bolts: Nitty-Gritty Details, Incorporating, and Taxes : This one is my favorite.

Are you ready to start a publishing company?

With a few hundred dollars and some spare time, you are ready to start your own publishing company and establish legitimacy, legal liability protection, and valuable tax breaks.

Thanks to services on the Internet, it is easier than ever to set up your own book publishing LLC or Corporation.

Although annual costs persist each year, the benefits of starting your very own publishing company will quickly outweigh this.

Better taxes, increased personal security, and more publishing capabilities were the main reasons I started 3 different LLCs to support my entrepreneurial habits.

Now that you know how to start your very own publishing company , get started and become a book publisher today!

If you have any questions along the way, don’t hesitate to ask me. Leave a comment below to tell me what you found most helpful.

But do remember that I am not a lawyer — just an experienced entrepreneur.

Dave Chesson

When I’m not sipping tea with princesses or lightsaber dueling with little Jedi, I’m a book marketing nut. Having consulted multiple publishing companies and NYT best-selling authors, I created Kindlepreneur to help authors sell more books. I’ve even been called “The Kindlepreneur” by Amazon publicly, and I’m here to help you with your author journey.

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155 thoughts on “ How to Start a Publishing Company: 2024 Guide ”

Publishing companies often have a symbol for their company. Since they offer a service, this begs for trademarking the images used by the company.

Do you have suggested links or a blog piece on trademarking?

BTW: Good, solid content and suggested strategies on starting a publishing company. I appreciated your work; you are my “pathfinder!” =rds

Thank you for this information. I created an LLC for my coaching business and plan on publishing under the same LLC vs having two companies. That being said, my business isn’t structured as a publishing house. Will that be an issue?

It shouldn’t be.

I appreciate the wealth of knowledge in this article. I do have one question though.

If someone creates a new llc for their publishing company does that mean when creating the new kdp account we can avoid using our own name and instead only use the business name?

Dave, how do you move your books to a new KDP account? Wouldn’t you have to republish?

I’ve changed everything in my personal account to my business tax and business info, in the meantime, both on KDP, Smashwords, and D2D.

Is there a legal way to transfer ownership of books from ME to my business?

Yup – unpublish and republish. Although a cleaner way is to switch the current account info to the new account, keeping all your books there, like it sounds like you did. As for legal, I made mark in my LLC book that the ‘assets’ were transferred over to the company. (Again, not legal advice nor am I a lawyer).

Fantastic and valuable article. Thank you so much. I will definitely have to go to the LLC route. Thankfully, I have a bit of reading to do before I have to get busy with that.

I already have my company name, domain name, website, and logo, I just need to handle all the legalities of it.

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Self Publishing Business Plan Template & Guidebook

Are you looking to start a self-publishing business but are not sure where to begin? With the right business plan template and guidebook, you can create an effective, winning strategy! The #1 Self Publishing Business Plan Template & Guidebook provides an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide for developing a plan tailored to fit your individual needs and goals. Learn how this must-have tool can help you make your self-publishing dream a reality!

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  • How to Start a Profitable Self Publishing Business [11 Steps]

How to Write a Self Publishing Business Plan in 7 Steps:

1. describe the purpose of your self publishing business..

The first step to writing your business plan is to describe the purpose of your self publishing business. This includes describing why you are starting this type of business, and what problems it will solve for customers. This is a quick way to get your mind thinking about the customers’ problems. It also helps you identify what makes your business different from others in its industry.

It also helps to include a vision statement so that readers can understand what type of company you want to build.

Here is an example of a purpose mission statement for a self publishing business:

Our mission is to empower aspiring authors by offering an efficient, cost-effective self-publishing process that results in high-quality books. We strive to provide the best self-publishing services to our authors and help them turn their dreams into reality.

Image of Zenbusiness business formation

2. Products & Services Offered by Your Self Publishing Business.

The next step is to outline your products and services for your self publishing business. 

When you think about the products and services that you offer, it's helpful to ask yourself the following questions:

  • What is my business?
  • What are the products and/or services that I offer?
  • Why am I offering these particular products and/or services?
  • How do I differentiate myself from competitors with similar offerings?
  • How will I market my products and services?

You may want to do a comparison of your business plan against those of other competitors in the area, or even with online reviews. This way, you can find out what people like about them and what they don’t like, so that you can either improve upon their offerings or avoid doing so altogether.

Image of Zenbusiness business formation

3. Build a Creative Marketing Stratgey.

If you don't have a marketing plan for your self publishing business, it's time to write one. Your marketing plan should be part of your business plan and be a roadmap to your goals. 

A good marketing plan for your self publishing business includes the following elements:

Target market

  • Who is your target market?
  • What do these customers have in common?
  • How many of them are there?
  • How can you best reach them with your message or product?

Customer base 

  • Who are your current customers? 
  • Where did they come from (i.e., referrals)?
  • How can their experience with your self publishing business help make them repeat customers, consumers, visitors, subscribers, or advocates for other people in their network or industry who might also benefit from using this service, product, or brand?

Product or service description

  • How does it work, what features does it have, and what are its benefits?
  • Can anyone use this product or service regardless of age or gender?
  • Can anyone visually see themselves using this product or service?
  • How will they feel when they do so? If so, how long will the feeling last after purchasing (or trying) the product/service for the first time?

Competitive analysis

  • Which companies are competing with yours today (and why)? 
  • Which ones may enter into competition with yours tomorrow if they find out about it now through word-of-mouth advertising; social media networks; friends' recommendations; etc.)
  • What specific advantages does each competitor offer over yours currently?

Marketing channels

  • Which marketing channel do you intend to leverage to attract new customers?
  • What is your estimated marketing budget needed?
  • What is the projected cost to acquire a new customer?
  • How many of your customers do you instead will return?

Form an LLC in your state!

business plan for online publication

4. Write Your Operational Plan.

Next, you'll need to build your operational plan. This section describes the type of business you'll be running, and includes the steps involved in your operations. 

In it, you should list:

  • The equipment and facilities needed
  • Who will be involved in the business (employees, contractors)
  • Financial requirements for each step
  • Milestones & KPIs
  • Location of your business
  • Zoning & permits required for the business

What equipment, supplies, or permits are needed to run a self publishing business?

  • Computer and printer
  • Writing software
  • Design software (e.g. Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator)
  • ISBN/Barcode/Library of Congress numbers
  • Paperback and hardcover book covers
  • Self-publishing service provider (e.g. CreateSpace, IngramSpark, Lulu)
  • Marketing and promotional materials (e.g. business cards, postcards, flyers)
  • Copyright registration or licensing permits if needed

5. Management & Organization of Your Self Publishing Business.

The second part of your self publishing business plan is to develop a management and organization section.

This section will cover all of the following:

  • How many employees you need in order to run your self publishing business. This should include the roles they will play (for example, one person may be responsible for managing administrative duties while another might be in charge of customer service).
  • The structure of your management team. The higher-ups like yourself should be able to delegate tasks through lower-level managers who are directly responsible for their given department (inventory and sales, etc.).
  • How you’re going to make sure that everyone on board is doing their job well. You’ll want check-ins with employees regularly so they have time to ask questions or voice concerns if needed; this also gives you time to offer support where necessary while staying informed on how things are going within individual departments too!

6. Self Publishing Business Startup Expenses & Captial Needed.

This section should be broken down by month and year. If you are still in the planning stage of your business, it may be helpful to estimate how much money will be needed each month until you reach profitability.

Typically, expenses for your business can be broken into a few basic categories:

Startup Costs

Startup costs are typically the first expenses you will incur when beginning an enterprise. These include legal fees, accounting expenses, and other costs associated with getting your business off the ground. The amount of money needed to start a self publishing business varies based on many different variables, but below are a few different types of startup costs for a self publishing business.

Running & Operating Costs

Running costs refer to ongoing expenses related directly with operating your business over time like electricity bills or salaries paid out each month. These types of expenses will vary greatly depending on multiple variables such as location, team size, utility costs, etc.

Marketing & Sales Expenses

You should include any costs associated with marketing and sales, such as advertising and promotions, website design or maintenance. Also, consider any additional expenses that may be incurred if you decide to launch a new product or service line. For example, if your self publishing business has an existing website that needs an upgrade in order to sell more products or services, then this should be listed here.

7. Financial Plan & Projections

A financial plan is an important part of any business plan, as it outlines how the business will generate revenue and profit, and how it will use that profit to grow and sustain itself. To devise a financial plan for your self publishing business, you will need to consider a number of factors, including your start-up costs, operating costs, projected revenue, and expenses. 

Here are some steps you can follow to devise a financial plan for your self publishing business plan:

  • Determine your start-up costs: This will include the cost of purchasing or leasing the space where you will operate your business, as well as the cost of buying or leasing any equipment or supplies that you need to start the business.
  • Estimate your operating costs: Operating costs will include utilities, such as electricity, gas, and water, as well as labor costs for employees, if any, and the cost of purchasing any materials or supplies that you will need to run your business.
  • Project your revenue: To project your revenue, you will need to consider the number of customers you expect to have and the average amount they will spend on each visit. You can use this information to estimate how much money you will make from selling your products or services.
  • Estimate your expenses: In addition to your operating costs, you will need to consider other expenses, such as insurance, marketing, and maintenance. You will also need to set aside money for taxes and other fees.
  • Create a budget: Once you have estimated your start-up costs, operating costs, revenue, and expenses, you can use this information to create a budget for your business. This will help you to see how much money you will need to start the business, and how much profit you can expect to make.
  • Develop a plan for using your profit: Finally, you will need to decide how you will use your profit to grow and sustain your business. This might include investing in new equipment, expanding the business, or saving for a rainy day.

business plan for online publication

Frequently Asked Questions About Self Publishing Business Plans:

Why do you need a business plan for a self publishing business.

A business plan for a self publishing business can provide structure and guidance when setting up the business, presenting data, and making decisions. It can also be used to attract investors and demonstrate the viability, objectivity, and profitability potential of the business. Additionally, a comprehensive business plan can help you stay on track and measure your progress as you launch and grow your self-publishing business.

Who should you ask for help with your self publishing business plan?

It is recommended to speak to a business consultant or a lawyer who has experience in helping with self publishing business plans. It may also be helpful to consult with other authors who have self-published their own books. The Small Business Administration (SBA) is a great resource for small business owners and can help provide information, resources, and advice to help create the right plan for your self-publishing business.

Can you write a self publishing business plan yourself?

Yes, it is possible to write a self publishing business plan yourself. Although it can be a lengthy and complicated process, it can be done. A sound business plan begins with research into the industry, market analysis, and understanding of what makes a successful business. You should also determine your goals and objectives, create strategies for achieving those goals, assess potential risks and create financial models. Additionally, you should be sure to document your sales and marketing strategies and have a plan for distribution. Lastly, you need to create an action plan so that you have a timeline of when each piece of your plan will be implemented. Writing a self-publishing business plan may involve some trial and error but with the right research and guidance there is no reason why it can't be done!

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I'm Nick, co-founder of newfoundr.com, dedicated to helping aspiring entrepreneurs succeed. As a small business owner with over five years of experience, I have garnered valuable knowledge and insights across a diverse range of industries. My passion for entrepreneurship drives me to share my expertise with aspiring entrepreneurs, empowering them to turn their business dreams into reality.

Through meticulous research and firsthand experience, I uncover the essential steps, software, tools, and costs associated with launching and maintaining a successful business. By demystifying the complexities of entrepreneurship, I provide the guidance and support needed for others to embark on their journey with confidence.

From assessing market viability and formulating business plans to selecting the right technology and navigating the financial landscape, I am dedicated to helping fellow entrepreneurs overcome challenges and unlock their full potential. As a steadfast advocate for small business success, my mission is to pave the way for a new generation of innovative and driven entrepreneurs who are ready to make their mark on the world.

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Blog ‱ Understanding Publishing

Last updated on Feb 07, 2023

How to Start a Publishing Company in 2024

If you’ve ever watched the reality show Shark Tank , you may have found yourself daydreaming about starting your own business. And if you’re an indie author who’s learning the self-publishing ropes, you might be wondering if you should start your own publishing business — as opposed to just doing everything under your own name.

So before we get to the details of how to start a publishing company, let’s start by addressing that question first: should you start a publishing company? The answer might be yes if you: 

  • Are publishing one or more series of books (the hassle of starting a company might not be worth it if you’re looking to publish just one title)
  • Are working in an area with a higher risk of liability (such as health-related or technical books) — or are simply looking for added protection of your personal assets
  • Are looking to operate as a “professional” writer (as opposed to a “hobbyist” writer)
  • Have a concrete brand that you would like to expand to include similar books by other authors

If these criteria don’t apply to you, you’re likely better off publishing your books under your own name. But if they ring a bell, then this guide to starting a publishing company is a great place to start.

Note: this advice is not coming from legal professionals, and any business ventures should be taken after consideration of local laws and consulting with professionals. What follows mainly applies to starting a company in the United States.

Disclaimer withstanding, let’s get started!

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The benefits of starting your own publishing company

To help you better understand whether this is the right time for you to start your own publishing company, let’s look at the benefits a little closer.

Air of professionalism

While self-publishing is a major accomplishment that should be viewed with pride, many bookstores and libraries will not stock their shelves with books clearly published by authors. In addition, readers are often less likely to purchase an obviously self-published title as they’d prefer to go with books that have been vetted by publishers — which of course means they’re missing out on some great reads!

One of the most obvious markers of a self-published title is that the author’s name is listed as the publisher. However, if you start your own publishing company — say, Reedsy LLC or Reedsy Publishing — you can use that name as the imprint, which might give your book a more “professional” air.

Tax benefits

What is the difference between the IRS seeing your publishing endeavors as a hobby versus a business? Well, if it’s a hobby, then those expenses can only be deducted from your writing income. If they consider those activities as a business, on the other hand, you might be able to deduct writing and publishing-related expenses from your non-writing income.

The IRS encourages entrepreneurs by assuming new businesses will lose money from the outset, and allowing them to offset those losses with tax breaks. If you want to enjoy the tax benefits the IRS affords, then it’s key to operate as a business — and and to show that you are running that business with the aim of making a profit.

Protection from liability

You don’t hear about independently published authors getting sued every day. However, writers who want added protection against any crumbling cookies will find assurance in that fact that when you incorporate or start a business such as an LLC, your personal income and assets are protected.

The ability to grow your brand

Indie authors unite? If you've already set up the infrastructure (a mailing list, traction with sales on Amazon, etc.), then looking beyond your own repertoire of titles and publishing more books that appeal to similar readers is a good idea. You can leverage all your hard work establishing your business and learning marketing to expand your brand and sell more books without having to do all the writing yourself. Of course, this comes with the added responsibility of royalty payments.

business plan for online publication

How to start a publishing company

Before you can fire up the presses and take the publishing world by storm, there are a few T’s to cross and I’s to dot to give your business the best chance for success. Here is a simple process for starting a publishing company in seven steps:

1. Set goals for your publishing company

Starting a publishing company requires authors to fully become an entrepreneur in their own right and is not an endeavor to be taken lightly. If you’re toying with the idea, here are a few questions to ask yourself:

  • Why do you want to start a publishing company?
  • What kind of books do you want to publish?
  • Will you publish your books only, or titles from other authors, too?
  • What income range are you expecting this business to yield?
  • How do you see your business growing in the next year? Five years? Ten years?

These are questions you should readily and passionately be able to answer before you get started, as they will affect your business decisions.

2. Choose a business structure

We know, we know, can’t we just skip ahead to the fun part, like choosing a company name? Not just yet, there’s some important groundwork to be laid first, like deciding exactly what type of company you are looking to start.

Businesses come in many shapes and forms. When it comes to publishing in most territories, the main choices are:

  • Sole proprietorship: a business operated and owned by one person. The simplest business form, but not the most risk-free (keep reading).
  • Corporation: a group of people or an organization authorized to manage the company as a single entity. A more complex business form.
  • Partnership: two or more parties contractually agree to manage and operate a business
  • LLC: provides the protection of assets that a corporation receives with versatility and pass-through tax benefits of a partnership or sole proprietorship (meaning a business taxes can be paid through someone’s personal tax return).

Most authors will decide to start their own publishing companies as an LLC or sole proprietorship, as these are the most flexible and simple business forms of the bunch. However, our personal suggestion is that you set up as an LLC . As mentioned before, LLCs offer the most liability protection , meaning your personal assets are protected from any debts incurred by the business.

For more information on what structure best suits your goals , check out the Small Business Administration .

3. Pick a business name

After all that business talk it’s time to have some fun: it’s time to christen your publishing company! Here’s a couple of things to keep in mind when deciding on a name :

  • Branding. What market or niche are you targeting? In which genre does your company publish? These questions will help you refine your company’s brand — and its name should be a reflection of that. If you’re planning to publish middle-grade fiction primarily, choose a name that reflects that. Take a look at other publishing companies to get a sense of how their name reflects their brand.
  • Relatability. We live in a fast-paced world and your allotted time frame to capture someone’s attention is slim to none. So it pays to be strategic when coming up with a name, and to use words that readers will already be familiar with. If there’s a made-up word you really want to use, ask yourself what it will communicate — if anything — to people at first glance.
  • Keep it short and to the point. Superkalifragilistikexpialigetisch Press isn’t a smart move.
  • Don’t use the word “Inc.” unless you are actually planning to incorporate your business

Finally, make sure whatever name you choose hasn’t already been taken! Check if the name is already trademarked and then search for the availability of the URL-version on a domain registrar site like GoDaddy.

Obtain your Employer Identification Number (EIN)

Once you have a business name, you have to register it with the government. This is a nine-digit number provided by the IRS that includes information about the state the business is registered in. Think of it a bit like your company’s social insurance number. Learn more here .

4. Open a business bank account

After you’ve received an EIN, you can register for a business bank account which will allow you to keep your business and personal finances separate. This will ensure your personal assets are protected should a lawsuit ever arise (knock on wood, this is just a precaution!) and it will make it easier for you come tax season.

Also, consider setting up a PayPal account for online transactions.

