Carpe zine

There’s no denying that online magazines are making it big. Here are tips on how to get started on your own.

MANILA, Philippines - Let’s face it, the age of the Internet is here and as much as we want to stick to good ol’ pen and paper, there’s no denying that going digital is more efficient. You don’t have to think about the costs of printing and the hassle of transferring your content from print to digital. With online publishing websites like Issuu.com, creating your own online magazine is easier than ever.

Take Stache magazine, for example, an online magazine for and by the creative youth launched in December 2010. Imagine a bunch of 17-year-old kids trying to figure out how to use InDesign and learning the ropes of producing a magazine. Looking back, it was a bit funny how clueless we were. I was a Business Management student in De La Salle University when I first contacted my Tumblr friends for this little project. None of us had any editorial background and our only motivation in creating a magazine was our desire to put the spotlight on talented kids who deserve it. But we made it work, and we even got an award for it (thank you, Young Star!)

So if you want to create your own online magazine, here are a few steps to get you started.

1. Define what kind of magazine you want to make. This includes defining your mission, vision and goals for creating a magazine. I know it sounds boring but this will be the backbone of everything that you will do from now on. Whenever you feel lost while coming up with content, you can always go back to your “why.”

You also have to decide on the general theme of your magazine. Do you want it to be about the independent music scene or would you rather have a magazine on grilled cheese (trust me, I’ve seen a few). Once you have a theme, come up with a name and a logo. Try your hardest to be original and stand out from the pack because this is an important element in building your brand. You don’t want to be remembered as the nth publication to use Nouvelle Vague in their logo.

2. Create a team. Running your own online publication is hard work. No matter how skilled you think you are, you can’t do it alone. Look for like-minded people who share the same passion as you do. You know what they say: everyone gets by with help from their friends.

3. Produce content and lay it out real nice. Now that you have defined your purpose and created a team, it’s time to outline your magazine. The process of coming up with editorial content differs from one team to another. Find out which one works best for your set of people. For Stache’s case, we threw possible themes into our imaginary hat and voted for the most appropriate for the month. After deciding on the theme, we brainstormed for content. The person who suggested the article or editorial was usually the one who produced it.

When all the articles and photos are turned in, we organize it in one folder for laying out. This part is crucial to your magazine. It will make or break the brand you have defined in your first step. If you are unsure of how you will treat your layout, consult a designer. But if you really want to DIY, browse a few of your favorite magazines and look for pegs. You can usually get ideas after a few page turns.

4. Create a marketing plan. What’s the use of producing a magazine if nobody knows about it? Pick up a calendar and create a social media plan. Observe the times when your friends or followers are most active online and take advantage of that. In our experience with Stache, we found out that our audience was most active on Friday and Saturday nights so we tried to schedule tweets and Facebook posts on those times. If you don’t have the time to manually post at the time you need to, take advantage of Facebook’s and Tweetdeck’s queue features.

Attracting an audience for your magazine should not be limited to reaching out online. Don’t forget to network and talk about it constantly. You don’t necessarily have to organize a big event. Sometimes a really good conversation over a cup of coffee will do the trick in sparking the never-ending chain of word-of-mouth.

5. Be consistent, be humble, and be honest. I’ve always believed that follow-through is the most important aspect in successfully creating an online magazine. With thousands of lists and essays in Thought Catalogue and Elite Daily, how can you compete for the goldfish-like attention span of the Millennials? You have to constantly be magnificent and riveting so that people simply can’t ignore you.

Most importantly, no matter how big you think your magazine is getting, you have to stay humble. You still have a lot to learn. After all, online magazines are just a tiny part in the publishing spectrum.