Through this article you will have a chance to see fantastic videos that bring knowledge and inspiration for digital publishers at all levels of experience. No matter how advanced you are in the art of publishing digital magazines, I am sure that you will benefit from watching them.
Since we are on the wave of mobile revolution, all walks of life are mobile-affected and so does publishing. Digital magazines, especially the mobile ones help build identity and, just as blogs, they are gradually becoming a must-have online asset for successful companies. I am going to take you on a journey. From the idea of starting a magazine, through cover design, to behavioral habits of digital readers. Enjoy the ride!
How to start a magazine with no money
by Evan Carmichael
In this video Evan Carmichael gives a short speech about starting your own magazine from a business point of view. He provides a glimpse of the pros and cons of bootstrapping, or raising the initial capital. Those are very well invested 5 minutes of your time. If you want to learn more about starting your own digital magazine you can also learn from the article written by Melissa, who is raising capital for her publishing venture via a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.
An inspiring TEDx story about starting your own magazine
by Jacqueline Nwobu
In this video Jacqueline Nwobu gives a vibrant talk on starting her own magazine during TEDxEuston. Although she did not have any experience with magazine publishing, she quit her job as a medical technologist to found the Munaluchi Bride Magazine. Later, it became the leading wedding magazine catering to women of color in the USA distributed nationwide. Jacqueline and her husband launched their magazine in 2010 and this video is a peculiar case study for anyone interested in starting their own magazine, as it clearly shows the biggest challenges and traps that one is faced with at the very beginning.
How to create stunning magazine covers using google docs template
by Paul Nowak
What can you do if you do not have inDesign but still need to design a magazine’s cover? In this video Paul, the co-founder of PressPad shows how to create a magazine cover without using any Adobe products. He demonstrates how it can be done in Google Docs with free cover templates that PressPad has for you. The links used in the video are right here so after watching the video you can test them out. They will take you to the Google Drawing templates you can copy and work on.
The way people read digital magazines is very different from the way they read print
by Robert Grainger
Selling digital magazines can be tricky because it is hard to apply all sales patterns from the physical world to the mobile one. In fact, based on a big data study, it is certain that people act differently in the digital world, and their reading habits are also different. For example, people are less interested in reading a 200-page magazine on a monthly basis but they are far more engaged when it is a weekly containing fewer pages. I recommend watching the video as the knowledge you will gain may affect your revenue and pricing strategies.
Digital reading and buying habits
Our own research shows that when it comes to new installs and sales of magazine apps, timing is also an important factor. As the organic installs’ peak is Monday, sending push notifications during the weekend plays a crucial role in driving in-app sales. It is so because readers often forget about newly installed apps. That is why PressPad Newsstand Apps are able to receive push notifications sent by the publisher over their PressPad dashboard, and that signal is sufficient for lots of readers to check back the magazine app and eventually buy a subscription.
Organic magazine apps downloads – peaks on Monday.
There is one other major habit of mobile readers that directly influences digital magazine revenue growth generated through mobile magazine app. The revenue of all our publishers who uploaded their back issues instantly went up. It works because mobile readers see huge value in having access to back issues. That is why they are more eager to buy subscriptions if they see a large back issue base available in the app. In their perception that is an enormous benefit that builds the publishers’ revenue.
Starting digital magazine, lean way
Key Takeaways and free tools:
- Start small
- Use Trello or Asana to manage your targets and tasks effectively
- Hackpad helps you create and manage your documents
- Check global or local trends with Google Trends
- Understand what people are saying about your niche thanks to the Mention
- Create your online presence through a website
- Create social media pages to start building connections
- First determine where are your readers online
- Build knowledge and credibility through partnership with other professionals
- Use Twitter hashtag search to aim your potential partners
- Join relevant groups on LinkedIn to interact with likewise professionals
- Maximize your social media presence as a base for building digital distribution channel
- Think about your revenue/pricing strategy
- Read “Fixed to Flexible” a Todd Sattersten’s free book about smart pricing
- Use quality inDesign magazine templates
- Use this free inDesign templates for your magazine
- This is a bundle of high quality professional photos
- Get published in the App Store to reach mobile users
- With PressPad magazine apps are free
- You’ll get own mobile apps with push notifications, subscriptions and more
- Google Play Android app
- Apple Newsstand app for iPad/iPhone/iPod