3 Free Magazine Maker to Create a Magazine Online (2018 Update)
When it comes to WordPress, I’m a bit of a geek, and I love offering my students (I teach WordPress Basics classes) unique and good resources they can share with friends and then get them to come to my courses. I hit upon the idea of creating a free online magazine pdf so that they could have it open as they work on WordPress and suggested it to some of my students, who were really keen for me to publish an online magazine that they could use as an extra resource.
But, I wanted a free online magazine maker to come up with something to really wow them.
So, I decided to go through a few create a magazine online options to see which was the perfect digital magazine software for my needs.
And boy, was the create a magazine online comparison a pretty complicated one and a long process .
I haven’t told my students how I had no initial create a magazine online skills, after all, I want them to look up to me (don’t we all!) so the magazine maker software I chose to create a magazine online had to make it as though I had great knowledge of how to start an online magazine for free.
Why make a magazine online?
First though, let me tell you why I chose to create a magazine online when I could simply create and print one on the computer. So the question is digital or print text magazine?
First of all, I like to show off, and if you create a magazine online you can REALLY show off.
With the right professional magazine maker app, you can create a magazine online that contains loads of bells and whistles that really give it the wow factor such as image, text, audio and video (Youtube, Vimeo,…).
You can use magazine covers creator to create a magazine online with video and images contained in it, you can create a magazine online with GIFS (Yes, you heard me right!) in it, and you can create a magazine online that works on any device (desktop, ipad, iphone,..), is shareable and looks absolutely amazing. Your readers will love it!
You do not have to have a business to create a magazine online though!
You could make a magazine for a school project, for work, create a magazine online for a social group or education project, or just for you!
Whatever you want to make there’s sure to be an online magazine template design layout for those without any create a magazine online skills to use.
You can even get a magazine maker free printable when you create a magazine online so you’ll have a paper copy if you wish so!
In short, finding the right online magazine creator ensures you’ll be able to create a magazine online you’re sure to be happy with.
How to create a magazine online?
You got no ideas about digital magazine creation?
Well, I’m here to tell you how to create a magazine online for your readers .
It depends on what digital magazine publishing software you choose to create a magazine online with, but usually, the steps to creating a magazine are pretty similar.
Firstly, take a look at online magazine examples to see what you want to create a magazine online like.
You’ll notice that most of the winning online magazines have certain create a magazine online features that are alike.
They have an eye-catching cover, rich content, and well laid out text.
Well, most of them do!
Some use a magazine cover creator tool (magazine cover maker) separate to the rest of the magazine, while some use magazine cover templates design layouts within the same software used for the rest of the content when they create a magazine online.
The way I preferred to create a magazine online was with a pdf though. Creating magazines online free is, in my opinion, the easiest and quickest way to create a magazine online.
And mine turned out pretty nicely.
Basically, to create a magazine online product in this way, you’ll make a pdf magazine, then upload it to your choice of create a magazine online software, then click to add videos if you want to create a magazine online with video content, or add GIFS (Yes, I’m still going on about GIFs) then use the magazine template publisher design layout to create a magazine online and publish and share it on social media (Facebook, Twitter & Co.).
How to create a successful online magazine?
This sounds a little like the question I’ve answered above, but to create a magazine online that is SUCCESSFUL, is not as easy as how to create a magazine online initially.
You have to create a magazine online that your target audience/ readers will want to look at.
I decided to create a magazine online that had videos of how to perform simple things on WordPress embedded, and the create a magazine online platform I used allowed me to do this seamlessly.
But finding the right create a magazine online publisher was not the easy task I thought it would be.
I had to compare a few to get the right create a magazine online option for me — and because I’m a nice guy, I’m sharing my thoughts on the create a magazine online options I tried.
What’s the best create a magazine online platform?
Well, for me, it’s Issuu create a magazine online platform.
Now, I know usually people writing a create a magazine online article would probably leave the best until last but I’m bucking with tradition, because although it’s the top create a magazine online option for me — another create a magazine online option might be better for you.
It depends on what you’re looking for from your create a magazine online platform — which features/ benefits are essential to you, are you going to create a magazine, publication, newsletter, business cards or a brochure for real estate,… the list could go on and on.
But for me, Issuu has it all — so let’s take a look at it.
Issuu
All you have to do is create and account and create a magazine online in Portable Document Format form, upload it, and within minutes you’ve added all the create a magazine online bells and whistles, and your magazine issue is ready to share (just don’t forget to hit the save button).
All the create a magazine online features I wanted in there were free, and I loved how easy it was to create a magazine online with page flip effect with Issuu. And you know what’s even better? There is no download of the software needed.
If there are any questions when making a flipbook or your need any kind of support, you can always contact their support team .
Issuu offers a free plan but if you are eager to use some more features you can always upgrade to one of the paid plans. Pricing starts at $22/month.
Now, in second place in the create a magazine online platform stakes comes Flippingbook.
FlippingBook
You can create a magazine online easily in no time with Flippingbook…
…But there was just something missing with this create a magazine online platform, even though you can integrate Google Analytics and your flipbooks are Search Engine Optimized and sharing your flip book is pretty simple.
Call me crazy, but I actually started to get pretty frustrated with this create a magazine online platform, and I couldn’t put my finger on the reason why, until I got to Issuu. (Besides the pricing starting at €49/month which is way more expensive than other similar software tools)
Issuu vs FlippingBook
With Issuu, you can create a magazine with text; finding everything where you’d expect it to be.
But I think that’s the problem with Flippingbook create a magazine online platform.
Nothing is where I would expect it to naturally be, and I had to spend some time searching for the create a magazine online features I wanted.
It really slowed me down when I went to create an online magazine with Flippingbook, which was why I didn’t rate it as highly, even though it comes with some amazing create a magazine online features.
But what both tools got in common: you have the possibility to choose between print and digital and that there is no download of the software needed.
Now, third place goes to a well-known create a magazine online platform page;
Joomag
With Joomag, again, it’s quite easy to create a magazine online, but the sticking point with this create a magazine online option is that if you want to print magazine (which I sometimes do when I create a magazine online) the printing costs are absolutely horrendous.
Having said that, if you do not want to print magazines, then this create a magazine online option might be for you.
I do not use my smartphone to create a magazine online, but Joomag’s app might really suit those people that do like to create magazine online with their smartphone. So in short: a really great new website.
Conclusion
So, I guess I’d better finish by saying there’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to create a magazine online software.
Just have a look round to find a create a magazine online solution that is professional and suits your ideas .
For me, and my WordPress students, Issuu is the perfect software tool — and I’m actually getting asked to create a magazine online frequently to cover different WordPress topics — which means I might have to create a magazine online that I can sell — there does seem to be a demand for it after all!
Feel free to leave a comment below this blog post or get in contact with me!
