Maybe You Should Write A Magazine!: Complete Guide: How to Write, Lay Out, Publish and Profit

One night in 1989 (I know, ancient history), I was lying in bed thinking about how to grow my wedding photography business. I came up with a truly brilliant idea! Using my Mac Plus® computer and a new program named Aldus™ Pagemaker®, I would publish a magazine for the local market, carrying ads for local wedding service businesses, and distribute it locally and free. The ads would pay for everything, the advertisers would get exposure to their target market, and Brides would have resources handed to them. Free. Perfect.

The year was 1999, and the internet didn't yet exist, but I had a background in writing, layout, typography and photography that gave me the tools needed. (That was an unusual set of skills at the time. Now, though, heck, just about anyone who can run a computer could do it easily! Like you, for example!)

That night, I nudged my wife and told her the idea. She groggily said, "Yeah, do it."

So, I did. Over the next 21 years, publishing the magazine in San Luis Obispo, California, and later in six other cities, I earned a nice living working from home on my desktop, and later, laptop, computers.

How? Well, these days, it's easy. In fact, during the last few years, it became very easy, and I produced a first-class, glossy, full-color 112-page magazine in about six weeks of part-time work for the SLO edition. We loved getting the ad contracts and checks in batches from our sales rep in California. There's something really enjoyable about being able to make bank deposits of $10,000 every couple of weeks!

The magazine allowed us to leave California in 1991 (and still publish there), buy a house in Colorado, raise two kids, and start other profitable businesses in the spare time the magazine business allowed.

Low no startup costs—just your computer and a couple hundred dollars
You work from home
You need only yourself, a commission-paid sales rep, and a commercial printer
This book tells you all you need to know and how to do it, step by step
If you are not a graphic artist or photo expert, you can hire those services and pay for them in advertising trade.
Sound intriguing? If you are a writer, this could be something you can do. Doesn't have to be about weddings, either. It can be about any number of things. Just look at the magazine rack at Barnes & Noble or Walmart. Almost any subject could also be published as a local magazine if it has a local population interested in it. (San Luis Obispo, where I started, had a population of 35,000, and a state university with students ... who fell in love and needed wedding services. Bingo.

My book tells exactly how I did it then, and how to do it now (I started publishing in 1990 and grew along with the internet, etc.). You can do this using wonderful applications available from Adobe™ for about $30 per month, your email, and having only one independent contractor doing the sales for you. You then get them printed and ship them to the sales person, who also does your distribution. It's all clearly laid out in this book.

If you want more adventure in your writing life, read this book and try this!