How to Make Money With Your Own Publishing Company

Member

By Will Atkinson
User-Submitted Article

Article Rating:

(2 Ratings)

If you love to write and wish to be self-employed, you can make money with your own publishing company. Like any new business it requires discipline and hard work. You may be surprised to find that it does not take a lot of start up costs to get your new venture off of the ground.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

A word processing program
Desktop publishing software

Step 1

Find a niche, then fill it. This should not only be something that inspires you, but ideally will be on a subject that holds a great deal of interest for the local population. In order for you to make money as a publisher, you’ll need the drive and desire to put out great content, a large enough audience to make it a success, and enough of a potential profit margin to make a living wage, which leads us to step two:
Step 2

Research your printing costs. For example, if you’ve decided to print a forty page, 8 ½ by 11 inch magazine with an initial run of five hundred copies you should get a bid from several local printers, as well as a few online printing companies. Once you’ve decided on a printer, you’ll need to pay for their services, which leads us to step three:
Step 3

Sell ad space in your publication. If you aren’t comfortable selling to people, hire a sales force on commission. Unless you have the proper software and the talent to go along with it, you’ll also need to hire a graphic designer to lay out the ads in your publication. You should price your ads high enough to cover the costs of printing the publication, paying the sales team, the graphic designer, and yourself. Many publishers choose to give their magazine away as a service to the community. This increases readership, which in turn increases exposure to the businesses that advertise in your publication.
Step 4

Get permission to display your magazine in several locations throughout your community. Local coffee shops and convenience stores are great places to start, and are usually agreeable to displaying free publications as a service to their customers.

Comments

ramblin62 said

Flag This Comment

on 11/6/2009 Good details for starting your own publishing company while keeping costs low. Gaining loyal readership today is a tough thing and not for the faint of heart.