5. Set up an accounting process

Stifle that yawn, because this is an important, can’t-be-overlooked step! Whether you’re using a free resource like Google Sheets, a paid tool like Quickbooks, or outsourcing accounting work to a professional, nailing your bookkeeping practices down from the start is essential. It will help you track which of your efforts are paying off and ensure you have a record of all expenses which will be handy for tax write-offs.

Here are a few pieces of accounting software that might come in handy:

  • Quickbooks. With over 4.8 million users worldwide, it’s one of the most popular accounting applications. While it has a vast number of tools for all kinds of business (brick and mortar, e-commerce , home-based, etc.), it caters especially to small businesses.
  • Freshbooks. A great option for invoicing needs , it allows users to easily add billable time and expenses, customize the look of the invoice, and set up recurring invoices, automatic payment reminders, and late fees.
  • Zoho Books. This is a good option for very small businesses looking for a simple solution. It offers basic accounting features, with the option to integrate and access advanced tools as your business grows.
  • Wave Financial. If you’re looking for a free option , this might be your best bet. It doesn’t have any bells and whistles, but it does offer no-charge, cloud-based accounting functions designed specifically for small businesses.

6. Create a company website

When people want to know more about your company, it’s likely their natural response will be to Google it. A website is the best way to capture those interested leads and to tell people more about your business. 

You may be tempted to add a page to your author website, but that would be a mistake. Ideally, your publishing company should have its own public identity and branding, even if it starts out only publishing your work. If you want to gain an air of professionalism, this is the way to go. 

Again, we recommend GoDaddy for registering your domain name. A free domain like yourcompany.wordpress.com just won’t do. 

7. Grow your team of publishing professionals

Trust us, your publishing company will only get by with a little help from some friends. Professional ones, hopefully, with lots of experience in publishing. Growing your team is especially necessary if you want to become one of the big players in publishing .

Launching successful titles comes with a lot of specialized work, such as editing, cover design, interior formatting, web design, marketing, etc. Luckily you can turn to online marketplaces (such as Reedsy !) to hire those services — and you don’t need to break the bank at the same time. One of the benefits of starting a publishing company these days is that you can keep things pretty lean by building a network of freelancers you trust, without getting tied down to a head-count.

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And you won’t be alone: more and more traditional publishers are looking to freelancers to help develop books .

We hope this information helps you decide whether starting a company is the right path for you, and, if so, how to start a publishing company that hits the ground running.

Continue reading

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Magazine Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

How to Start a Magazine Business

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 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

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.

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

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?

Don’t you wish there was a faster, easier way to finish your Magazine business plan?

OR, Let Us Develop Your Plan For You

Since 1999, Growthink has developed business plans for thousands of companies who have gone on to achieve tremendous success.   Click here to see how Growthink’s professional business plan consulting services can create your business plan for you.

Other Helpful Business Plan Articles & Templates

Business Plan Template & Guide For Small Businesses

How to Start Your Own Online Magazine in 2024

Everything you need to know to create your own online magazine from scratch.

Online-magazine-115

  • 1. Digital magazines versus online magazines

2. Types of digital magazines

3. choosing what type of magazine is right for you, 4. what’s the goal of your digital magazine, 5. how to structure your online magazine, 6. online magazine revenue models, 7. choosing the right online magazine template, 8. conclusion, introduction.

So you're thinking of creating a digital magazine . You probably have lots of questions about digital publishing, where to start with your digital magazine, what design software to use, how to distribute it , and more.

Maybe you have a print magazine, and you want to increase your reach, save on production costs and introduce interactive features by creating a digital magazine. Whatever your situation, this guide will touch on digital publishing and highlight other factors you may not have thought of.

After reading this, you'll be prepared to take the next step in content marketing toward becoming a digital publisher and creating digital magazines online

1. Digital magazines vs. online magazines

First of all, in content marketing, plenty of terms fly around (digital magazine, online magazine, ezine, webzine, digital edition, digital publication, magazine apps, etc.). It can be tricky at first to get past all the lingo, so let’s start by clearing it up.

1.1 What is a digital magazine?

Simply put, a digital magazine has many of the same characteristics as a print magazine but uses digital publishing technology so it can be consumed on an electronic device like a computer, tablet, or mobile phone.

There are plenty of advantages to using a digital magazine . Massive savings on printing costs and eco-friendliness are the most obvious and not to mention the extended reach of online communities. Depending on the technology used, digital magazines can also have aesthetic and functional benefits. For example, they may contain animations , hyperlinks, videos, and other dynamic content.

You might be surprised to learn that the first digital magazines were produced in the 1980s! Diskzines (or diskmags) were magazines distributed on floppy disks via post and read on a computer. PCLife was one of the first to create digital magazines in this format. The digital magazine was an executable program that included music, animation , and various forms of multimedia.

PC Life Diskzine

By the mid-1990s, floppy discs were mostly replaced by CD-ROMs that could hold far more data. And by the 2000s, most print magazines moved online.

1.2 What is an online magazine?

Online magazines (or ezines, e-zines, eMagazines, webzines) are digital magazines that are hosted, distributed, and read online. While they share some characteristics with online newspapers and blogs, the editorial approach for digital magazines remains more like traditional print magazines.

HTML5 Magazine Example

Online magazine example from Wageningen University

Due to their low cost compared to print, online magazines can be seen as a disruptive technology . Many digital publishers have created online editions of their magazines (referred to as digital editions), or switched exclusively to digital magazine formats.

The relative ease of producing digital online magazines has also opened up the digital publishing platform space, allowing virtually anyone to create, publish, and distribute their online magazines and achieve a wide readership.

  • Digital magazines: Any magazine that can be read on an electronic device.
  • Online magazines: Digital magazines that are hosted, distributed, and read online.
  • Digital edition: An online version of an existing print magazine.

For the remainder of this article, we'll be using the terms "online magazine" and "digital magazine" interchangeably, as virtually all digital magazines are now online.

Today, online magazines can be found in many different formats. They can be standalone publications on the web like this one from Nestle , they can be native apps for iOS or Android like this one from the Economist , or they can be part of a magazine subscription service like Zinio or Kindle Newsstand.

Below, we’ll talk about different types of digital magazines and rate them based on the effort each takes to create and the impact they’re likely to make.

2.1 Flash magazines

Flash was a technology initially created by Macromedia and later bought by Adobe. It was a popular format for many online magazines in the early 2000s as it could facilitate rich multimedia and simulate the turning of pages, just like in a printed magazine.

Adobe Flash Player is Out of Date

However, Flash as a technology has declined significantly , and many major devices (like the iPad) no longer support it. If you plan to create an online magazine, you’ll probably want to avoid Flash due to the minimal support.

Effort: High

Impact: Low

2.2 PDF magazines

Other online magazines use PDFs . This is an easy and cheap solution, especially if you already have a printed magazine. With PDF, you can create an exact replica of your printed edition, and virtually all design software can easily export to PDF .

However, there are some big drawbacks to using PDF for digital magazines .

Notably, PDFs are fixed-layout documents intended for printing, meaning that magazines which may look okay on a desktop, will be:

  • Difficult to read on a mobile device
  • Usually require zooming in and panning around

In the mobile-first age, most people don’t want the hassle of looking at something that doesn’t fit their screens.

Reading a PDF magazine on a mobile phone

Furthermore, digital magazines in a PDF format require readers to download them before viewing them. This is already a barrier for desktop users, but for mobile users, downloading files — and then finding them in your phone’s local storage — remains an almost alien task.

Check out these 9 reasons why you should avoid using PDFs. Check it out

Finally, generating revenue, leads , or subscribers with PDF-based digital magazines is difficult because you cannot control their distribution or measure their impact. Once downloaded, readers can freely distribute them to their friends, and you can’t collect data on how readers interact with them, making measuring the ROI of your content marketing near impossible. 

Related: How to track your white papers properly.

Effort: Low

2.3 Flipbook magazines

As online magazines evolved, a new take on PDFs emerged called flippable (or browsable). These PDF-based digital magazines are typically embedded on websites and can simulate the flipping of pages, just like a printed edition. Essentially, they act as a digital replica .

Flipbook example

Here is an example of a flipbook magazine .

The same advantages apply to flipbooks as to simple PDF magazines — it’s extremely easy to take an existing printed magazine and digitize it. And as an additional benefit, the online magazine doesn’t need to be downloaded before being read.

However, the same disadvantages apply as well. Try opening the above example on a mobile phone. Because of the fixed layout, flipbooks are extremely difficult to read on mobile without zooming in and out.

Effort: Medium

Find out more about the alternatives to PDF flipbooks. Learn more

2.4 Native app magazines

Some publishers decide to create their own native app for their magazines. A native app simply refers to an app you can buy in the Apple or Google Play store for your iOS or Android device. These cannot be used on a traditional desktop or laptop computer.

Some native app magazines

Some native app magazines

Native app-based digital magazines probably offer the best reading experience on mobile devices, as developers have almost complete control over the look and feel of the online magazine. They can take advantage of digital text reflow — meaning that the text size and layout respond to the size of the screen, offering an optimal reading experience on any device.

In addition, native apps can contain all kinds of extra functionality. They can pull in dynamic, personalized ads. They can download editions for offline reading. They can include rich multimedia. They can track and measure reader behavior so that the publisher knows what types of content are popular among various segments. And the list goes on.

However, native apps have their downside as well. Most obviously, they are very time-consuming and usually very expensive to develop. In addition, you are dependent on Apple or Google to approve your app (which can take time), and they will take a cut of any revenue you earn . Also, apps need to be downloaded, which is an extra step for your readers — especially in an age where people are becoming more discerning with what they install on their phones.

If you can’t afford to hire your developers, numerous services offer to create simple digital magazine apps for you. However, most of these simply convert PDF files, and you end up with many of the same display issues as with flipbooks.

Impact: High

2.5 Magazine subscription apps

Google Play Newsstand and Apple Newsstand have been discontinued and replaced with Google News and Apple News, respectively — simple news aggregators like Flipboard that pull in blog posts and articles from various sources.

However, some major players in the magazine subscription service space still exist, including Amazon’s Kindle Newsstand, Zinio, Texture, Magzter, Readly, and more.

Some popular magazine subscription apps

Some popular magazine subscription apps

Each of these is a native app that requires users to create an account, add payment details, and then allow them to subscribe to thousands of magazines published specifically for the platform with in-app purchases.

Many publishers decide to produce online digital magazines for one or more of these platforms rather than developing their apps from scratch because these services already have a large user base.

Creating online magazines for these platforms is more restrictive than developing your app because you must adhere to the platform’s (often confusing) guidelines. And while the process is somewhat simpler than developing an app from scratch, you will still need developers and designers to help you.

If you opt for this route, keep in mind that you'll be competing with thousands of other publishers featured on these platforms to get your magazine found. Also, most of these platforms charge a significant membership fee to become a publisher, and a percentage of your sales.

Impact: Medium

2.6 HTML5 magazines

Last but not least are HTML5-based magazines . These are digital magazines that use the same technology websites depend on — HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. They’re designed to work in any modern web browser and are thus appropriate for desktops and mobile devices.

Unlike fixed-layout PDFs or flipbooks, HTML5 magazines use responsive design principles to adapt layout and typography according to the reader's screen size. When read on a computer, they feel much like using a modern website — except with a linear flow. When used on a mobile device, they feel like interacting with a native app.

HTML5 magazines work great on any device

The big advantage over native apps is that — because they use simple web technology — they require only a fraction of the resources to develop, and you don’t need to create more than one version for Android and iOS. Additionally, HTML5 digital magazines can be hosted anywhere you choose, so you’re not dependent on Google, Apple, or other services for distribution.

Other benefits include the ability to track and measure reader behavior, update digital magazines even after they’ve been distributed, and control what gets indexed by search engines so that the content of your magazine shows up the way you want in search results.

There are quite a few platforms for developing HTML5 digital magazines, and they all vary in price and options. Foleon offers a powerful drag and drop editor for creating and publishing your own multimedia-rich, interactive , HTML5-based digital magazines and comes with a free trial.

Now that you're familiar with different types of digital magazines, you must decide which one is right for you. This largely depends on your goal, your budget, the available time, and whether you already have a printed edition.

Types of digital magazines compared

3.1 Low cost options

If budget is your biggest concern, creating a PDF is the cheapest solution. All you need is good content and a proficient graphic designer in InDesign.

If you already have a printed edition and want to go for something slightly fancier without spending much, a flipbook (or digital replica) might be best for you. There are even free tools that will do much of the work for you.

Just keep in mind the drawbacks we discussed in the previous chapter: PDFs and flipbooks don’t do well on mobile devices , so you risk alienating a large segment of your potential audience. Also, controlling distribution is difficult as your audience can freely share your magazine.

Discover : PDF Flipbooks - Should you create them?

3.2 High impact options

3.2.1 when to choose a magazine subscription app.

If you already have a printed edition and want to replicate its style and format as much as possible — and if you want to earn money through subscriptions — you might consider a magazine subscription app like Kindle Newsstand or Zinio.

If you choose this route, you will need to go through a vetting process before your magazine gets listed, pay a membership fee, and likely hire a developer to create XML exports of your magazine. Even then, there is no guarantee that you’ll build an audience because you’ll be competing with the thousands of other magazines featured on their platforms. You can also expect to pay a percentage of the subscriptions you sell.

Example of XML markup

Example XML code for a digital subscription app magazine

You can find out more about getting a magazine listed on Zinio here .

3.2.2 When to develop a native app

If budget is not a concern, and you’re willing to invest in serious development, you might consider creating a native app. This gives you lots of flexibility over the user experience and provides more than one way to generate revenue — through app sales, in-app purchases, or through advertising. Just keep in mind, you will only reach mobile readers, not desktop users.

You’ll need to create a separate version for each mobile platform you want to be on (iOS apps and Android apps are written in different programming languages). You’ll also be subject to Google and/or Apple quality control, terms and conditions, and you’ll have to share a cut of your profits. And again, the app store is crowded, so unless you already have a strong brand, there is no guarantee readers will ever find you.

You can learn more about submitting a magazine app to the Apple app store here .

3.2.3 When to choose an HTML5 magazine

If maximum impact is your goal and you can’t afford a team of developers, an HTML5 magazine is probably the way to go. They allow you to reach computer and mobile users with an equally immersive reading experience, and you won’t be subject to anyone else’s terms and conditions.

An HTML5 magazine lives on its own domain (e.g., yourmagazine.com), and users can read it with any modern browser, so you don’t have to worry about compatibility issues. And just like with native apps, you have tremendous design freedom. You can embed rich media like background videos and create fluid animations as users turn pages.

Trilux

An HTML5 Architecture Magazine from Trilux

Because they use the same technology as websites, you can put anything in an HTML5 magazine that you could on a regular website, including forms, overlays, frames and embeds — even 3rd party tracking scripts and remarketing pixels.

Watch out, though; many platforms that claim to produce HTML5 magazines just create flippable PDFs that suffer from the same poor mobile experiences we discussed earlier. These can be spotted quite easily as they typically offer to "convert" your PDFs.

For a high quality HTML5 magazine platform, check out Foleon’s no-code, drag & drop, true HTML5 magazine builder .

high-quality

At the outset of any big project, it's important to start with the goal in mind. Creating an online magazine is no different. Online magazines can have many different objectives, from monetization via user subscription or selling ad space to supporting your content marketing strategy. Identifying your target audience and the goal of your online magazine will affect the platform you choose, the layout and design options you decide upon, your editorial formula, and more.

4.1 Selling subscriptions and ads

When most people think of a magazine, they think of good old-fashioned subscription-based magazines. The goal is simply to generate revenue through subscriptions and/or advertising. Of course, for this to be a feasible goal, you need high-quality content that people are willing to pay for and a good digital marketing strategy .

More and more publishers offer " freemium " models — that is, they offer some of their content for free but then require a subscription for full access. National Geographic, for example, offers plenty of free articles on their website and in their native app, but if you want the full experience or access to past editions, you must subscribe.

Many online magazines, such as The Economist and FastCo, offer their digital edition for free if you are also subscribed to their print edition. Others, like Extra Crunch from TechCrunch offer only an online edition.

Economist subscription

If you have an existing printed magazine with a big subscriber base, you'll need to decide if your upcoming digital edition will be a standalone product that you sell separately, an online replica that print subscribers get for free, or even a supplement that offers exclusive content not included in the print edition.

If you're just starting, on the other hand, you may want to consider a free or freemium model, at least until your magazine gains enough traction to begin charging a fee. Most new magazines choose this route, relying on advertising revenue to turn a profit.

4.2 Engaging readers

Not all magazine producers are publishers per se. Companies in any number of industries may create magazines to keep their customers up-to-date , inspire them with interesting new content, and keep them engaged with the brand. In this sense, digital magazines can be a powerful tool in your digital marketing strategy by increasing brand awareness and entertaining your readers with content that appeals to your target audience.  

Some great examples are Red Bulletin by RedBull and Airbnb magazine . Neither of these companies are primarily publishers, but both produce great magazines to keep their target audience engaged and enthusiastic about their brands and the lifestyles associated with their products and services.

While the above-mentioned examples charge subscription fees, other companies simply produce digital magazines for free.

In this case, the goal is not to sell subscriptions or earn revenue directly — the benefits in reader engagement offset the production costs. Organizations that have other primary revenue-generating activities create magazines to use as valuable communication assets.

Whole Foods Magazine , for example, is a completely free nutritional magazine produced by the supermarket chain, Whole Foods, in both print and online versions. It contains news and editorial content, original research, and more.

Whole foods magazine cover

It is not a place where Whole Foods advertises its products. Rather, it contains all kinds of content to inspire people interested in nutrition and healthy eating. By engaging and inspiring their audience in this way, Whole Foods indirectly encourages more shopping.

It's worth noting that, even though Whole Foods Magazine is free for readers, they also include advertisements to help finance it.

Another example where engagement is the main goal are staff magazines . Many large companies produce magazines for internal distribution among their employees. Again, the objective here is reader engagement — to keep their workforce informed, happy, and more productive .

4.3 Selling products or services

A third goal you might have in mind is not to sell the magazine itself , but to use it to sell your products and services. In this case, your magazine would resemble something of a product catalog or brochure .

