How do I start my own magazine?

How to start a magazine company?

• I want to start a magazine that focuses on the underground Hip Hop/Rap, R&B, and Reggaeton here in Chicago. I wanted to know what process do i have to go through in order to launch a successful magazine company. I would also like to know the different departments there is to a magazine company. I am a graphic designer so if there are any magazine templates i could use please link me to them. I work with Adobe Photoshop CS3 & CS4 Portable.

• Answer:

  Before you start, you need to plan, plan, plan. You need to research and know your target market. Ask yourself: Who are my competitors? Why is my magazine unique? Magazines are easy to start but hard to maintain long-term. You want to start small and grow. Do you have funding or will you work with a team of volunteers? If you don't have funding, it might be best to start online. There are many magazine web templates available online like the Wordpress magazine templates. For print magazines, most publishing companies use Adobe InDesign and QuarkXpress as their layout program, which are easy to use. Here are some article links that might help you. (Also check magazinelaunch.com which is a good resource for starting your own magazine). The first link below is an article called "Basics of Publishing a Magazine" and the second gives information about different departments/jobs that exists. http://magazinepublishing.suite101.com/article.cfm/publishing_a_magazine http://magazineindustry.suite101.com/article.cfm/magazine_job_titles Hopes this helps and best wishes!