Q&A for How to Start Your Own Magazine

It actually depends on your target market. For example, if it is a magazine for millennials, you may want to start online and then as your customer base grows then you could expand into print. However, in most cases it may be best to start online first because it is a lower cost approach and it is more sustainable for the average person. Not too many people have the money or time to print, develop, distribute, and convince book stores and newspaper stands to carry the magazine developed.

It should be colorful and fun, with things like stickers or posters that kids can cut out. As far as themes, kids may enjoy comics, animals, super heroes, etc; basically anything you would find in a kid's TV show.

Try going to blurb.com then downloading their program called bookwright. It is very helpful in creating and designing a mock up, and you could even go all out and design the whole magazine on it.

This depends on a number of factors. You will need to pay staff wages, cover printing and publicity costs, and possibly purchase resources such as software or stock photographs. Calculate these costs and add them together to get an estimate.

If it's for a school then my advice would be to keep it fun but knowledgeable. Include some interesting facts on specific topics, jokes, small stories, student awards, or school achievements. You could also do feature stories on certain students to highlight interesting hobbies, fashion choices, pets, etc.

It depends on how many different operations you have. I would assign at least one person to each section of the magazine to start.

You could use programs like Adobe Photoshop to create a cover using an image (or several images) of your choice. Your cover should include the magazine title, price, issue number or name, barcode if applicable, and any details like major article titles.

It depends on a lot of things. It depends on the size of the page, whether the pages are in color, and who the printer is.

Publishing your first magazine is always the hardest because you are in the "start-up" phase of gathering the resources and content needed to publish your magazine. Once you have those resources and your team in place, yes, publishing every two months is possible. With issues that close together make sure you always work a couple of issues ahead. Deadlines come fast in the publishing industry!