The most obvious example of this type of magazine would be the duty-free shopping magazines you find on airplanes. These are magazines full of nothing but ads, and while they may be in a magazine format, their main purpose is to get readers to buy something.

Duty free magazine

But some brands also make digital magazines to sell their own products and services — not only those of their advertisers. This rather stunning HTML5 magazine from Forbo Flooring is a good example.

The 2017/2018 edition of My Volvo Magazine is another exceptional example of an online magazine that is designed to move product. Rather than creating simple ads, Volvo devoted an entire magazine, full of long-form content and stunning imagery to market a selection of their products to their target audience.

When we talk about structuring a magazine, we're speaking primarily of the sections you should include and the order you put them in — your editorial formula . Of course, the decision you make here depends largely on what type of online magazine you intend to create, the goal of your magazine, and your target audience. The good news is that with a digital magazine, you have even more freedom and flexibility than with a printed edition.

Let's first cover the most common sections that almost always appear in traditional magazines.

5.1 Cover pages

Traditional print magazines have four "cover" pages: the front and back covers and the insides of the covers, usually reserved for the most expensive ads.

However, because we're dealing with digital formats, the "inside" covers are not distinct from any other page. The same goes for the back cover — you can't exactly hold a digital magazine and turn it over, so the back cover isn't necessarily relevant.

So that leaves the front cover. This is the part everyone will see and it plays a big part in whether potential readers choose to open your magazine. You should give a lot of thought as to how you design it and what it should feature.

What should go on your front cover?

Taylor Swift magazine cover

A good rule of thumb is that, if you want to stand out among your competition, your cover needs to be striking . Your choice of colors, visuals, and typography should be well chosen and compelling. Besides this, there are a few pretty standard things to include on a magazine cover:

  • Your brand logo or title of your magazine
  • A featured image or illustration
  • The publication date (optional)
  • The issue or edition number (optional)
  • A subtitle or name of the edition (optional)
  • Some highlights about what's inside (Not everyone will visit all your pages, so showing your most important articles on the cover may increase the likelihood they’ll read them)

One of the advantages of a digital magazine (depending on the technology you're using) is that you can use a fullscreen background video for the cover instead of a static image. This is a great way to stand out and attract attention. It's even possible to include a button to encourage people to "keep reading" or "open the magazine."

Online magazine with a background video for a cover

5.2 Front of the book

"Front of the book" is magazine terminology for several pages usually in the beginning of the magazine, including the table of contents, impressum, the editor's letter, and comments or letters from readers.

Of course, depending on your goal and target audience, you can choose which of these are relevant for your magazine. Let's quickly go through each of these with a short explanation.

5.2.1 Table of contents

This is almost always the first page of a magazine, although, in digital publishing, some magazines combine this with their cover page. At the very least, it should list all of the featured articles in the magazine, if not everything.

Table of contents example

A big advantage of digital magazines is that you can turn the items in your table of contents into hyperlinks so that readers can easily jump to the section that interests them.

5.2.2 The impressum or masthead

Usually in the beginning of the magazine, but sometimes placed at the back, the masthead is a page or section that lists all of the people involved in the production of the magazine, including the editorial staff, the marketers and content producers, designers, and other key people.

Depending on the type of magazine you're creating, this section may or may not be necessary. If you're creating a magazine that will serve as a product catalog , for example, you might leave it out entirely.

Remember that today's readers have short attention spans, and you want to get them to the important stuff right away. With this in mind, you might consider putting it at the back.

5.2.3 Letter from the editor

Again, this will vary depending on the style of your magazine. Usually, the letter from the editor is a welcoming message that briefly covers the contents of the magazine, gives some important information, or touches on recent news.

Letter from the editor

A staff magazine often replaces this with a letter from the CEO or head of human resources. In either case, it serves to give your magazine more of a human touch and make it feel less like comes from a faceless brand.

5.2.4 Letters from readers

This section is optional and obviously depends on whether you receive such letters. Magazines with a large reader base may have the luxury of hundreds of letters from which to choose the most interesting. Smaller publications probably don't receive enough reader feedback to create a dedication section, but this also depends on the frequency of your magazine.

If you have the material, however, including letters from readers is a great way to show other readers that they're not the only ones reading. It helps to create a community feeling around your magazine, which can be valuable.

5.3 The feature well

This is the main part of your magazine where your featured articles go. Size-wise, this should be the most substantial section.

It's always good to add variety here. Use a combination of longer and shorter articles. Mix that up with interviews, reviews, opinion pieces — or whatever is relevant to your subject matter. Staff magazines , for example, might feature an interview with an employee of the month and then a short piece about next month's targets.

Types of magazine articles from Foleon

Add variety in the types of featured articles you include

It's important to keep your features visually distinct so that readers know when they've moved from one article to the next. Your layout and color choices should make this distinction clear while also serving to make for a pleasant reading experience.

In a digital magazine you can include more than just text and images. Videos are a great way to add more engaging content. Interactive, animated charts and graphs are popular. Overlays and popups that readers can open to see more content are also fun to play with. HTML5 magazines even allow you to add forms and collect feedback from your readers right on the page.

5.4 Back of the book

The back of the book is where everything else goes. But that isn't to say it shouldn't be interesting. In many magazines , you'll find classified ads, horoscopes, and smaller columns. But this greatly depends on the type of magazine.

Generally speaking, advertising in this part of the magazine is cheaper than in the front of the book or in the feature, as it tends to get less attention.

Some magazines put the impresario in the back of the book rather than the front. There's even more reason to do this for a digital magazine: you want new readers to get to your best content as quickly as possible.

The last pages can be a great place to add contact forms or even calls-to-action (CTAs) if you're using your magazine for sales or marketing purposes . If you're running a traditional subscription-based magazine, don't forget to provide a way for potential advertisers to get in touch.

Contact form in your magazine

Most people intend to earn a reasonable ROI with their magazines, whether directly through selling subscriptions or indirectly, for example by providing customers with relevant, inspiring material that encourages them to stay engaged with their brand.

Before we go further, it's important to mention that much of the publishing industry , in general, has endured difficult times recently as social media and free content has grown in popularity and people spend less time reading traditional magazines.

The good news, however, is that you have a huge advantage with a digital publishing platform for magazines . 

This section will discuss various revenue models you can implement for your digital magazine. The model(s) you choose will largely depend on your goal, the style of your magazine, and the technology you choose.

6.1 Subscriptions and single copy sales

The most obvious way that magazines earn money is through sales, either via an intermediary or as a subscription service. Let's look at how traditional print magazines do it and compare that with online magazines.

6.1.2 Single copy sales

If you go to the local newspaper store and purchase a magazine, only a portion of what you pay ends up as profit for the magazine's publisher.

Single-copy sales are usually the least profitable ways for magazines to earn revenue. When you consider the printing and distribution costs, the margin is not very large. On top of that, the magazine typically pays for space on the newsstand's shelves.

Profit = revenue - production costs - printing costs - distribution costs - shelf costs

6.1.3 Subscription sales

Subscriptions are far more profitable because publishers can eliminate one of the middlemen. The publisher ships magazines directly to readers and doesn't have to pay for shelf space. Also, income tends to be more predictable because subscribers typically pay in advance.

Profit = revenue - production costs - printing costs - distribution costs

Still, for a printed magazine that sells subscriptions, the revenue will always be offset by how much it costs to print and ship. Printing and distribution costs are typically the largest expense for any magazine.

The huge advantage of online magazines is that they entirely eliminate printing and shipping costs.

6.1.3 Decreasing marginal costs

Another thing to consider is that, with physical magazines, a unit must be printed and shipped for every copy sold. Thus, your total costs increase as you sell more. You also run the risk of printing too many upfront.

Profit = (sale price x units sold) - (cost per unit x units printed)

On the other hand, a digital magazine only needs to be created once. Because it's virtual and not physical, it can be sold unlimited times without incurring additional costs.

Profit = (sale price x units sold) - 1-time production cost

With a digital magazine, your cost per unit is simply your 1-time cost divided by the number of sales (i.e., it shrinks as you sell more).

6.1.4 Selling digital magazine subscriptions

While eliminating printing and shipping costs makes creating and selling digital online magazines much cheaper and accessible for more people, there will be other costs involved.

For example, if you decide to sell subscriptions via Zinio or Kindle, you will pay a membership fee and most likely a percentage of all your sales. This is comparable to the shelf fee a print publication pays to newsstands. These magazine services provide various options for you to promote your magazine to existing users of the platform.

Similarly, if you create native apps for your magazines, both Apple and Google retain approximately 30% of the revenue you generate from selling your app or providing in-app purchases, in addition to the initial registration fee. Your ability to sell subscriptions will depend on your app's performance in the app store.

With an HTML5 magazine, you have more control over your digital marketing without having to rely on Apple's, Google's, or Zinio's existing audiences. You will pay for using most HTML5 magazine software platforms to create content, but they don't typically take a cut of your sales. Your magazines will exist on any URL you choose.

6.2 Selling ads

The other most common way for magazines to earn revenue is through advertising. It's extremely rare to find a magazine that doesn't contain ads. Most magazines use a combination of subscriptions and advertising to generate multiple streams of revenue.

6.2.1 Classified ads

Just like in a newspaper or printed magazine, digital magazines can contain classified ads where just about anyone can pay for space. Classified ads are typically small, include just a few lines of text, maybe an image, and some contact information. They usually appear in the back of the book.

What makes classified ads more interesting in digital format is that they can contain hyperlinks with UTMs that the advertiser can use to track the source of the traffic they generate. This gives advertisers a far better understanding of the performance of their ads than they would obtain from a printed version.

Your ability to generate revenue from classified ads depends on the circulation and popularity of your magazine. The more people read your magazine, the more advertisers will be willing to pay for space.

6.2.2 Display ads

Display ads are the most common and easily recognizable ads in a magazine. They are often distributed throughout an entire publication and clearly display some product or service. Display ads are far more expensive than classified ads (often costing thousands of dollars) because of their location in the magazine and the amount of space allowing for a great deal of exclusivity.

Full-page display ad

Again, a brand's willingness to pay for advertising space will depend on the reach of your magazine. If you're just starting out it will be difficult to attract advertisers. But as your readership grows, this can become a major income source.

A benefit of digital magazines is that you can include dynamic display ads — the most common being Google Adwords. With these kinds of ads, you provide the space for the ad, but Google determines what content will show up in that space based on the reader's previous browsing behavior. One advantage here is that you don't need to negotiate with individual advertisers; Google pays you for the number of times your ad is clicked.

6.2.3 Advertorials and sponsored content

Advertorials (sometimes referred to as native ads) are a form of advertisement that usually takes the form of a story. Reader's may often confuse them with editorial content. However, most publications include a note that the article is "sponsored content" paid for by an advertiser, or simply add a label that marks the article as an advertorial.

Native ads and advetorials

Native ads are less disruptive to the reading experience than display ads. They are not intended to fool readers into thinking they are editorial pieces — readers can readily tell when they're reading sponsored content — but they make ads more interesting and relevant as they fit the flow and design of the magazine.

Rather than focusing directly on selling a product or service, native ads tell an interesting story, or highlight some fun facts that are both relevant to the publication they're in and the company that sponsors the piece.

How much should you charge for native ads? That can be a tough question. HubSpot gives some ideas on pricing for sponsored content, but you should also consider factors like whether the pieces are beneficial for your readers and add to your overall magazines experience, and whether you may want to build a long-term partnership with the advertiser.

Oh, and if you intend to attract advertisers, don't forget to include contact information in your magazine for them to get in touch!

6.3 Content paywalls

Today's content consumers are used to getting things for free. Many magazines and newspapers now use "freemium" models where they offer a number of articles free of charge, but pay for access to additional content.

The New York Times, for example, allows you to read 3 articles per month before requiring you to subscribe. Other magazines don't limit the number of articles, but place their "high quality" pieces behind a payment wall.

New York  Times paywall

Still other magazines allow you to read the first several pages before you run into a screen which requires you to sign up.

Offering content for free is a great way to get more exposure and generate more brand awareness around your magazine, especially in the beginning. People like to "try before they buy," and offering a taste of what they'll get increases their confidence when deciding to purchase a subscription.

Your ability to generate revenue with this model depends on the quality of your magazine's content. Is it engaging and interesting enough for people to want to pay to get more?

HTML5 magazines like those created with Foleon, allow you to gate your magazine at any point throughout the publication, requiring readers to log in or sign up before continuing.

6.4 Generating leads

As we discussed in Chapter 4, magazines can have different goals. Not everyone who produces a magazine is a publisher. Many organizations create magazines for marketing purposes to engage their audience rather than to generate revenue directly.

Still, for these types of magazines to be worthwhile, some kind of return should be expected, whether it's increased engagement with your brand (as Airbnb magazine does) or more ideas for shopping (as Wholefoods magazine does), or something else.

One of the most popular ways to use digital magazine as a marketing asset is to collect reader information and generate leads . Online marketers often create "content offers" such as eBooks , white papers , and guides that site visitors can download after filling in their personal information.

In most cases, the sales or marketing department will use the gathered information to follow up with visitors, offering them some kind of promotion and nudging them towards becoming a customer.

Online HTML5 magazines are a great format for lead-generating content offers that help to fill your sales funnel. In a world where most marketers still put their eBooks and whitepapers in PDF format, responsive, interactive digital magazines can be a big differentiator.

In a market where the volume of digital marketing published content increases rapidly every day, visual presentation has never been more important to maintain your audience's attention.  For online magazines, the template you choose to showcase your content can make or break the success of your publication. The template you choose is more than just an aesthetic choice. It's a strategic decision that impacts user experience, engagement, and even the perception of your brand. 

Here are some considerations you should take into account when selecting your online magazine template.

7.1 Target audience and content

The two biggest influences that will determine the selection of your online magazine template are your target audience and the types of content you are publishing. 

For example, if you are creating a catalog that explores trends in interior design or popular travel hot spots you'll want to choose a template with visually appealing galleries perfect for high-resolution imagery or videos. Text-oriented templates are better suited for research-heavy interactive white papers or annual reports . Think about your target audience's preferences and how the template can improve the engagement of your content. 

7.2 Design flexibility with drag and drop interface

To get the most out of your online magazine make sure that the content creation platform you are using features professionally designed magazine templates that are easy to use and completely customizable. This will allow everyone in your team to create content quickly without requiring coding experience. 

Customizable templates give you a starting foundation to build your online magazine any way you like by easily changing colors, fonts and layouts with the ability to add or remove sections according to your brand guidelines. 

7.3 Mobile experience and device responsiveness

With over 55% of website traffic coming from people using mobile devices, it is essential that your online magazine is fully responsive. Most content creation platforms have built-in software that will automatically resize your content to various screens but it is always worth testing across several devices before publishing any new magazine content. 

Furthermore, website speed is one of the most important factors in user experience and can dramatically affect organic rankings. According to seciton.io 32.3% of visitors bounce when the page load exceeds 7 seconds. Taking website performance into account when building your online magazine is a critical factor in expanding your readership.   

No matter which route you take, creating an online magazine from scratch is a big job. From creating and curating content to working with advertisers and media partners, there is a lot to consider. Hopefully, this article provides you with enough information to start making important decisions like what platform you'll use and how you'll finance your magazine.

A final piece of advice we'll leave you with is that content is king . In the end, the success of your magazine will depend mostly on how good your content is. If you provide consistently superior content that engages and inspires, readers will keep coming back for more, and you'll achieve your goals, whether it's charming readers, educating your employees, selling your products, or turning a profit.

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MarketSplash

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 .

business plan for online publication

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? đŸ’đŸŒâ€â™€ïž

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 đŸ€“

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 đŸ—ș

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? đŸ€Ż 💚

5. Name It And Domain It Â đŸ‘©â€đŸ’»

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 đŸ’”

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.

business plan for online publication

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.

business plan for online publication

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 đŸ•ș

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.

business plan for online publication

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 đŸ‘©â€đŸ’» đŸ‘šđŸœâ€đŸ’»

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 start a magazine online in 15 steps

How to start a magazine online in 15 steps

In some ways, starting a magazine today is easier than ever. But in others, it can be more difficult. All of this is due to the internet. The web puts free information at everyone’s fingertips, instantly available through mobile devices, which has transformed the magazine industry. It also gives every person online the opportunity to create high quality content and express themselves to a wide audience.

Related: 5 ways to monetize your online magazine

In this beginner’s guide, we will discuss  how to start a magazine online.  The guide is broken into three stages, outlining the work that happens before, during and after production. The first stage is brainstorming, followed by creation and collaboration, and finally, distribution. There’s a lot to cover (no pun intended), so let’s dive in.

Ready to start producing your magazine? Dive in right here with Lucidpress’s  free online magazine maker .

Before production: Brainstorming

1. develop your business plan.

Before writing a single word for your magazine, sit down to develop a business plan. This includes your mission (the reason why your magazine should exist), your goals, and how to attain them.

Important questions to consider in your plan:

  • What is the  concept  or focus of your magazine? This should be brief and concise, like an elevator pitch. For example, take a look at this copy from  TIME  magazine’s “About” page: 

start a magazine

  • Which  topics  will you cover, and in what depth? Consider your  tone & voice —there is a big difference between  The New Yorker  and  OK! Magazine,  and you should be consistent.
  • Who is the primary  audience?  Remember, your magazine should speak to others, not just yourself. It’s also important that your audience has a “continuing need” for your content, so they’ll want to subscribe and read more. Think about your audience’s lifestyle, and cater to the issues and ideas they care about.
  • How will the first issue be  funded?  Many magazines earn profit by selling advertising, but it can be hard to attract advertisers at first. Some suggest using personal capital to fund the first issue—raised by saving money, seeking investments, or leveraging the power of crowdfunding.

2. Research the landscape

There are lots of magazines out there already, both digital and in print. Now is the time for you to spend some time at the newsstand (or in your reading app of choice) to evaluate the competition. This will give you a better idea of what’s already being covered and how you can differentiate your publication. It can also reveal gaps and opportunities that are currently not being met in the market, which you can use to your advantage as you develop your magazine concept.

