Although it requires less effort than a print magazine, creating a digital magazine requires a number of resources and expenses of various kinds. In fact, the cost of creating each issue of your online magazine will vary depending on your strategy and choices.
Hire your team
The most important element of your magazine is your team. If you want to build a long-lasting, high-quality magazine, a team of qualified members is a cost you'll need to consider. Define the key positions that will be essential to the creation and successful launch of your online magazine. Naturally, you will need writers and proofreaders, but you may also want to recruit for communication, advertising partnerships, graphic design, photography, etc. It is recommended that you begin the creation of your digital magazine by defining a well thought-out strategy, which will help you determine precisely all your recruitment needs.
Take your time
Creating a print magazine takes a lot of time, it takes several months from the editorial conference to the printing of the copies. A digital magazine doesn't require as much time because it doesn't require as many steps to create. However, this does not mean that creating an online magazine is a breeze. In fact, the main steps in creating an online magazine are: the editorial conference, then the research and writing, the layout, and finally, the online publication.
Use the right tools
To write and layout your digital magazine, you'll need to use a variety of tools and softwares. Consult with your team to determine which tools are essential to you. From a word processing program like Word, to a DTP program like InDesign, to an online project tracking tool like Trello: you'll be racking up subscriptions and expenses to ensure your team has everything they need to create a high-quality magazine.
However, when it comes to uploading and sharing your magazine, you only need one tool: Calameo. Using our solution, you can not only publish your magazine on the web, but also enrich it with multimedia content - such as videos - , track its detailed statistics, and even share it on your website and social networks. Calameo is a complete and easy-to-use digital publishing tool.
Create a dedicated website
You need to create an online space dedicated to your magazine: a website. In this day and age, it is unthinkable for a magazine not to have a website. Especially an online magazine. You'll need to buy a domain name (preferably your magazine's) and choose a web host. Your site will also have to be built. All of this requires money, as you can imagine.
That said, you can use Calameo to simplify some of the construction of your site. In fact, our solution allows you to integrate your publications directly into your website with just one click. Choose to display each issue one by one in different places, or use our Calaméothèque feature to build an entire page, like an online library, gathering all your issues in one place. Moreover, the Calaméothèque is automatically updated on your site with each new issue published in the dedicated folder on Calaméo. A real time saver!
Create a buzz
Finally, you will have to make your magazine known by using advertising. In the digital age, it's up to you to decide whether or not you want to allocate a budget for this. Indeed, you can decide to rely on digital word-of-mouth by using SEO (natural referencing, i.e. free) and natural publications on social networks.
As for sharing on social networks, it couldn't be easier with Calameo: one click is enough! Moreover, your contents shared from our platform are readable directly in your publications on social networks and thus optimize the re-sharing and the virality potential. Perfect for creating a buzz around your digital magazine!
In conclusion, it all depends on your budget
From zero to thousands of dollars, it's up to you to determine the budget you can allocate to the creation of your online magazine. Depending on your strategy, you will have to define which are the most important expenses, and which ones you can do without.