Small Press Magazine publication
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Definition: A small press magazine is any publication in a bound form that is produced in a small number(generally 10K or less, usually 1K or less).
There are a few important aspects to take into concideration when planning a small press magazine.
The first and most important aspect is the theme or topic of the magazine. With this theme, you can choose what to include and what not to include. This may sound like a no-brainer, however it is of utmost importance for content descisions and submission refusal (if you're getting content from other people). If you work on the magazine for long enough you will weed out the useless themes and settle on the fundamental ideas that will fule your drive.
The second most important aspect is effort. This is the amount of effort you're willing to put into the magazine. You should figure out if you want to go out and spend twenty hours a day promoting your magazine and getting people to give you money for it or if you want to spend a few hours a week putting together a few stapled pages while you watch tv. Once you figure out how much time you're willing to spend, you can start physically putting together your magazine.
Now, the next aspect is content. Content is anything that you want to put into your magazine. Generally, the two types of content are images and copy. Images are any pictures, drawing or comics you feel fit your theme and copy is all the words. You can make all of the content yourself, you can get friends to give you some or you can solicit it from people you don't know. This is usually the best part of making a magazine as you get to meet people and exchange new ideas.
The last aspect is layout. This just means placing your content in a way that you want to have it. This can be a simple as afixing (taping or papergluing) the images and text to pages and putting them in the order you want. It can be as complex as using high tec layout programs and paying a professional printing house to make test copies of the issue from them.
After these aspects have been addressed, your magazine is finished. Now all you need to do is bring it to press and distribute it. Your press run (number of issues printed) depends on how you want to get it out to your audiance (readers). If your audiance is a couple of people, your press could be as simple as making a few more by hands or a copying machine. If you want to distribute to a larger group, a small press might be good. Don't over estimate your audiance size by too much. The people who might be interested in your magazine will probably not see it the first time, but you'll get a good estimate after a few issues. The larger the press run and the higher the quality, the more it costs. Advertisement in your magazine by other people help to balance out the cost.
Distribution is how you get your magazine to your audiance. The general way for small press is mail order. This involves putting the magazine in an envelope and sending it to your audiance. The other option is to have stores sell your magazine. Many small stores will consign your magazines. This means that they will put your magazines on the shelves and pay you a percentage of what the cover price is (60% is generally acceptable but more is always better) for each one that sells. They will usually return the unsold issues if you request it. Distributors are people, groups or businesses that will get your magazine into stores but they take part of your percentage (up to 70% but less is always better). Your advertisement in other places helps to build an audiance and an audiance helps to build distribution and vice versa. It can be as simple as fliers or as complex as an ad agency, but it costs, a lot.
There is all the basic information. It is as simple or complex as you like it to be. But remember, it is your magazine done in your way at your pace. Do it like the art it is.
There are a few important aspects to take into concideration when planning a small press magazine.
The first and most important aspect is the theme or topic of the magazine. With this theme, you can choose what to include and what not to include. This may sound like a no-brainer, however it is of utmost importance for content descisions and submission refusal (if you're getting content from other people). If you work on the magazine for long enough you will weed out the useless themes and settle on the fundamental ideas that will fule your drive.
The second most important aspect is effort. This is the amount of effort you're willing to put into the magazine. You should figure out if you want to go out and spend twenty hours a day promoting your magazine and getting people to give you money for it or if you want to spend a few hours a week putting together a few stapled pages while you watch tv. Once you figure out how much time you're willing to spend, you can start physically putting together your magazine.
Now, the next aspect is content. Content is anything that you want to put into your magazine. Generally, the two types of content are images and copy. Images are any pictures, drawing or comics you feel fit your theme and copy is all the words. You can make all of the content yourself, you can get friends to give you some or you can solicit it from people you don't know. This is usually the best part of making a magazine as you get to meet people and exchange new ideas.
The last aspect is layout. This just means placing your content in a way that you want to have it. This can be a simple as afixing (taping or papergluing) the images and text to pages and putting them in the order you want. It can be as complex as using high tec layout programs and paying a professional printing house to make test copies of the issue from them.
After these aspects have been addressed, your magazine is finished. Now all you need to do is bring it to press and distribute it. Your press run (number of issues printed) depends on how you want to get it out to your audiance (readers). If your audiance is a couple of people, your press could be as simple as making a few more by hands or a copying machine. If you want to distribute to a larger group, a small press might be good. Don't over estimate your audiance size by too much. The people who might be interested in your magazine will probably not see it the first time, but you'll get a good estimate after a few issues. The larger the press run and the higher the quality, the more it costs. Advertisement in your magazine by other people help to balance out the cost.
Distribution is how you get your magazine to your audiance. The general way for small press is mail order. This involves putting the magazine in an envelope and sending it to your audiance. The other option is to have stores sell your magazine. Many small stores will consign your magazines. This means that they will put your magazines on the shelves and pay you a percentage of what the cover price is (60% is generally acceptable but more is always better) for each one that sells. They will usually return the unsold issues if you request it. Distributors are people, groups or businesses that will get your magazine into stores but they take part of your percentage (up to 70% but less is always better). Your advertisement in other places helps to build an audiance and an audiance helps to build distribution and vice versa. It can be as simple as fliers or as complex as an ad agency, but it costs, a lot.
There is all the basic information. It is as simple or complex as you like it to be. But remember, it is your magazine done in your way at your pace. Do it like the art it is.