3. Build your team

A magazine is a heady endeavor, one that you shouldn’t undertake alone. Build your team and divide your workload in order to prevent burnout and deliver faster, better results. Your magazine will be stronger for it. Here are a few staff roles you might want to consider.

  • Writers  â€” Magazines are driven by great content, so of course you’ll need great writers to make it work. Maybe you keep it in-house with a few trusted authors, or maybe you reach out to freelancers to submit pitches. Either way, be clear with writers about your editorial expectations and whether you’re offering any compensation for their work.
  • Editor  â€” At the end of the line, there should be one pair of eyes to give each piece of content the final yay or nay. The head editor ensures consistency and quality by reinforcing your editorial standards. This includes tone of voice, grammar, mechanics, and even the reach and scope of each article. When you have a strong editor at the helm, the finished magazine will be polished and cohesive.
  • Sales manager  â€” If your magazine will feature advertisements, a sales manager is indispensable. This person will serve as the point-of-contact for advertisers who will pay for space in your magazine. Having one person available to address their questions and concerns will help you build a better relationship with them, which in turn will lead to higher, more sustainable profits.
  • Marketing manager  â€” Your magazine needs advertising, too! A marketing manager will work to get attention for your magazine, making sure it’s present in all the right places. For example…If you’re launching a magazine in  print,  you’ll need distributors in bookstores, newsstands, and other public places. If you’re launching  online,  there are many channels for you to explore, from search engine ads to social media. Part of this person’s responsibilities will be deciding which distributors and channels are best for your magazine, and then creating materials (press kits, promotional content, etc.) to support them.
  • Publication manager  â€” Here is someone who gets down to the nitty-gritty of publication. This person will help you choose a printing partner who meets your needs, both in terms of quality and budget. What will the paper cost? How do the colors look? Are there any errors in the finished product? A publication manager will focus on these seemingly minor details that, in reality, make a huge difference.
  • Partnerships / groups  â€” These are helpful connections who aren’t necessarily part of your team, but can steer you in the right direction. Partnering with relevant brands can bring more exposure to your magazine, as they share their audience with you. Certain groups made up of local or indie magazines exist to share advice and opportunities with one another, harnessing power in numbers. Take a look around in your community and introduce yourself.

During production: Creation & collaboration

Now it’s time to start creating content and collaborating with your team. This can be a very hectic time, but it’s where the magic happens. If you’re inspired to publish your own magazine, you’re likely familiar with the following steps—but let’s review them anyway.

Finally, time to create articles for your magazine. Depending on its concept, this might mean a few different things: fiction or non-fiction, short stories, journalistic articles, how-to guides, reviews, or even a blend of all of the above. This step encompasses the writing process, from conception to pitch, and from researching to drafting.

It’s not uncommon for articles to undergo more than one round of revisions. Far more than just catching style and grammar mistakes, editing will help the writer focus and elevate their writing. Editors can help with fact-checking as well. Together, writers and editors cooperate to make an article the best it can be.

6. Proofreading

After an article has been written and edited, careful proofreading is required to ensure quality and accuracy. Any typos or errors that made their way through the writing process will be squashed here. Unlike editing, proofreading is not an evaluation of the article’s style, tone, organization or effectiveness. The focus is solely on finding and eliminating errors, so the finished product reads professionally. The person who proofreads might very well be the editor too, but these are still two separate stages of production.

7. Graphic design

The way we enjoy magazines is different from how we consume a book or a newspaper. Although each of these publications provides information, magazines in particular are known for being visual. From elegantly gorgeous to colorfully flashy, magazine design runs the gamut. Your graphic designer is just as responsible for your magazine’s tone and feel as your writers are—if not more so. It’s important for your graphics to match your words. Remember, magazines are less about the information and more about the lifestyle. Browse these  magazine design templates  for some inspiration.

8. Photography

Stock photos are okay here and there, but they’re no substitute for custom photography. Rather than searching for pictures to match your vision (and often, settling for less), a photographer can work with you to capture the pictures you really want. Color, lighting, subject, quality… All of these photo elements contribute to the reader’s perception of your brand. After all, that’s why they say a picture is worth a thousand words. (Or, at least, it’s why we say it.)

9. Make a prototype

Just like with any product, you can’t mass produce until you have a definitive, finalized version. All of the content, words and images are firmly locked into place with no errors or further changes. Holding your first finished prototype (whether in your hand or on a tablet) is a proud moment. Savor it! You’ve put in a lot of work to get here, and there’s still work to be done. You are now ready to start sharing your magazine with the world.

10. Digitize

You probably created your magazine using computer design software, but that doesn’t mean your file is ready to distribute. Different publishers and reading apps have their own standards in terms of file type, size, quality and so on. Make sure you’ve researched and complied with those standards in order to prevent delays.

After production: Distribution

11. find a printer.

Your printing partner is a critical ally on your way to distribution. If you’re only hosting your magazine online, well, you’re off the hook on this one. But if you intend to share hard copies of your magazine locally, regionally, or even nationally… you need a printer you can trust to deliver satisfactory results every time. Do your research, ask around, and interview printing partners until you feel confident that your pick is a good match.

12. Establish your online presence

Perhaps more than any other step, this is paramount to launching a successful online magazine. Your online presence can take many forms, from a website to a blog to social media channels, and maybe even all of the above. What’s important here is building a community of people hungry for your content. People who share the lifestyle and values of your magazine, so they’ll appreciate its message. Find out where those people are online, and make sure they can find you.

13. Decide whether to paywall

This is a tricky question in today’s publishing world. If you paywall all of your content, it might be hard to attract new readers. But, you can’t give it all away for free, either. Striking the right balance between paid and free content might look different for every publication, so experiment to see what works for you. A good place to start is sharing free content and article excerpts on your blog but charging a flat price or subscription for each magazine issue.

14. Build a community around content

Your readers can (and should be) be your best brand advocates. When you foster a strong community on your blog, forum, or social media pages, it gives readers a shared sense of belonging. Discussions are far more interesting when readers get involved, and they can provide you with inspiration and direction. Think about how you can use various types of content to delight your audience. Beyond the pages of your magazine, there are many opportunities. For example, you could start a branded YouTube channel to share vlogs and other video content.

15. Congratulations!

After months of work, you have started an online magazine, and you’re on the track to sustainable growth and success. Once you get to this point, there’s only one thing to do… Get started on the next issue.

Ready to begin?

Want to start your own magazine online?  Lucidpress  will streamline the design process for your whole team. With our intuitive drag-and-drop interface, you can select from gorgeous templates and customize with fonts, colors, shapes, images and more. Invite others to collaborate in real time, and when you’re done, export in a variety of print-ready formats.

Inspired to create your own digital magazine? These free magazine templates are a great starting point.

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Steps to Start an Online Publishing Business

Table of contents, choose your niche and business model, choose your technology, identify your audience, launch your site, grow your team, launching an online publishing business, develop a marketing strategy.

Online publishing is big business; it’s only natural that you’d want a piece of the pie. Creating content on the internet can generate income and give you a personal platform to showcase your writing work.

The digital publishing market is worth over $41 billion and is growing fast. Learning how to do it successfully in order to create a sustainable business is a challenge, and we’re here to help.

We’ve got the five steps you need to take to create your online publishing empire.

What are you going to publish content about? This is a big decision that needs to be made at the very beginning – it’ll dictate everything from your URL to your branding and everything that comes next.

It’s a good idea to stick to what you know. Look at what you can build expertise in and what you might already be known for. A baking influencer on Instagram is probably going to choose to publish content about baking, for example.

The way you will make money is also vital to pin down. You can monetize your online publishing with:

  • Affiliate links selling products linked to your niche;
  • Ads served on your content to your site visitors;
  • Your own products, merchandise, and online courses.

There are lots of different options when it comes to the technology your online publishing company will use. Get the foundations right, and your business will be scalable and sustainable.

You need to choose where to build your website, with some of the most popular options are:

  • Squarespace;

Having a site built from scratch is also an option, but this will come with high maintenance costs.

Other technology you need to consider include payment processing so you can collect and bill for payments, a VPN application to keep your online business secure, and a customer management tool.

You next need to create your website with all the tools you’ll need to start making money.

Each of these sites can be used by beginners – if you’re prepared to learn – or you can pay someone to create your online publishing site and even show you how to maintain it in the long run.

Your customers are the most important part of your business – this is how you make money, after all!

Create a customer avatar by asking yourself questions like:

  • Who will be interested in the content I publish?
  • What products and services are they interested in?
  • Where do I find my ideal customer? Instagram, LinkedIn, search engines?
  • What problems can I solve for my customers with my content?

The more you know about the people you will sell or advertise to, the easier it will be to find them and connect with them on a valuable level.

After you’ve got your bases covered, it’s time to get out there and tell the world about what you’re doing. It can be super scary to put yourself out there but it’ll be very rewarding, too.

You need to tell your audience what you’re doing and why your content is going to solve their problems. Reach out to your audience through the social media channels they use and offer valuable content.

You can also run paid adverts for your online publishing business to bring in a wider audience. This can include adverts on social media and through ad networks like Google. It can be tricky to get right but the returns you see should be clear.

By the time your site is launched, you’ll have recognized how big a job it is to run an online publishing company.

It’s ok to need help, especially in areas that you may not be an expert in. Consider hiring a virtual assistant, a social media manager, or a media buyer to free your time to do what you’re great at in your business.

As you grow your team, make sure you build out solid processes to keep on top of the way things work. Using a project management tool and setting up a strong communication tool from the beginning will mean your business can grow without too many pain points.

It takes courage and conviction to start an online publishing business. Give yourself a solid beginning by planning exactly what you want to do and, importantly, how it will generate your income.

Get the technology right from the beginning, connect with people who need what you’re selling, and you’ll be well on your way to growing a business with a team to support you.

Once your online publishing business is up and running, it’s important to have a solid marketing plan in place to help you reach your target audience. Some key elements of a successful marketing strategy for an online publishing business might include:

  • Creating a social media presence on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to engage with readers and promote your content. Utilize social media platforms, particularly Instagram marketing tools for promotion.
  • Running targeted advertising campaigns on social media or search engines to reach new audiences.
  • Building an email list to stay in touch with your subscribers and promote new releases or content.
  • Participating in virtual events like webinars, podcasts, or online book clubs to connect with potential readers and build your brand.
  • Collaborating with influencers or other publishers to expand your reach and network.

By developing a comprehensive marketing strategy, you can increase your visibility, build your brand, and grow your online publishing business over time.

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A Step-by-Step Guide to Starting Your Own Publishing Company

publishing company

Do you have a book or a magazine in mind that you’d like to publish? Are you ready to start your own independent publishing business ? If so, this guide is for you. Starting a publishing company is a big undertaking and requires specific steps.

But if done correctly, it can be a very rewarding endeavor. Here’s an overview of the steps you need to take, from researching the market and writing a business plan to set up your infrastructure and launching your product.

Do Your Research

Before you dive into starting your own publishing company, it’s essential to do some research first. How much competition is there in your field? What types of books or magazines are currently popular? Who is the target market for your publication?

This type of research will help inform every step of the process moving forward. It’s also essential to research any licensing fees or other regulations that could affect how much money you need to start up or how quickly you can launch.

In addition, you should also research any potential partners you may be working with. This could include writers, editors, printers, marketers, and distributors. Understanding the scope of services each partner offers will help you determine who best fits your needs.

Write Your Business Plan

Once you have all the relevant research data , it’s time to write a business plan for your publishing company. This plan should include startup costs, marketing strategies, and financial projections. It should also include an in-depth look at the competition and how you plan on differentiating yourself from them to attract customers. Writing a comprehensive business plan will help ensure that all aspects of your company are considered before getting started.

You can use an online template or hire a professional business plan writer to help you create the document. The plan should be tailored to fit the needs of your business and updated regularly as the company evolves.

Set Up Your Infrastructure

printing machine monitored by employees

After writing your business plan, it’s time to get down to brass tacks and begin building out the infrastructure of your publishing company. You’ll need office space with desks and computers, software licenses for design programs, printers or printing services, professional editors, etc., depending on the publications you intend to produce.

You’ll also need an accounting system and legal protection against copyright infringement or other issues that might arise later down the line. Consider investing in marketing materials such as flyers or press kits to help promote your product after its launch date.

It’s also vital to work with professional commercial electrical contractors to ensure that the wiring in your office space is up to code and safe. Businesses must strictly follow safety regulations to avoid potentially dangerous accidents or inefficiency.

Set Your Goals

The goals of your publishing company will depend on what kind of publications you intend to produce. If it’s a book, do you hope to eventually make enough money to become a best-seller? Do you want to make your magazine the go-to resource for a particular topic? Or are you just looking to break even and share your work with the world? Setting realistic goals can help you stay motivated and on track as you launch your product.

When setting business goals, create milestones that you can track over time. Using a spreadsheet to document your progress can help you stay focused on the task and ensure you’re meeting all your deadlines. This will help you measure your progress and adjust if necessary.

Launch Your Product

Once you have all the pieces in place, it’s time for launch day! This is when you’ll start marketing your publication and building an audience of readers. You should consider offering promotional discounts, giveaways, or other incentives to encourage people to try your product. Be sure to use social media, word-of-mouth marketing, and different strategies to spread the word about your product.

Each marketing strategy will take time to take effect, so be patient and don’t give up if it takes a while for your publication to gain traction. With persistence and the right strategies in place, you can eventually build a successful publishing business.

The bottom line

Starting a publishing company takes planning and foresight, but if done correctly can be extremely rewarding both financially and creatively. Before getting started, make sure that you do the necessary research about competitive markets as well as any associated licensing fees or regulations that could affect how quickly you can launch your product successfully; then write out an extensive business plan detailing all aspects of your company; finally set up all necessary infrastructure including office space with computers, software licenses for design programs, printers/printing services, etc., accounting systems and legal protection against copyright infringement, etc.; then once everything is set up properly launch! Good luck!

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Small Business Trends

How to start a publishing company.

how to start a publishing company

Publishing and printing are related, but separate businesses.

A printing business completes the publishing business’s work. The publisher sends a product to the printer, as a job-ready to be printed in multiple copies.

Do you have a passion for reading and writing? Do you have any experience in editing documents? Those traits are important, but above all, you should have real skills in marketing.

Got it? Then you might be ready to run your own publishing company.

What is a Publishing Company?

A printer prints. A publisher does everything that leads up to printing.

You may think of books, fiction, and nonfiction, as projects for a publishing company. People who own publishing companies may also work on magazines, textbooks, manuals, and similar projects.

No matter what the project, the publishing company acquires the manuscript, edits it, and manages the process to get it ready to be printed. That includes layout and cover. The publishing company also oversees distribution and marketing for the project.

How to Start Your Own Publishing Company: 24 Crucial Steps

Many self-publishing authors stepped into the publishing industry to publish their own books. For self-published authors, creating their own publishing company gave the self-publish venture an added measure of credibility.

If you’re not a writer, when you start as a small publishing company you can seek those new writers and help them publish their own work.

Today’s publishing world is a mix of the self-published author who decided to start a publishing company and their own business, to a person skilled at acquiring, editing, and marketing who decided to start publishing books.

Publishing Company

1. Name Your Business and Register

Choosing a business name is a key part of the process. Although the process may vary from state to state, typically you begin with your Secretary of State. Make sure your business name is not already taken. You can use your own name.

2. Create a Publishing Imprint and Logo

The publishing imprint can be the same as your business name, as long as the business name lends itself to a unique logo. Your imprint and logo should reflect the types of projects you complete.

3. Choose a Publishing Niche and Market

Books or magazines, manuals or newspapers? Fiction or nonfiction book publishing company? Children’s books? Religious? Indie publishing? Self-help?

To keep the passion a publisher needs, choose a niche. Many small publishing companies start with a niche, then branch out. They may choose to “hybridize” by mixing POD (ordering copies as orders come, called Print on Demand) with digital publishing (allowing people to order copies to be read online).

4. Conduct In-Depth Market Research

Expanding your knowledge of the chosen niche is crucial. Dive deep into understanding the current trends, popular genres, and emerging authors within your niche. Also, research your audience’s reading habits, preferred platforms (eBooks, print, audiobooks), and spending patterns. This information will guide your acquisitions and marketing strategies.

5. Create a Business Plan

Generally speaking, all businesses new and established need a business plan, especially small businesses. And that small business plan should not be etched in stone; it should be a plan that can evolve.

As a new publishing company, you should develop a Mission Statement that reflects your reason for joining the publishing industry.

6. Set Up a Business Bank Account

You need a business account in your company name that’s separate from your personal account. You should also have a dedicated business credit card and business cards. Keep personal finances separate.

Publishing Company

7. Choose Your Location

In the digital age, this is less important than it was just 10-20 years ago. The hotbed of publishing was and is New York City.

But book publishers can locate anywhere in the US. If you hire editors and proofreaders, they can work from home.

Needed equipment includes high-capacity computers, publishing software, CD writer, a great backup system, and anti-virus programs.

8. Establish a Strong Online Presence

In addition to selecting a physical location, focus on building a strong online presence. This involves setting up social media profiles, engaging with readers and writers online, and perhaps starting a blog related to your niche.

An active online presence can significantly enhance your visibility and accessibility in the digital age.

9. Sort out Licenses, Permits, and Fees

After you register your business name, you’ll need an EIN (Employer Identification Number). Licenses and permits needed may vary from state to state, but to sell books you’ll need an EIN.

The EIN is used to get your sales tax license, which you’ll need to properly report your book sales. You’ll need that to pay state and federal taxes.

If you hire subcontractors, such as editors, you’ll need the EIN to file the 1099’s you send them.

10. Choose a Business Structure

Many publishers choose the simplest business form, the limited liability company or LLC. It’s a step up from the sole proprietorship (also a popular choice with publishers).

Forming an LLC involves some paperwork, filed with your state, but it’s worth the extra trouble. Here’s an example:

“Newbie Book Company” is publishing a series of short stories by an author. As part of the editing process, the publisher asks the writer if any of the stories have been previously published. The writer says that the stories have not been published.

