3 Things You Need to Start a Magazine

Before getting into too many details, there are a few basic things that you must have in place before you can start your magazine. On the surface they look simple, but they will make the difference when you are actively pursuing your magazine publishing dream. It's important to invest time and deep consideration into each point listed here. Let's examine three things you should have in place before launching your magazine.
1) A Plan
Publishing a magazine is a complex project and if you don't have a solid plan going into it, you are likely to get confused and make poor decisions. At the very least, having a plan will help you get through the tough parts of publishing. Your plan should include what type of magazine to start,your target audience, how you will distribute the magazine, your editorial mission, how you plan to make money with it, the frequency of printing, your long-term goals,your short-term goals and how much money will it take to get things going. I've mentioned several things but that's not the end of it. It's advisable to get a mentor that has been through the process to help guide you, particularly in the very early stages of planning.
2) Money
You can definitely start a magazine without much money-but you won't continue very long. After devising your plan, you should have an idea of how much money you need to start. The question then becomes how will you acquire this money? First look to yourself, people will take you more seriously if you are willing to put your own money into your project. Avoid using your personal credit card right away because you may need that for emergencies.
There are also several grants and loans that may be available in your city. Even if it is not cold hard cash, some city governments offer free training and mentoring programs for budding entrepreneurs. Take advantage of those programs. Also consider participating in programs offered by non-profits whose goal is to stimulate small business. For example,I was in a program that required a 10 week class, and once I finished I received a certificate and a small grant or micro loan. You can find these on the business section of your state government website.
Finally, don't forget your advertisers. You should be able to fund your first run and continuing issues on advertising sales alone. Not only is this the way to fund your magazine,it's a way to make money from it. The key is once you have your first ad sales, make sure you produce results for those business owners and things only get easier from then on.
3) Readers
This one might be obvious but that doesn't make it any less important. Before printing anything you need to be sure you have an audience. You can do this with market research. Check consumer list to see how many people are in your potential audience. Use social media to survey what people are interested in and what they want to read about. You can even use Google's keyword tool to see what kind of information people are searching for. It's important to keep advertisers happy, but you must have happy readers to give advertisers the results they want..
Publishing your magazine is a big, complex project but it is manageable. To increase your chances of success be sure you have a good business plan with input from someone experienced in magazine publishing, be prepared to find some money to start your project and finally make sure you have an audience before spending big bucks on your magazine.