How to Publish a Hip Hop Magazine

If you have a love of hip hop and a great plan for a fresh new magazine, you are in for an exciting time. Many magazines don't make it past their first year, so you will need a combination of a solid, well-planned magazine with an incredible marketing and sales ability. To publish isn't difficult, but it can be costly. You will need to have a lot of money to start and maintain a successful magazine.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Secure your editorial content and advertising. This can be done at the the same time as Step 2. You will need to hire writers, editors and salespeople; a great place to start is MediaBistro (see Resources). Post jobs in the job section if you can afford to hire full-time staff, or take a look at their freelance marketplace for high-level editorial talent. Alternatively, you may want to hire a publisher who will do everything for you (see Resources).

2. Design your first issue. Look at similar magazines like "Vibe," "XXL" and "Dub" to get an idea of what a hip hop magazine looks like. Before you can secure an accurate price quote, a printer will need to know the size of your magazine, number of pages and amount of colors used.

3. Tally up your readers. You will need figure out how many copies go to subscribers, how many to contributors or artists featured, advertisers, newsstands and promotion. If selling to bookstores, they will let you know on average how many copies they need.

4. Contact trade publishers or printers and secure pricing. Besides knowing all the information above, you will also need to consider type of paper used. Ask the printer for suggestions. There are several hundred thousand companies in the United States alone who are able to do this.

5. Contact a mailing house and get price quote for letting them handle your subscription services if your subscription base is fairly large.

6. Choose your printer and submit the final version of the magazine to them. Printers will usually deliver the magazine directly to any mailhouse you choose.

7. Market your new publication. Maybe you can get one of the featured artists to put on a show to help get the word out about your new enterprise.

Tips & Warnings

• You may know a lot about hip hop, but how much do you know about magazines? Download "The Magazine Handbook" from MPA (see Resources). While you're there, be sure to check out the website; it provides a wealth of knowledge about all aspects of the magazine industry, as well as networking events to help you meet and learn from other magazine publishers. Publishing a magazine is a team effort that involves a lot of time and money. Don't assume you will get enough advertisers and subscribers by your first issue to pay the bills.

Resources

• Mr. Magazine FAQ
• "The Magazine Handbook" from MPA
• Mediabistro.com
• Recommended Reading