But one of them has been published. Although the original publisher is a small magazine, that entity files a lawsuit. Turns out the magazine, according to the contract, purchased “all rights” when it bought the story. “All rights” means that the magazine owns exclusive rights to reuse or republish the story (as compared to “first rights”). The magazine sues to collect damages from the company’s assets.

If you’ve set up your publishing company as an LLC, your personal assets will be protected from lawsuits. The LLC offers more liability protection than other business structures do.

Forming a corporation may afford you with pass-through tax benefits. For more information on which legal entity to choose, you should consult an accountant.

11. Purchase Accounting Software

A number of companies, such as Zoho , offer accounting software. Another favorite accounting system is Quickbooks. That makes it easy to keep track of business expenses and income, separate from personal income for your publishing house.

Zoho adds a comprehensive platform of associated businesses services such as Zoho Expense, Invoice, One, Bookings, and more. These are integrated under the Zoho umbrella for a unified product.

12. Get Your Employer Identification Number and Employ Staff

As mentioned earlier, many new publishers employ subcontractors such as editors and proofreaders.

Publishing Company

13. Buy ISBN’S

That stands for International Standard Book Number. It’s a 13-digit number that’s the bar code for a book.

ISBNs are not just identifiers but are crucial for the distribution and sales tracking of your books. Understand how they function in different markets and platforms. Consider bulk purchasing ISBNs as it is more cost-effective and allows for future scaling of your publishing projects.

14. Get Your Business Taxes in Order

Consult an accountant to determine which business structure may afford you the best tax benefits, or tax breaks.

You’ll need to pay federal, state, and local taxes on employee wages.

You’ll need to pay sales taxes.

15. Create a Professional Website and Email ID

Once you’ve chosen a business name, develop your website and register your domain name. Create an email address that includes your domain name. This will help you establish an online presence.

16. Set Up a Publishing Account on Amazon

When you’ve published a project, load information about that, including sales numbers and feedback, to your Amazon publishing account. Include the credentials for your business.

If you’re very fortunate, Amazon may acquire the rights to the project and pay royalties. Amazon currently has 16 imprints. When it comes to digital content, Amazon is one of the best places to sell ebooks online .

To get selected by Amazon, you’ll need to first establish solid sales and reviews for your project.

17. Sign Up Authors

You’ll need to develop a contract for authors. Will you offer advances? How percentage of royalties will you pay?

You can add your listing to author publications – where authors go to get connected with publishers. For example, an annual publication called Writer’s Digest lists all book and magazine publishers, by category (such as outdoor, romance, etc.)

18. Develop an Author-Focused Approach

Develop a strategy that is focused on the authors you sign. This includes offering fair contracts, supporting their creative process, and providing marketing assistance. Building a reputation as an author-friendly publisher can attract more talented writers to your company.

19. Publish Books

The next step is the publish your books. Also consider publishing in various formats like print, eBooks, and audiobooks. This diversification can help you reach a wider audience and cater to different reader preferences. Collaborate with professionals for audiobook production and eBook formatting to ensure quality.

20. Market Your Business

You don’t need a formal education to be a great marketer. You need a genuine enthusiasm for your work.  Involve your authors with online events, such as Q and A sessions and more.

A successful marketing strategy should include online marketing, collaborations with book bloggers and influencers, and participation in book fairs and literary festivals. Also, consider using email marketing and creating promotional materials like book trailers.

Publishing Company

21. Launch Your New Business

Announce your new venture wherever you can – local and regional publications, trade publications, and more.

22. Grow Your Business

Support local writing programs and book clubs. Attend writers’ conferences as part of your book marketing.

23. Foster Relationships with Bookstores and Distributors

Establishing good relationships with bookstores, both independent and chains, as well as distributors, is crucial for the visibility of your books. Work on creating a distribution network that can effectively place your books in front of your target audience.

24. Be a Successful Owner of Your Own Company

Achieving success as a publishing company owner involves more than just launching the business; it requires ongoing dedication, adaptability, and strategic planning. Here are key aspects to focus on:

  • Continual Learning and Adaptation : The publishing industry is dynamic, with new trends and technologies emerging regularly. Stay informed about the latest industry developments, from digital publishing innovations to shifts in reader preferences. Attend workshops, webinars, and industry conferences to keep your knowledge up-to-date.
  • Build Strong Industry Networks : Networking is vital in the publishing world. Cultivate relationships with other publishers, authors, literary agents, book distributors, and marketing professionals. These connections can lead to partnerships, collaborative projects, and insights into successful publishing strategies.
  • Focus on Quality : Your reputation as a publishing company will largely depend on the quality of the books you publish. Ensure that every book you publish has been thoroughly edited, has a professional cover design, and meets industry standards. Quality should always be prioritized over quantity to build a strong brand reputation.
  • Effective Financial Management : Keep a close eye on your finances. Regularly review your budget, manage cash flow efficiently, and reinvest profits wisely to grow your business. Utilizing accounting software and possibly hiring a financial advisor can help keep your company’s finances in order.
  • Customer and Author Satisfaction : Prioritize the satisfaction of your authors and customers. Listen to their feedback and respond to their needs. Happy authors are more likely to stay with your publishing house and recommend it to others, and satisfied readers can turn into loyal customers.
  • Marketing and Visibility : Develop innovative marketing strategies to promote your books and brand. Utilize social media, email marketing, book tours, and author events to increase visibility. Building a strong online presence and engaging directly with your audience can significantly impact your success.
  • Diversification : Don’t hesitate to explore new genres, publishing formats, or business models. This could include branching into audiobooks, eBooks, or even starting a series of webinars or podcasts related to publishing or the genres you specialize in.
  • Responsiveness to Market Changes : Be agile and responsive to changes in the market. Whether it’s adapting to new consumer behaviors or exploring emerging markets, staying flexible can help you navigate challenges and seize opportunities as they arise.
  • Invest in Your Team : If you have employees, invest in their development and well-being. A motivated, skilled, and happy team can significantly contribute to the success of your business.
  • Balance Passion with Pragmatism : While passion for books and publishing is crucial, it’s equally important to be pragmatic in your business decisions. Balancing your love for publishing with practical business acumen is key to long-term success.

By focusing on these aspects, you can build a successful and sustainable publishing company that not only thrives in the competitive market but also contributes positively to the literary world.

Now You Know How to Start a Publishing Company: Start Setting Up Your New Business

How do you get from starting your own publishing business to owning an established publishing company?

Keep your eye on trends in the industry. Know what the competition is doing and what they are publishing, and above all avoid publishing mistakes .

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is a publishing company.

A publishing company is responsible for acquiring, editing, and managing content to be printed. It covers various projects such as books, magazines, textbooks, and manuals. The company oversees the distribution and marketing of the final product.

How can I start my own publishing company?

To start your own publishing company, follow these crucial steps:

1) Name and register your business.

2) Create a publishing imprint and logo.

3) Choose a niche and target market.

4) Develop a business plan.

5) Set up a business bank account.

6) Select a location.

7) Obtain licenses, permits, and fees.

8) Choose a business structure.

What are the benefits of forming an LLC?

Forming a Limited Liability Company (LLC) offers liability protection, separating personal and business assets. If you face legal issues, your personal assets will be protected from lawsuits. An LLC provides more liability protection compared to other business structures.

Should I purchase accounting software?

Yes, investing in accounting software like Zoho or Quickbooks will help you keep track of business expenses and income separately from personal income. These platforms offer a comprehensive suite of associated business services for better organization.

How do I get an ISBN for my books?

ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number. You can purchase ISBNs through official ISBN agencies. Each book requires a unique 13-digit ISBN that serves as the barcode. Register your books on Amazon using your publishing account to track sales and feedback.

How do I market my publishing business?

Successful marketing requires genuine enthusiasm for your work. Involve authors in online events, Q&A sessions, and support local writing programs and book clubs. Attend writers’ conferences for effective book marketing. Stay aware of industry trends and competitors’ actions to avoid common publishing mistakes.

How do I grow my publishing business?

To grow your publishing business, stay proactive in the industry, keep an eye on trends, and continue to publish diverse and appealing content. Support local writing programs, attend writers’ conferences, and continuously improve your marketing strategies. Keep learning from experiences and remain open to new opportunities.

What’s the key to becoming a successful owner?

Never stop striving for success. Stay agile and adaptable in a dynamic publishing landscape. Monitor competition, identify growth areas, and expand your presence in the market. Continuously evolve and innovate your publishing approach to cater to changing reader preferences and market demands.

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Running a magazine business enables you to share your thoughts with a larger audience that shares your interests in a particular topic. Also, it keeps you in the company of creative people.

Do you want everything perfect for your magazine business, then why not write a business plan first?

Need help writing a business plan for your magazine business? You’re at the right place. Our magazine business plan template will help you get started.

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How to Write A Magazine Business Plan?

Writing a magazine business plan is a crucial step toward the success of your business. Here are the key steps to consider when writing a business plan:

1. Executive Summary

An executive summary is the first section planned to offer an overview of the entire business plan. However, it is written after the entire business plan is ready and summarizes each section of your plan.

Here are a few key components to include in your executive summary:

Introduce your Business:

Start your executive summary by briefly introducing your business to your readers.

Market Opportunity:

Products and services:.

Highlight the magazine services you offer your clients. The USPs and differentiators you offer are always a plus.

Marketing & Sales Strategies:

Financial highlights:, call to action:.

Ensure your executive summary is clear, concise, easy to understand, and jargon-free.

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business plan for online publication

2. Business Overview

The business overview section of your business plan offers detailed information about your company. The details you add will depend on how important they are to your business. Yet, business name, location, business history, and future goals are some of the foundational elements you must consider adding to this section:

Business Description:

Describe your business in this section by providing all the basic information. Describe what kind of magazine business you run and the name of it. You may specialize in one of the following magazine businesses:

  • Online magazine business
  • Print magazine business
  • Lifestyle magazine business
  • Fashion magazine business
  • Business and Finance magazine
  • Travel magazine business
  • Sports magazine business
  • Health and wellness magazine business
  • Technology magazine business
  • Describe the legal structure of your magazine business, whether it is a sole proprietorship, LLC, partnership, or others.Explain where your business is located and why you selected the place.

Mission Statement:

Business history:.

If you’re an established magazine service provider, briefly describe your business history, like—when it was founded, how it evolved over time, etc.

Future Goals:

This section should provide a thorough understanding of your business, its history, and its future plans. Keep this section engaging, precise, and to the point.

3. Market Analysis

The market analysis section of your business plan should offer a thorough understanding of the industry with the target market, competitors, and growth opportunities. You should include the following components in this section.

Target market:

Start this section by describing your target market. Define your ideal customer and explain what types of services they prefer. Creating a buyer persona will help you easily define your target market to your readers.

For instance, individuals with hobbies or interests or professionals would be an ideal target audience for a magazine business.

Market size and growth potential

Competitive analysis:, market trends:.

Analyze emerging trends in the industry, such as changes in customer behavior or preferences, etc. Explain how your business will cope with all the trends.

Regulatory Environment:

Here are a few tips for writing the market analysis section of your magazine business plan:

  • Conduct market research, industry reports, and surveys to gather data.
  • Provide specific and detailed information whenever possible.
  • Illustrate your points with charts and graphs.
  • Write your business plan keeping your target audience in mind.

4. Products And Services

The product and services section should describe the specific services and products that will be offered to customers. To write this section should include the following:

Describe your content:

Mention the magazine content your business will offer. This list may include content like,

  • Opinion pieces
  • Other formats of content

Any interactive features:

Frequency & distribution:, additional services:.

In short, this section of your magazine plan must be informative, precise, and client-focused. By providing a clear and compelling description of your offerings, you can help potential investors and readers understand the value of your business.

5. Sales And Marketing Strategies

Writing the sales and marketing strategies section means a list of strategies you will use to attract and retain your clients. Here are some key elements to include in your sales & marketing plan:

Unique Selling Proposition (USP):

Define your business’s USPs depending on the market you serve, the equipment you use, and the unique services you provide. Identifying USPs will help you plan your marketing strategies.

For example, exclusive content, high-quality visuals, or customization could be some of the great USPs for a professional magazine business.

Pricing Strategy

Marketing strategies:, sales strategies:, customer retention:.

Overall, this section of your magazine publisher business plan should focus on customer acquisition and retention.

Have a specific, realistic, and data-driven approach while planning sales and marketing strategies for your magazine business, and be prepared to adapt or make strategic changes in your strategies based on feedback and results.

6. Operations Plan

The operations plan section of your business plan should outline the processes and procedures involved in your business operations, such as staffing requirements and operational processes. Here are a few components to add to your operations plan:

Staffing & Training:

Operational process:, equipment & software:.

Include the list of equipment and software required for the magazine business, such as computers, print production equipment, videography equipment & software, online publishing & digital equipment, etc.

Adding these components to your operations plan will help you lay out your business operations, which will eventually help you manage your business effectively..

7. Management Team

The management team section provides an overview of your magazine business’s management team. This section should provide a detailed description of each manager’s experience and qualifications, as well as their responsibilities and roles.

Founders/CEO:

Key managers:.

Introduce your management and key members of your team, and explain their roles and responsibilities.

Organizational structure:

Compensation plan:, advisors/consultants:.

Mentioning advisors or consultants in your business plans adds credibility to your business idea.

This section should describe the key personnel for your magazine business, highlighting how you have the perfect team to succeed.

8. Financial Plan

Your financial plan section should provide a summary of your business’s financial projections for the first few years. Here are some key elements to include in your financial plan:

Profit & loss statement:

Cash flow statement:, balance sheet:, break-even point:.

Determine and mention your business’s break-even point—the point at which your business costs and revenue will be equal.

Financing Needs:

Be realistic with your financial projections, and make sure you offer relevant information and evidence to support your estimates.

9. Appendix

The appendix section of your plan should include any additional information supporting your business plan’s main content, such as market research, legal documentation, financial statements, and other relevant information.

  • Add a table of contents for the appendix section to help readers easily find specific information or sections.
  • In addition to your financial statements, provide additional financial documents like tax returns, a list of assets within the business, credit history, and more. These statements must be the latest and offer financial projections for at least the first three or five years of business operations
  • Provide data derived from market research, including stats about the industry, user demographics, and industry trends.
  • Include any legal documents such as permits, licenses, and contracts.
  • Include any additional documentation related to your business plan, such as product brochures, marketing materials, operational procedures, etc.

Use clear headings and labels for each section of the appendix so that readers can easily find the necessary information.

Remember, the appendix section of your magazine business plan should only include relevant and important information supporting your plan’s main content.

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This sample magazine business plan will provide an idea for writing a successful magazine plan, including all the essential components of your business.

After this, if you still need clarification about writing an investment-ready business plan to impress your audience, download our magazine business plan pdf .

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Frequently asked questions, why do you need a magazine business plan.

A business plan is an essential tool for anyone looking to start or run a successful magazine business. It helps to get clarity in your business, secures funding, and identifies potential challenges while starting and growing your business.

Overall, a well-written plan can help you make informed decisions, which can contribute to the long-term success of your magazine business.

How to get funding for your magazine business?

There are several ways to get funding for your magazine business, but self-funding is one of the most efficient and speedy funding options. Other options for funding are:

Small Business Administration (SBA) loan

Crowdfunding, angel investors.

Apart from all these options, there are small business grants available, check for the same in your location and you can apply for it.

Where to find business plan writers for your magazine business?

There are many business plan writers available, but no one knows your business and ideas better than you, so we recommend you write your magazine business plan and outline your vision as you have in your mind.

What is the easiest way to write your magazine business plan?

A lot of research is necessary for writing a business plan, but you can write your plan most efficiently with the help of any magazine business plan example and edit it as per your need. You can also quickly finish your plan in just a few hours or less with the help of our business plan software .

About the Author

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Upmetrics is the #1 business planning software that helps entrepreneurs and business owners create investment-ready business plans using AI. We regularly share business planning insights on our blog. Check out the Upmetrics blog for such interesting reads. Read more

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What is Online Publishing? An Ultimate Guide

90% of young adults read magazines either in print or online. If you’re looking for a reliable way to reach a wide audience, you need to start utilizing the magazine medium.

Of course, print magazines take a large amount of money to produce, and there’s always the worry about waste if your magazine doesn’t get enough subscriptions and readers. How can you reach a wide audience while minimizing production costs? What is online publishing?

Online publishing is a versatile, easily discoverable medium that has take the world by storm as the internet continues to grow. It puts the choice of what is readable on the internet into the hands of creators (instead of publishers and producers). Keep reading to find out about online publishing and how to get started with it yourself!

What is Online Publishing?

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Digital or online publishing is the practice by which people use online tools to write, organize, edit, and make available all kinds of readable media on the internet. 

Online publishing includes nonfiction resources, fictional novels and short stories, plays, and multimedia magazines. Not only are these pieces of media made through the internet, but they’re also shared there and optimized for tablets, laptops, and even smartphones. 

Even if you’ve already written something, it’s easy to move it to an online platform where it can have an easier time reaching its proper audience. In fact, there are online publishing platforms that will do the hard work for you and make your content easy to read online.

Benefits of Publishing Online

benefits of publishing online

You may be wondering why it’s worth publishing online. After all, we’ve had thousands of years of physical reading material. Wasn’t that good enough?

There are benefits of publishing online that aren’t available to print media. Especially as an up-and-coming content creator, there are many cost cuts and solutions available when you publish online.

Discoverability

The most important thing as a new writer is to make sure people can read your work! When you self-publish print media, you have the difficult job of getting it out into people’s hands.

When you use online publishing platforms, the internet will do a fair amount of that work for you. You can optimize your material so for good SEO practices so that people searching for your kind of work can easily find it. 

Compatibility

You can make your media easy to read on all different kinds of devices. Not everyone always has the bandwidth to bring a book with them, but today no one leaves home without their phone.

Make your media something readable on a phone, and suddenly, you’ll have people reading your work wherever they go.

Versatility

The internet is an incredible place where multimedia collaboration projects can come together to create amazing new forms. Who says a book is just a book now?

You can add links to other sites for reference, music to any story, and embedded videos to add to the reading experience. You can even turn a simple narrative into a nearly game-like experience .

Not only will your work be more discoverable when you online publish, it’s also easier for you to share it. Simply share a link and someone can access your work right away. That’s a lot different and a lot more likely to be successful than telling someone the name of your book and waiting for them to go buy it.

Everyone loves instant gratification today. No one wants to have to go on a wild goose chase to get to your print media. Give them the link and make it easy to navigate.

Publish Online for Business Solutions

business plan for online publication

Online publishers aren’t just for creatives. They can also offer great solutions to businesses. Having an online presence is imperative for the success of any business today. So having smart online content will help your business’s mission. Here are three ways that you can use online publishing for your business’s success.

As mentioned before, online publishing is a great way to be more discoverable. You can use this to your business’s marketing advantage.

Create content from videos to brochures to articles that are likely to end up in the hands of your target customers. As traffic is driven to your site, more and more people are likely to navigate to other pages, and you’ll be more likely to show up in search results.

Communications

You need to stay in communication with current clients, customers, and business partners. A mass email is one way, but it’s much better to send out one message with multiple links to publications.

Then, people can pick and choose what information is important to them and go read it on a digital platform. Otherwise, they get bogged down in unnecessary information and are unlikely to read the parts that are important or compelling to them.

Content and sales have never been more conjoined. Sales should utilize the online publications of a company to plug the services and goods offered by the brand. They can include links to purchases, recommendations for goods, or even publish digital catalogs for interested customers. 

Online Publishing and Its Role in Education

Digital learning can be greatly improved by the use of online publishing. The amount of information on the internet is staggering and incredible. We can use that content to better educate children if it’s presented in a child-friendly and accessible way.

Digital publishing platforms can handle multiple kinds of files and content. On a teacher or philanthropists website they could include:

  • Study guides and lesson plans
  • Educational games to solidify concepts and skills
  • Homework and activities
  • The opportunity to submit and read students’ work
  • School newspapers and events

Schools are adapting to the new internet landscape and taking advantage of the way multimedia learning can benefit students. Perhaps in the future, there will even be more multimedia child-friendly online magazines offering education and fun.

Online Publishing for Independent Creators

Of course, perhaps the number one users of online publishing platforms are independent creators. Publishing platforms are useful for reference book writers, independent researchers, novelists, playwrights, poets, and magazine editors.

Never before has it been easier to compile and share work. Previously, you needed someone else to approve your work which has led to a history of censorship and stifling of creative voices.

But today, artists and writers are able to decide what is important for them to share and immediately test it in the public’s interest. Then, if it fails, they can try something new without much loss.

Online Book Publication

Lots of people have a story to tell and the writing skills necessary to get it told. Unfortunately, the process of querying agents and publishers is tiring, expensive, and time-consuming.

For that reason, many writers have decided to move into the world of self-publishing and then sell their books through platforms like Amazon. While this is a step in the right direction of autonomy for writers, it often isn’t enough and they need help getting discovered by readers.

The online publication makes their books easy to find and read online. They even link them to social media platforms where algorithms make it even easier for their work to be discovered by the target audience.

Online Magazine Publication

As mentioned earlier, online publishing is a dream come true for anyone interested in multimedia creations. A magazine doesn’t just have to be one thing anymore. The options are endless when you have every media on the internet.

Your online magazine can include music, poetry, short stories, op-eds, and essays . You can include virtual get-togethers, open mics, video content, and so much more. 

Best of all, you can choose the focus of your publication without inhibitions. Choose a demographic that you think is underrepresented in media. Find a target audience that doesn’t have content made for them. Choose topics that you think are under-reported. Prioritize the mediums and forms that you’re most passionate about.

When you only have yourself and your audience to answer to, your possibilities are endless. See how MagLoft’s Universal App transform this print magazine into a stunning online magazine

Choosing an Online Publishing Platform

Choosing an Online Publishing Platform

There are many advantages to choosing a third-party platform to publish your written work. You want to make sure that your work is available 24/7 and that the hosting system is always working. That’s a lot of IT work, and you need to be focused on making the content. So, it’s best to outsource that.

But not all platforms are created equal. Here are some of the things you should consider while choosing an online publishing platform.

You need to consider the amount of content that you’re planning on publishing. Then you need to consider if that amount is likely to grow.

Many platforms have the option to buy data as you need it while others sell set plans with limited or unlimited amounts of data. Consider the cost of storage and how much you’ll actually be using. Don’t overpay for what you don’t need!

Make sure that whatever platform you use is truly secure. The last thing you want is for your hard work to be stolen or worse for your payment information to be stolen.

Read up on common security measures and familiarize yourself with the terminology so that you can read through platforms’ security measures and make an informed choice.

Customization

This is huge for online publishing. The way your publication looks will help it stand out from the many online publications available today. If a platform only has a few customizable options, your work will end up looking like someone else’s work and will stand out less.

Instead, choose an option that is easy to use but gives you a lot of freedom and options. This way, not only will your site look unique, but you’ll be able to experiment with more multimedia options and create something truly special.

If the site goes down or the customization isn’t working or your bank account won’t connect, who will you have to turn to? 

You need to make sure that whatever platform you use has an excellent customer support system with real people ready to answer questions. You don’t have weeks to fix a problem if your online publication goes down, because everyone moment it’s not online is a moment that you’re losing potential readers.

Make sure that you find a platform that treats you as a valued collaborator and considers themselves part of your personal team.

Planning Your Online Publication

Now that you know what online publication is and why it’s so great, it’s time to start planning what your online publication will look like. This is a basic guide to some things that you should plan as you start your online publishing journey, but there are many things to learn and think about as you go.

Come Up With a Mission

Before you make an online publication, you should know why you’re doing it. Such as:

  • Who is your target audience?
  • The essence of your publication.
  • Main topics and focuses of your digital publication
  • The overall aesthetic feel of your digital publication
  • How will you fund it?

Answering some of those questions will lead you to the answers for others, and before you know it you’ll have the outline of a business plan.

Analyze Competitors

Take a look at the other people writing magazines that are similar to yours and have the same audience.

What are they doing well? What could they do better? Follow their lead and improve upon their shortcomings.

Find Your Team

It takes a lot of people to make an online magazine run. People can take on multiple roles, but make sure that each role is clearly defined. You’ll at least need a writer, editor, designer, treasurer, and marketing manager.

Getting Your Dream Publication

Now you can confidently say you know the answer to “what is online publishing”. Even better you know how it can make your writing and publishing dreams more accessible and free.

Are you ready to bring your written vision to life? Check out our online publishing services here and contact us here!

Updated on 4th of October 2023.

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Magazine Publisher Business Plan

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Group Publishing, Inc.

Executive summary executive summary is a brief introduction to your business plan. it describes your business, the problem that it solves, your target market, and financial highlights.">.

The Group Publishing, Inc. (Group Publishing) is the publisher of “Artists In Business” magazine. The magazine, which has already printed an initial issue in July/August 1996 is directed at artists at all levels of business throughout the United States. The management of Group Publishing is targeting a total combined circulation of “Artists In Business” of 206,000 in year one, increasing to 310,000 by the end of year three. The magazine will be published bi-monthly with increased press runs throughout the first three years. Sample distribution, organizational sales, and direct mail to targeted lists of artists will be utilized to build subscriptions.

In addition, Group Publishing will market books via direct marketing and through established artist distribution channels. The direct marketing of Group Publishing books will be implemented through its magazine readership base.

Publishing is a high profit and high margin business. The key to success is successful marketing. The Group has a highly focused multi-dimensional sales and marketing plan to build its total circulation base quickly. The same channels and methods were utilized to establish a circulation of 500,000 in the first year for the Visionary Artist’s periodical.

Successful execution of The Group’s plan will produce sales revenues of $3.1 million in year one, $4.8 million in year two, and $6.4 million in year three. Net profit will increase steadily over the next three years.

The highlights of the business plan are illustrated in the following chart. Sales, margins, and net profit increase each year. The lowest margins occur in year one, reflecting the marketing costs of building the circulation base.

1.1 Objectives

The initial objectives of The Group are as follows:

  • To raise seed capital of $150,000 to ensure publication by month two and to establish a cash reserve to market subscriptions.
  • To have 90,000 subscribers by the end of year one through direct sampling and marketing.
  • To have an additional 50,000 subscribers by the end of year one through organizational sales.
  • To have 10,000 more two-year subscriptions sold.
  • To publish two 36 page issues initially with press runs of 50,000 promotional copies each.
  • To go to 48 pages by issue number three and increase press runs to 75,000 promotional copies.
  • Increase to 100,000 promotional copies in issues five and six.
  • Increase average ad page cost from $1,819 to $2,618 by the end of the first year.
  • To sell an average of 17.5 ad pages per issue throughout year one.

1.2 Mission

“Artists In Business” magazine is for the artist who is a worker at any level. The magazine has a commitment to be a platform to profile artists who are representing artistic vision in the marketplace and who can both encourage and provide role models to other men and women. Group Publishing, through its magazine, books, and editorial content, will be a vessel to inform artists about artistic principles in everyday business and will encourage interaction among artists as business people. Our mission is to promote the concept of “community” in the workplace.

1.3 Keys to Success

The keys to success are:

  • Attaining targeted circulation levels.
  • Controlling costs while spending the maximum on subscription marketing in year one.
  • Carefully monitoring response rates of all media executions.
  • Follow-on marketing of two to four book titles in the first year.
  • Attaining targeted advertising sales revenues.
  • Having quality editorial content in each issue.
  • Making all production and distribution dates in a timely fashion for each issue.

Magazine publisher business plan, executive summary chart image

See why 1.2 million entrepreneurs have written their business plans with LivePlan

Company summary company overview ) is an overview of the most important points about your company—your history, management team, location, mission statement and legal structure.">.

Group Publishing, Inc. began as a joint concept between two avocational artists, Red Brushwielder, an advertising executive, and Thallos Green, a former insurance executive and the owner of the “Artists In Business” name. Mr. Green will promote “Artists In Business” as a radio program for syndication (a separate business entity).

Mr. Green is licensing the “Artists In Business” name to The Group Publishing, Inc. for the sum of $1 (one dollar). Mr. Green will also receive one page of advertising at no charge in each and every issue of the magazine and one page of editorial in each issue (as the founder of the magazine). It is expected that the radio show produced by Mr. Green will be a powerful promotional vehicle for the magazine.

Group Publishing will have exclusive rights to “Artists In Business” for all print media, electronic media (Internet home page, CD-ROM, Interactive Publications, etc.), catalogue business, and possible seminars and workshops devoted to the artistic business person.

2.1 Start-up Summary

The following tables and chart outline our start-up requirements and needed funding.

Equity investment in the company is now being made available to outside investors for the first time. The purpose of this investment is to raise the needed “seed” capital to launch the magazine. An initial Private Placement offering to raise from $150K to $375K is in progress. The minimum amount of the offering would be sufficient to publish the first new issue in 1997. Money raised in excess of the minimum will enable full-scale sampling and marketing of subscriptions. It is possible that no further investment may be needed. However, it cannot be assured that additional capital will not be required in the future or that sufficient capital will be available to continue publication.

We anticipate buying back the outside investment in year three for $1.5 million.

Magazine publisher business plan, company summary chart image

2.2 Company Ownership

Red Brushwielder is the founder of The Group Publishing, Inc. a newly formed Southwest “C” corporation. He currently owns all its stock.

2.3 Company Locations and Facilities

The Group Publishing, Inc. has current offices at 1234 Main Street, Anytown, GA. 30000 The phone # is … and the fax # is …. The office is fully equipped and functional. It is not anticipated that expanded facilities will be needed for the first few years of the plan. All business, management and editorial functions will be performed there. All printing, mailing, warehousing, and fulfillment is outsourced.

The Group Publishing will publish “Artists In Business” magazine. The magazine is high gloss, 48 pages, contemporary in look and appeal. Quality art content is the constant goal. The magazine will be entertaining and newsworthy and thought-provoking. It will appeal to a broad artist readership. No magazine like it is available today.

The Group Publishing will also publish softcover and hardcover books. Certain titles will be published in softcover “trade” size. Others (called “booklets” in this plan) will be similar to “paperback” size. Contemporary Arts themes will prevail, particularly those that deal with the demands placed on both business and family life by today’s business climate.

Market Analysis Summary how to do a market analysis for your business plan.">

The target market is broadly based and is defined as the artist business person at all levels in any organization.

Market segments are defined by organizational affiliation.

Media strategy and execution may vary by segment.

Strategy and Implementation Summary

Our strategy is based on serving a clearly defined niche market well. By having an identifiable market with available lists and related memberships, the management of The Group believes we can exceed publishing industry standards for conversion of potential subscribers. Committed artists are a passionate and loyal clientele. A thirst exists for the published periodical product that “Artists In Business” will provide. The initial issue, published in late summer of 1996 met with rave reviews at booksellers and distributors conventions and was profiled on Arts News radio. The task is to reach and inform the target market. The strategy is to combine sampling, direct mail, and group membership solicitation to build circulation through both subscriptions and newsstand distribution. Multi-channel distribution principles will be employed. Each has a differing margin structure but the combination will maximize the potential reach of the magazine.

5.1 Marketing Strategy

New subscriptions are both sample and media based. Sampling will be done to both known arts organization members and to artist mailing lists. Several of these databases are already available to The Group. “Artists In Business” has access to a list of 100,000 Artist business leaders. All will be sampled with the magazine.

Sample runs will be: 50,000 issues on the first and second runs, 75,000 issues on the second and third runs, and 100,000 issues on the fifth and sixth issues of 1997. All cost associated with these sampling programs are included in the advertising and promotion budgets for those months. A total of $362,000 will be spent on direct mailed sampling geared to subscription.

In alternate months, print media will be used. Arts publications will be employed. “New Brush” magazine, “Colours” magazine, and “Artistic License Today” will have the early insertions. As subscription base grows general interest media will be used later in the year. “Inc.” magazine and “Business Week” are likely choices.

Finally, sales to Arts supply and retail bookstores through magazine distributors will also be accomplished. Key distributors have already expressed interest in the publication.

All sales projections through this multi-channel approach will reflect the different pricing and margin considerations pertinent to each.

5.1.1 Distribution Strategy

Distribution of magazines and books through retail channels are projected at retail less 60%.

Subscriptions through organizations are projected at list less 50%.

All direct sales are booked at full revenue. Cost of product is deducted for 6 issues per year. Fulfillment costs are expensed.

Direct sales of books are billed to credit cards and drop shipped. The magazine is an ideal vehicle to promote these sales.

Future sales are planned directly over the internet from the AIB website.

5.1.3 Strategic Alliances

The strategic alliance with Thallos Green and his AIB radio broadcasts holds great potential. Thallos plans to syndicate the broadcasts on Arts News radio stations across the U.S.

5.1.4 Promotion Strategy

In addition to advertising, direct mail, and media executions, public relations exposure will benefit magazine circulation significantly. Red Brushwielder has already appeared and been interviewed on Arts News radio programs four times. Tapes of these interviews are available. In one instance more than 1800 calls were received requesting subscription information from a single program.

Red Brushwielder has also been asked to tape programs for an Anytown radio station on the subject of Artists in the workplace.

Promotion strategy for sales through organizations to their memberships includes a split of the first year’s subscription revenue with the selling organization.

5.1.5 Pricing Strategy

The “Artists In Business” magazine will sell for $3.95 per single issue on the newsstand.

  • A one-year subscription is $16.95.
  • A two year subscription is $29.95.
  • “Trade” soft-cover books will sell for $14.95.
  • Paperback size “booklets” will sell for $7.95.
  • Future hardcover books will sell for $19.95 to $22.95. No hardcover sales are projected in this three year plan.

5.2 Sales Strategy

Our combined sales strategy of sampling, direct mail, and organizations will result in the following first year sales goals:

  • 90,000 one-year subscriptions.
  • 50,000 one-year subscriptions through organizations.
  • 10,000 two-year subscriptions.

Four book titles are factored in in the second half of the year. Two are “trade” and two are “booklets.” Sales goals are modest.

The following sections illustrate annual revenue over the next three years of $3.1, $4.8, and $6.4 million respectively.

5.2.1 Sales Forecast

The following table and chart presents specific sales forecasts by product, by month, over the first year of sales development. Years two and three are cumulative totals only. All sales project the relevant unit cost and margin differences to reflect discounts, commissions, and revenue splits.

Discount on ad revenue is 15% agency commission and 20% sales commission for a total of 35%.

All product costs for subscriptions are based on $.40 per issue–6 issues for one year, 12 issues for two years.

The only cost not included here is an author’s royalty on book sales–expected to be 15%. These royalty costs are incurred on the P & L statement as an expense item.

Magazine publisher business plan, strategy and implementation summary chart image

5.3 Milestones

Important milestones are:

  • Raising “seed” capital.
  • Publishing magazine by February.
  • Launching subscription marketing programs.
  • Achieving subscription goals.

Magazine publisher business plan, strategy and implementation summary chart image

Management Summary management summary will include information about who's on your team and why they're the right people for the job, as well as your future hiring plans.">

With production and fulfillment services outsourced, The Group Publishing, Inc. has need for general management, editorial, artistic, sales & marketing, and financial expertise.

6.1 Management Team

Red Brushwielder (44), President & CEO, Publisher & Editor Mr. Brushwielder founded and successfully grew an advertising agency over a thirteen year period. He is accomplished in both publishing and direct marketing. One of his largest clients over the years has been Payne’s Gray Publishers, Inc. a NASDAQ public company and Art book publisher.

Mr. Brushwielder has a total of 20 years experience in advertising and publishing. His advertising clients have included American Express, Steinway & Sons Piano Company, Peachtree Software, Parisian Department Stores, and ADP Payroll Services. Red Brushwielder attended the University of South Carolina.

Ochre & Sienna Burnt, Asst. Editors Ochre (50) and Sienna (48) are the founders of Painting Restoration, which has the mission of restoring old family portraits. They are accomplished authors, with the titles “Restoring the Early Portrait” and “Demolishing Portrait Forgeries” to their credit. Ochre served in the U.S. Navy, serving three deployments in Viet Nam as a helicopter pilot.

Ochre holds a BA in Economics from the University of Connecticut, an MBA from California Lutheran College, and a Master’s of Art Education from School of Hard Knocks. Sienna holds a BS in Education from the University of Connecticut.

John Crimson (50), Interim Chief Financial Officer Mr. Crimson was last VP and Treasurer for Holiday Inn Worldwide. He previously was President of a $30 million dollar credit union. John has a BA in Finance from the College of Wooster in Ohio and an MBA in Finance from Emory University.

Timothy Clark (48), VP of Corporate Development Mr. Clark has successfully raised capital for both public and private companies and has written and executed strategic growth plans as both an executive and as a consultant. He has previously been in executive positions with three growth stage companies and also was part of a turn-around team that successfully righted a failed venture-backed start-up. In his early career he held sales and marketing management positions with Lever Brothers Company and the LCR Division of Squibb, Inc. both in Chicago and New York. He is skilled in Strategic Planning and Capital Formation. Mr. Clark holds a BA in Marketing from the University of Notre Dame.

6.2 Management Team Gaps

An art director is needed. Also freelance artists.

Ad sales manager and circulation manager are factored in as needed.

6.3 Personnel Plan

The following table includes the personnel plan and projected salaries for all key people.

Financial Plan investor-ready personnel plan .">

After initial capitalization growth can be financed largely through internal cash flow provided subscription targets are met. In the event of a sales shortfall, marketing can be cut back temporarily to preserve cash. Or, more likely, additional investment may be sought to re-accelerate productive campaigns if growth demands more funding.

The company created by this plan will generate cash as soon as subscription base reaches critical mass.

7.1 Important Assumptions

The following table illustrates the financial assumptions used as the basis for this plan. The key element is six inventory turns per year. This reflects the issues of the magazine as well as ad revenue. Ad space is treated as an inventory item.

Subscriptions are paid in advance. Only 10% of receivables are collected in 30 days, primarily from wholesale accounts. These are notoriously slow payors, so care must be taken not to let these collections run past 60 days. This will be more significant if book sales become a higher-than-expected percentage of revenue.

7.2 Key Financial Indicators

The following chart represents changes in critical profit variables. Note that margins and expenses are consistently controlled and net profit increases nicely. Inventory turns slow down somewhat in the third year due to the burden of higher inventories for increasing book sales.

Magazine publisher business plan, financial plan chart image

7.3 Break-even Analysis

This break-even analysis is applicable to the early 1997 time frame only. Key fixed costs represent the “burn” rate prior to major acceleration of marketing plans. Thus, if subscriptions didn’t flow in as planned this represents the point at which the company could continue to survive without increasing marketing. In that event, management could “buy” time to raise additional capital.

Magazine publisher business plan, financial plan chart image

7.4 Projected Profit and Loss

We expect net income to near $1 million in year one and $2.4 million in year three. Net profit margins will improve as subscriptions mature and marketing costs decrease.

Magazine publisher business plan, financial plan chart image

7.5 Projected Cash Flow

The table below illustrates cash accumulation from the initial assumption of $150K capital infusion. At no point does the company run out of cash. We expect to buy back the initial outside investment in year three.

The chart illustrates the critical cash flow in year one. Note that early contributions on a monthly basis are minimal and only gain momentum in the second half of the year. If shortfalls occur early on more capital may be required.

Magazine publisher business plan, financial plan chart image

7.6 Projected Balance Sheet

We project a strong growth in net worth over the next several years.

7.7 Business Ratios

These business ratios are limited in value since the company projects no debt. This will also be an advantage if debt capital is desired later without dilution to shareholders. Business ratios for the years of this plan are shown below. Industry profile ratios based on the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code 2721, Periodicals, are shown for comparison.

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business plan for online publication

ProfitableVenture

Online Magazine Business Plan [Sample Template]

By: Author Tony Martins Ajaero

Home » Business Plans » Media Sector

Are you about starting a magazine publishing company ? If YES, here is a complete sample online magazine business plan template & feasibility study you can use for FREE .

There are several niches and loads of well – known magazines that are sold all over the world. Magazines are generally published on a regular schedule; it can be weekly or monthly or even quarterly and they usually contain a variety of content based on the market the magazine is designed for.

When it comes to generating incomes, magazine companies exploit the sale of their magazines in newsstands, from advertisement from stakeholders and of course from those who sign – on to prepaid subscriptions and when it comes to distributing magazines, most magazines publisher make use of the mailing system, bookshops, strategic news – stands, through registered vendors and selected pick – up locations et al.

There is no restriction to the numbers of publications house that can engage in magazines publications, sales and distribution. As a matter of fact, students can start their own magazines publications right from their campuses and distribute it within the campus community.

A Sample Online Magazine Business Plan Template

1. industry overview.

In the united states of America, a total number of 152 magazines closed shop In 2011 and also a total number of 82 magazines ceased operations in 2012 due to inability to make profits and of course generate enough money to continue publications.

In 2013, statistics has it that subscription levels for 22 out of the top 25 magazines in the United States of America dropped from 2012 to 2013. As a matter of fact, the only few magazines that experienced increase within the said period are Time magazine, Glamour magazine and ESPN magazine.

The United States’ magazine industry generates combined revenue of over 27.29 Billion U.S. dollars with magazine advertising alone generating over 15.2 Billion U.S. dollars.

History has it that a U.K. publication; The Gentleman’s Magazine which was first published in 1731, in London was the first ever general interest magazine to be published. It is on record that the oldest consumer magazine which was first published in 1739; The Scots Magazine is still in print till this days.

The print industry is currently experiencing some challenges; investment in magazines is experiencing decline. It is on record that there is a steady decline in total numbers of magazines that are sold in the United States daily. Statistics has it that in 1985, there were about 1,676 dailies in the United States but in 2011, the number dropped to 1,382 and of course it is still dropping.

It has been projected by market experts that the magazine industry will generate combined revenue of 16.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2016, which is over 4 billion U.S. dollars less than the combined revenue generated in 2011. It is also projected that corporate organizations who advertise in magazines will also cut their magazine advertising spending much less than their newspaper advertising spending.

The magazine industry is truly struggling to survive in the United States of America and in other countries of the world. A survey that was conducted revealed that in 2012, only about 3 percent of Americans stated that they regularly read magazines; and 9 percent stated that they read magazines sometimes.

It is good enough that the magazine industry is extremely well-organized in its data collection and presentation; which is why new publication firms who are interested in coming into the industry choose niche groups that attracts a wide range of readership.

Despite the fact that the magazine industry appears to be saturated in the United States, there is still a positive outlook for the industry especially when it comes to leveraging on the internet. People are encouraged to go into magazine publications because it is now easier to gain wider readership with the aid of the internet and couple with the fact that it will cost little or nothing to launch an online magazine publication.

2. Executive Summary

Boston Weekly®, Inc. is a new but standard magazine publishing and distribution company that will be based in Boston – Massachusetts, USA. Our niche as a magazine publishing company covers News, Entertainment, Business and Sport.

Our state of the art in – house printing press is located in a standard corner piece facility that is centrally located in the heart of Boston and few minutes drive to Harvard University Community.

We have put plans and robust distribution network in place to enable us effectively distribute our weekly magazine to key cities throughout the United States of America and also to the rest part of the world via our online platform and mobile apps.

Boston Weekly®, Inc. is established by the Massachusetts awarding winning journalist – Dr. Campbell Washington and other like mind investors. Dr. Washington has B.A. in English Language, Advance Diploma in Journalism and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard Business School.

He has robust experience in print journalism having worked for over 15 years with some of the leading magazine publishing companies in the United States of America prior to starting his own business. We are in the Magazine Publication and Distribution Industry to favorably compete with other leading brands in the industry such as Time Magazine, ESPN Magazine and New York Times et al.

Our corporate business goal is to be among the top 10 magazine publishing and distribution brand in the United States of America. As a company, we are willing to go the extra mile to invest in some of the finest professionals we can find and also we have set plans in place to setup a standard and start of the art printing press and distribution network.

Boston Weekly®, Inc. will at all times demonstrate her commitment to sustainability, both individually and as a firm, by actively participating in our communities and integrating sustainable business practices wherever possible.

We will ensure that we hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards by meeting our customers’ needs precisely and completely whenever they patronize our magazine either hardcopies or subscribing on our online portal. We will cultivate a working environment that provides a human, sustainable approach to earning a living, and living in our world, for our partners, employees and for our customers.

Our plan is to position Boston Weekly®, Inc. to become the leading brand in the magazine publishing and distribution industry in the whole of Massachusetts, and also to be amongst the top 10 magazine brand in the United States of America within the first 10 years of starting our business.

This might look too tall a dream but we are optimistic that this will surely come to pass because we have done our research and feasibility studies and we are enthusiastic and confident that Boston – Massachusetts is the right place to launch this type of business before spreading to other cities all across The United States of America.

3. Our Products and Services

At Boston Weekly®, Inc. we will ensure that we maximize all the services and products that are associated with a magazine publishing and distribution business. As part our strategy to create multiple sources of income in line with our core business concept, we will encourage our clients to subscribe to our magazines as against buying from the newsstands.

This is so because we are aware that it is easier to get huge discount from post office services as against transporting your magazines to newsstands that are scattered all around the United States. Another key factor that we will leverage on is to create a strong online presence and also to push our electronic magazine far and wide within the online community.

If we can successful gain appreciable numbers of online subscription and adverts, then we are likely not going to struggle to manage and finance your magazine publication company. Here are some of our products and services;

  • Distribution of Hardcopies Magazines Nationwide
  • Availability of online subscription for our e – Magazine
  • Create Large Platforms for Publicity and Advertising for both individual and corporate clients
  • Operate a standard printing press open to the general public
  • Run a consultancy and Advisory services as it relates to magazine publications and journalism.

4. Our Mission and Vision Statement

  • To be amongst the top 10leading magazine publishing and distribution companies in the United States of America before our 10 th anniversary.
  • Our mission is to build a world – class magazine publishing and distribution business whose magazines can be find in all nooks and crannies of the United States of America; a magazine company with a very strong online presence with active subscribers from all over the world.

Our Business Structure

As part of our plan to build a standard Magazine Publishing and Distribution Company in Boston – Massachusetts, we have perfected plans to get it right from the beginning which is why we are going the extra mile to ensure that we have competent and hardworking employees to occupy all the available positions in our company.

The picture of the kind of Magazine Publishing and Distribution Company we intend building and the business goals we want to achieve is what informed the amount we are ready to pay for the best hands available in the Magazine Publishing and Distribution industry as long as they are willing and ready to work with us to achieve our business goals and objectives.

Below is the business structure that we will build Boston Weekly®, Inc.;

  • Chief Executive Officer / Editor in Chief

Human Resources and Admin Manager

  • Journalist / Content Creators / Photo Journalist

Graphic Artist

  • Sales and Marketing Officer
  • Accountants / Cashiers
  • Printing Press Workers (Printing Machine Operators)
  • Dispatch Riders and Van Drivers
  • Customer Service Executives

5. Job Roles and Responsibilities

Chief Executive Officer / Editor in Chief:

  • Increases management’s effectiveness by recruiting, selecting, orienting, training, coaching, counseling, and disciplining managers; communicating values, strategies, and objectives; assigning accountabilities; planning, monitoring, and appraising job results; developing incentives; developing a climate for offering information and opinions; providing educational opportunities.
  • Creating, communicating, and implementing the organization’s vision, mission, and overall direction – i.e. leading the development and implementation of the overall organization’s strategy.
  • Responsible for fixing prices and signing business deals
  • Responsible for providing direction for the business
  • Responsible for signing checks and documents on behalf of the company
  • Responsible for overseeing the smooth running of the magazine production and distribution process
  • Evaluates the success of the organization
  • Responsible for overseeing the smooth running of HR and administrative tasks for the organization
  • Updates job knowledge by participating in educational opportunities; reading professional publications; maintaining personal networks; participating in professional organizations.
  • Enhances department and organization reputation by accepting ownership for accomplishing new and different requests; exploring opportunities to add value to job accomplishments.
  • Defining job positions for recruitment and managing interviewing process
  • Carrying out staff induction for new team members
  • Responsible for training, evaluation and assessment of employees
  • Oversee the smooth running of the daily office and shop activities.

Journalist / Content Creator / PhotoJournalist

  • Conduct research, determine the number of pages, screen the content, stories, photographs, features, Ads, the style of the magazine in the magazine and the design and layout of Magazine et al.
  • Responsible for creating contents for our magazine
  • Assist the editorial team in editing contents
  • Responsible for conducting interviews.
  • Liaising with management to determine their requirement and budget
  • Responsible for developing concepts, graphics and layouts for product illustrations, company logos, and websites
  • Responsible for managing the magazine production process from typesetting through to design, print and production
  • Responsible for reviewing final layout and suggesting improvement if necessary
  • Determine size and arrangement of illustrative material and copy, and font style and size
  • Responsible for liaising with external printers on a regular basis to ensure deadlines are met and material is printed to the highest quality
  • Responsible for preparing drafts or material based on an agreement brief.
  • Research and advice the organization on style, genre and other trendy info as it relates to graphic design.

Sales and Marketing Manager

  • Manage external research and coordinate all the internal sources of information to retain the organizations’ best customers and attract new ones
  • Model demographic information and analyze the volumes of transactional data generated by customer purchases
  • Identify, prioritize, and reach out to new partners, and business opportunities et al
  • Responsible for supervising implementation, advocate for the customer’s needs, and communicate with clients
  • Develop, execute and evaluate new plans for expanding increase sales and distribution network
  • Document all customer contact and information
  • Represent the company in strategic meetings
  • Help increase sales and growth for the company

Print Press Workers (Printing Machine Operators)

  • Operate the printing machines
  • Responsible for carrying out all casual or unskilled jobs in the printing press
  • Responsible for packaging magazines meant for delivery
  • Handles any other duty as assigned by the line manager / supervisor

Accountant / Cashier

  • Responsible for preparing financial reports, budgets, and financial statements for the organization
  • Provides managements with financial analyses, development budgets, and accounting reports; analyzes financial feasibility for the most complex proposed projects; conducts market research to forecast trends and business conditions.
  • Responsible for financial forecasting and risks analysis.
  • Performs cash management, general ledger accounting, and financial reporting
  • Responsible for developing and managing financial systems and policies
  • Responsible for administering payrolls
  • Ensuring compliance with taxation legislation
  • Handles all financial transactions for the organization
  • Serves as internal auditor for the organization

Distribution Van Drivers/ Dispatch Riders:

  • Responsible for distributing magazines across our distribution network and news stands
  • Delivers customer’s orders promptly (customers on subscription plans)
  • Runs errand for the organization
  • Any other duty as assigned by the sales and marketing executive

Client Service Executive

  • Responsible for taking orders from clients when the call or email the organization
  • Ensures that all contacts with customer (e-mail, walk-In center, SMS or phone) provides the client with a personalized customer service experience of the highest level
  • Through interaction with customers on the phone, uses every opportunity to build client’s interest in the company’s products and services
  • Manages administrative duties assigned by the shop manager in an effective and timely manner
  • Consistently stays abreast of any new information on Papilloma House of Pizzas products, promotional campaigns etc. to ensure accurate and helpful information is supplied to customers when they make enquiries
  • Responsible for cleaning the entire printing press facility at all times
  • Ensure that toiletries and supplies don’t run out of stock
  • Any other duty as assigned by the Human Resource and Admin manager.

6. SWOT Analysis

Due to our desire and drive for excellence when it comes to running a magazine publication and distribution company, we were able to engage some of the finest business consultants in Boston – Massachusetts to look through our business concept and together we were able to critically examine the prospect of the business to be sure we have what it takes to run a standard magazine publication and distribution company that can compete favorably compete with other leading brands in the industry such.

In view of that, we were able to take stock of our strengths, our weakness, the opportunities available to us and also the threats that we are likely going to be exposed to if we launch our magazine publication and distribution business in Boston – Massachusetts and even in the United States of America as a whole.

Here is a of what we got from the critically conducted SWOT Analysis for Boston Weekly®, Inc.;

Our core strength lies in the power of our team; our workforce. We have a team of creative and highly proficient, editors, journalist, and graphic designers; a team with excellent qualifications and experience various niche areas in the magazine and printing press industry.

Aside from the synergy that exist in our carefully selected team; the contents in our magazine and the quality of the magazine will be guided by best practices in the industry.

As a new magazine publishing and distribution company in Boston – Massachusetts, it might take some time for our organization to break into the market and gain acceptance in the already saturated and highly competitive magazine publishing and distribution industry; that is perhaps our major weakness. Another weakness is that we may not have the required cash to promote our business the way we would want to.

  • Opportunities:

The opportunities available to us are unlimited. Loads of people consume buys, subscribe and read magazine on a daily basis and all what we are going to do all we can to push our magazine to our target market. So also, there are loads of organizations and individual who would want to place paid adverts in magazines to promote their brands.

The possible threat and challenges that we are likely going to face when we start our own magazine publication business are the ability to consistently attract adverts from corporate organizations.

The truth is that there are several options when it comes to choosing advertising platforms hence most corporate organizations would rather go with trusted and tested platforms as against trying out new magazine that they aren’t sure can break into the market and gain prominence.

Another threat and challenges that we are likely going to be confronted with when we start our magazine publication business is to be able to effectively find a cheaper distribution options. Most magazine publications companies spend more when it comes to transporting their magazines to different newsstands scattered within the locations they intend selling their magazines.

7. MARKET ANALYSIS

  • Market Trends

In setting up a magazine publication company, you have two options; you either run a full magazine publication company with a printing press or you can contract the printing of your magazines to a standard and reliable printing press.

If you choose to choose to run the whole publication process within the same facility, it means that you would have to set – up a printing press with standard printing machines, binders, cutting machines et al. If you are considering starting a magazine publication company, then your concern should not be limited to the cost of setting up the business and gaining readership but also on your distribution network.

The truth is that most magazines companies run into loss simply because they spend more in distributing their magazines to various newsstands across the country. It will pay you if you encourage your clients to subscribe to your magazines as against buying from the newsstands.

It is easier to get huge discount from post office services as against transporting your magazines to newsstands that are scattered all around the United States. Another key factor that you can leverage on is to create a strong online presence and also to push your electronic magazine far and wide within the online community.

As a magazine publisher, if you can successfully gain appreciable numbers of online subscription and adverts, then you are likely not going to struggle to manage and finance your magazine publication company and that is exactly what we plan to do.

8. Our Target Market

When it comes to news, entertainment and sports magazine, there is indeed a wide range of available customers (readership). In essence, our target market can’t be restricted to just a group of people, but all those who love to get the latest updates on news, entertainment and sports et al.

In view of that, we have conducted our market research and we have ideas of what our target market would be expecting from us. These are the groups of people we intend marketing our magazines to;

  • Corporate Executives
  • Government Officials
  • Business People
  • Celebrities
  • Military Men and Women
  • Sports Men and Women
  • Everyone who resides in our target locations.

Our Competitive Advantage

Beyond every reasonable doubt, the competition in the magazine industry is high but one thing is certain, if you are able to set a standard in the industry, you are sure going to get committed and faithful readers who would not mind paying annual subscription fee upfront.

Although you can experience less competitions if you choose to carve a niche for yourself and also exploit the internet and perhaps a book / reader’s club.

We are quite aware that to be highly competitive in the magazine publishing and distribution industry means that you are not only expected to be able to deliver consistent and robust contents at all time, but you must be able to meet set targets.

No one would want to continue to subscribe to your magazine if they are not sure they are likely going to get the magazines deliver to them as at when due.

Our competitive advantage lies in the power of our team; our workforce. We have a team of creative and highly proficient, editors, journalist, and graphic designers; a team with excellent qualifications and experience various niche areas in the magazine and printing press industry.

Lastly, all our employees will be well taken care of, and their welfare package will be among the best within our category (startups magazine publishing and distribution businesses in the United States) in the industry. It will enable them to be more than willing to build the business with us and help deliver our set goals and achieve all our business aims and objectives.

9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY

  • Sources of Income

Boston Weekly®, Inc. is established with the aim of maximizing profits in the magazine publishing and distribution industry in the United States of America and we are going to go all the way to ensure that we do all it takes to achieve our corporate goal of generating enough income to run the business and pay our staff members as at when due.

Boston Weekly®, Inc. will generate income by offering the following products and services;

10. Sales Forecast

It is important to state that our sales forecast is based on the data gathered during our feasibility studies, market survey and also some of the assumptions readily available on the field. Below are the sales projections that we were able to come up with for the first three years of operations;

  • First Year-: $250,000
  • Second Year-: $450,000
  • Third Year-: $800,000

N.B : This projection is done based on what is obtainable in the industry and with the assumption that there won’t be any major economic meltdown and the arrival of a competitor in same location as ours within the period stated above. Please note that the above projection might be lower and at the same time it might be higher.

  • Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy

We are mindful of the fact that there are stiffer competition in the magazine publishing and distribution industry; hence we have been able to hire some of the best marketing experts to handle our sales and marketing.

Our sales and marketing team will be recruited based on their vast experience in the magazine publishing and distribution industry and they will be trained on a regular basis so as to be well equipped to meet their targets and the overall business goal of Boston Weekly®, Inc.

Our goal is to grow Boston Weekly®, Inc. to become one of the top 10 magazine publishing and distribution company in the United States of America which is why we have mapped out strategy that will help us take advantage of the available market and grow to become a major force to reckon with not only in the United States of America but also in other parts of the world (online magazine).

Boston Weekly®, Inc. is set to make use of the following marketing and sales strategies to attract clients;

  • Introduce our magazine publishing and distribution company by sending introductory letters alongside copy of our magazine to corporate organizations, advertising agencies and key stake holders.
  • Promptness in bidding for advert contracts from the government and other cooperate organizations
  • Advertise our business cum magazine in relevant business TV stations, and radio station.
  • List our business cum magazine on yellow pages ads (local directories)
  • Attend relevant international and local expos, seminars, and business fairs et al
  • Create different subscription packages for different category of clients in order to work with their budgets and still supply them with copies of our magazine
  • Leverage on the internet to promote the sale and distribution of our magazine
  • Engage direct marketing approach
  • Encourage word of mouth marketing from loyal and satisfied clients

11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy

We have been able to work with our in house brand and publicity consultants to help us map out publicity and advertising strategies that will help us walk our way into the heart of our target market.

We are set to become the number one choice for both corporate clients and individual clients in the whole of the United States and beyond which is why we have made provisions for effective publicity and advertisement of our magazine publishing and distribution company. Below are the platforms we intend to leverage on to promote and advertise Boston Weekly®, Inc.;

  • Place adverts on both print (newspapers and magazines) and electronic media platforms
  • Sponsor relevant community based events / programs
  • Leverage on the internet and social media platforms like; Instagram, Facebook , twitter, YouTube, Google + et al to promote our services
  • Install our Bill Boards on strategic locations all around key cities in the United States of America
  • Engage in road show from time to time in targeted neighborhoods
  • Distribute our fliers and handbills in target areas
  • Contact corporate organizations by calling them up and informing them of Boston Weekly®, Inc. and how they can subscribe
  • List our magazine publishing and distribution company in local directories / yellow pages
  • Advertise our magazine publishing and distribution company in our official website and employ strategies that will help us pull traffic to the site.
  • Ensure that all our staff members wear our branded shirts and all our vehicles and bikes are well branded with our company logo et al.

12. Our Pricing Strategy

When it comes to pricing for products such as magazine, there are no hard and fast rules; the price depends on the size and packaging. Generally, the prices for magazine and similar products like pamphlets, newspapers and journals et al are affordable hence there is no need to employ any detailed strategies when it comes to pricing.

In view of that, our prices will conform to what is obtainable in the industry but will ensure that within the first 6 to 12 months our magazine are sold a little bit below the average prices of various magazine brands in the United States of America.

We have put in place business strategies that will help us run on low profit margin for a period of 6 months; it is a way of encouraging people to buy into our brands.

  • Payment Options

At Boston Weekly®, Inc., our payment policy is all inclusive because we are quite aware that different people prefer different payment options as it suits them. Here are the payment options that will be available in every of our outlets;

  • Payment by cash
  • Payment via Point of Sale (POS) Machine
  • Payment via online bank transfer (online payment portal)
  • Payment via Mobile money

In view of the above, we have chosen banking platforms that will help us achieve our payment plans without any itches.

13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)

When it comes to starting a standard magazine publishing and distribution business, one is expected to spend the bulk of the start – up capital on building a standard and well – equipped printing press. Aside from that, you are not expected to spend much except for purchasing distribution vans, paying of your employees and utility bills.

This is the key areas where we will spend our start – up capital;

  • The Total Fee for Registering the Business in Boston – Massachusetts – $750.
  • Legal expenses for obtaining licenses and permits as well as the accounting services (software, P.O.S machines and other software) – $1,300.
  • Cost for hiring Business Consultant – $2,500.
  • Insurance (general liability, workers’ compensation and property casualty) coverage at a total premium – $2,400.
  • Cost for payment of rent for 12 month at $1.76 per square feet in the total amount of $105,600.
  • Other start-up expenses including stationery ($500) and phone and utility deposits ($2,500).
  • The cost of printing the first set of your magazines – $50,000
  • The cost for distributing the magazines – $10,000
  • Operational cost for the first 3 months (salaries of employees, payments of bills et al) – $100,000
  • Cost for store equipment (cash register, security, ventilation, signage) – $13,750
  • Cost of purchase of distribution vans – $50,000
  • The cost for the purchase of furniture and gadgets (Computers, Printers, Telephone, TVs, Sound System, tables and chairs et al) – $4,000.
  • The cost of Launching a Website – $600
  • The cost for our opening party – $10,000
  • Miscellaneous – $10,000

We would need an estimate of $500,000 to successfully set up our magazine publishing and distribution company in Boston – Massachusetts. Please note that this amount includes the salaries of the entire staff member for the first month of operation.

Generating Funding / Startup Capital for Boston Weekly®, Inc.

Boston Weekly®, Inc. is a business that is owned and financed by Dr. Campbell Washington and other like mind investors. They do not intend to welcome any external business partner, which is why he has decided to restrict the sourcing of the start – up capital to 3 major sources.

These are the areas we intend generating our start – up capital;

  • Generate part of the start – up capital from personal savings and sell of stocks
  • Source for soft loans from family members and friends
  • Apply for loan from my Bank

N.B: We have been able to generate about $100,000 (Personal savings $80,000 and soft loan from family members $20,000) and we are at the final stages of obtaining a loan facility of $400,000 from our bank. All the papers and document have been signed and submitted, the loan has been approved and any moment from now our account will be credited with the amount.

14. Sustainability and Expansion Strategy

The future of a business lies in the numbers of loyal customers that they have the capacity and competence of the employees, their investment strategy and the business structure. If all of these factors are missing from a business (company), then it won’t be too long before the business close shop.

One of our major goals of starting Boston Weekly®, Inc. is to build a business that will survive off its own cash flow without the need for injecting finance from external sources once the business is officially running. We know that one of the ways of gaining approval and winning customers over is to sell our magazine a little bit cheaper than what is obtainable in the market and we are well prepared to survive on lower profit margin for a while.

Boston Weekly®, Inc. will make sure that the right foundation, structures and processes are put in place to ensure that our staff welfare are well taken of. Our company’s corporate culture is designed to drive our business to greater heights and training and re – training of our workforce is at the top burner of our business strategy.

As a matter of fact, profit-sharing arrangement will be made available to all our management staff and it will be based on their performance for a period of three years or more as determined by the board of the organization. We know that if that is put in place, we will be able to successfully hire and retain the best hands we can get in the industry; they will be more committed to help us build the business of our dreams.

Check List / Milestone

  • Business Name Availability Check:>Completed
  • Business Registration: Completed
  • Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts: Completed
  • Securing Point of Sales (POS) Machines: Completed
  • Opening Mobile Money Accounts: Completed
  • Opening Online Payment Platforms: Completed
  • Application and Obtaining Tax Payer’s ID: In Progress
  • Application for business license and permit: Completed
  • Purchase of Insurance for the Business: Completed
  • Leasing of facility and construction of standard Bakery: In Progress
  • Conducting Feasibility Studies: Completed
  • Generating capital from business partners: Completed
  • Applications for Loan from the bank: In Progress
  • Writing of Business Plan: Completed
  • Drafting of Employee’s Handbook: Completed
  • Drafting of Contract Documents and other relevant Legal Documents: In Progress
  • Design of The Company’s Logo: Completed
  • Graphic Designs and Printing of Packaging Marketing / Promotional Materials: In Progress
  • Recruitment of employees: In Progress
  • Purchase of the Needed furniture, racks, shelves, computers, electronic appliances, office appliances and CCTV: In progress
  • Creating Official Website for the Company: In Progress
  • Creating Awareness for the business both online and around the community: In Progress
  • Health and Safety and Fire Safety Arrangement (License): Secured
  • Opening party / launching party planning: In Progress
  • Establishing business relationship with vendors – wholesale suppliers / merchants (papers, and inks et al): In Progress
  • Purchase of delivery vans and bikes: Completed

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Magazine Publishing Business Plan Sample

MAY.08, 2018

Magazine Publishing Business Plan Sample

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:

Magazine Publishing Business Plan - 3 Years Profit Forecast

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:

Magazine Publishing Business Plan - Startup Cost

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:

Magazine Publishing Business Plan - Marketing Segmentation

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

Magazine Publishing Business Plan - Sales Monthly

6.4 Sales Yearly

Magazine Publishing Business Plan - Sales Yearly

6.5 Sales Forecast

Our forecasted sales on a yearly basis are summarized in the following column charts:

Magazine Publishing Business Plan - Unit Sales

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.

Magazine Publishing Business Plan - Brake-even Analysis

8.3 Projected Profit and Loss

8.3.1 profit monthly.

Magazine Publishing Business Plan - Profit Monthly

8.3.2 Profit Yearly

Magazine Publishing Business Plan - Profit Yearly

8.3.3 Gross Margin Monthly

Magazine Publishing Business Plan - Gross Margin Monthly

8.3.4 Gross Margin Yearly

Magazine Publishing Business Plan - Gross Margin Yearly

8.4 Projected Cash Flow

Magazine Publishing Business Plan - 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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COMMENTS

  1. How to Start a Publishing Company: 2024 Guide

    Last updated on January 8th, 2024. You can start your own publishing company with these simple steps: Develop a business structure (usually an LLC) Choose the name and location for your company. Register your business. Obtain your EIN and set up a business banking account.

  2. How to Start a Profitable Self Publishing Business [11 Steps]

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  3. The #1 Self Publishing Business Plan Template & Guidebook

    With the right business plan template and guidebook, you can create an effective, winning strategy! The #1 Self Publishing Business Plan Template & Guidebook provides an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide for developing a plan tailored to fit your individual needs and goals. Learn how this must-have tool can help you make your self-publishing ...

  4. How to Start a Publishing Company in 2024

    Once you have a business name, you have to register it with the government. This is a nine-digit number provided by the IRS that includes information about the state the business is registered in. Think of it a bit like your company's social insurance number. Learn more here. 4. Open a business bank account

  5. Magazine Business Plan Template & Guide [Updated 2024]

    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.

  6. Publishing Company Business Plan [Free Template

    Here are a few tips for writing the market analysis section of your publishing company business plan: Conduct market research, industry reports, and surveys to gather data. Provide specific and detailed information whenever possible. Illustrate your points with charts and graphs. Write your business plan keeping your target audience in mind.

  7. How to Start Your Own Online Magazine in 2024

    There are quite a few platforms for developing HTML5 digital magazines, and they all vary in price and options. Foleon offers a powerful drag and drop editor for creating and publishing your own multimedia-rich, interactive, HTML5-based digital magazines and comes with a free trial. Effort: Low. Impact: High.

  8. How to Create a Bulletproof Magazine Business Plan for a More

    Learn how to plan your multiplatform magazine business in seven steps, from content and audience to revenue and technology. Find out how to determine how large your business will become, how much of an investment you will need, and how to attract investors.

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

    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.

  10. How to start a magazine online in 15 steps

    Before production: Brainstorming. 1. Develop your business plan. Before writing a single word for your magazine, sit down to develop a business plan. This includes your mission (the reason why your magazine should exist), your goals, and how to attain them. Important questions to consider in your plan:

  11. Steps to Start an Online Publishing Business

    Choose your niche and business model. Launch your site. Online publishing is big business; it's only natural that you'd want a piece of the pie. Creating content on the internet can generate income and give you a personal platform to showcase your writing work. The digital publishing market is worth over $41 billion and is growing fast.

  12. Ultimate Guide on How to Start a Publishing Company

    After writing your business plan, it's time to get down to brass tacks and begin building out the infrastructure of your publishing company. You'll need office space with desks and computers, software licenses for design programs, printers or printing services, professional editors, etc., depending on the publications you intend to produce.

  13. Publishing Business Plan Examples

    Check out these sample business plans for magazine publishers, newsletter publishing, video television production, magazine journalists, music recording producers, theatrical music producers, and other publishing and production related business. Then use what you learn to write a business plan of your own. If you're looking to develop a more ...

  14. How to Start a Publishing Company

    Make sure your business name is not already taken. You can use your own name. 2. Create a Publishing Imprint and Logo. The publishing imprint can be the same as your business name, as long as the business name lends itself to a unique logo. Your imprint and logo should reflect the types of projects you complete. 3.

  15. Magazine Business Plan [Free Template

    Writing a magazine business plan is a crucial step toward the success of your business. Here are the key steps to consider when writing a business plan: 1. Executive Summary. An executive summary is the first section planned to offer an overview of the entire business plan. However, it is written after the entire business plan is ready and ...

  16. What is Online Publishing? An Ultimate Guide

    The online publication makes their books easy to find and read online. They even link them to social media platforms where algorithms make it even easier for their work to be discovered by the target audience. Online Magazine Publication. As mentioned earlier, online publishing is a dream come true for anyone interested in multimedia creations.

  17. Magazine Publisher Business Plan Example

    The "Artists In Business" magazine will sell for $3.95 per single issue on the newsstand. A one-year subscription is $16.95. A two year subscription is $29.95. "Trade" soft-cover books will sell for $14.95. Paperback size "booklets" will sell for $7.95. Future hardcover books will sell for $19.95 to $22.95.

  18. Online Magazine Business Plan [Sample Template]

    A Sample Online Magazine Business Plan Template. 1. Industry Overview. In the united states of America, a total number of 152 magazines closed shop In 2011 and also a total number of 82 magazines ceased operations in 2012 due to inability to make profits and of course generate enough money to continue publications.

  19. Magazine Publisher Business Plan: the Ultimate Guide for 2024

    Launching a magazine typically requires funding from investors, business loans, crowdfunding, or personal savings. The exact amount depends on factors like the magazine's frequency, distribution, staffing needs, and production costs. $50,000-$500,000 is a common range for launching a print magazine. Digital magazines have lower costs.

  20. Simple Business Plan Template (2024)

    Krista Fabregas is a seasoned eCommerce and online content pro sharing more than 20 years of hands-on know-how with those looking to launch and grow tech-forward businesses.

  21. Magazine Publishing Business Plan Sample

    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.

  22. Create Your Custom Business Plan Online

    1. Create a free Venngage account using your email, Google or Facebook profiles. 2. Select the perfect business plan template from our library of professionally designed templates. 3. Use our online Business Plan Creator to add your information, data and more to your business plan template.

  23. Writing a Successful Business Plan

    The business plan should clearly and concisely define the mission, val-ues, strategy, measurable objectives, and key results the owner expects. It is important to set aside enough time to formulate the plan. Experts recommend starting the planning pro-cess at least 6 months before initiating a new business.

  24. How to write an effective business plan

    Keep it to one or two pages. To make things easier for yourself, write this section last. By then you'll have a stronger understanding of your whole business plan and can more easily pull the ...