9 Incredible Online Magazine Creator You Need to Know About!

Marvin Baradely
8 min readNov 8, 2018

--

I never believed I could be an online magazine creator, but I am. Today I’m going to let you in on all the secrets I’ve discovered about being an online magazine creator, so that you can benefit like I have.

My business is based on trust and knowledge.

If my customers don’t believe I am the most knowledgeable person for the job, I’m not going to get any work.

Becoming an online magazine creator has allowed me to do just that.

As a regular online magazine creator, I make use of all the online magazine creator programs I can find.

Over the years I’ve developed a handy suite of online magazine creator tools which help me do what I do to the best of my ability.

As a result, I’ve grown into a thought leader for my industry, and I want to share my success as an online magazine creator with you, my loyal readers.

But that’s not the best bit!

I thought being an online magazine creator would be expensive.

I presumed I’d have to invest heavily in online magazine creator software, or potentially hire in online magazine creator professionals to help me.

That was not the case.

I’ve managed to find online magazine creator tools which are, for the most part, free to use.

I’m going to introduce you to nine of the best online magazine creator programs which are free, easy and produce amazing results.

I’m going to turn you into an online magazine creator just like me, so that you can become the authority in your industry too.

What is a digital magazine?

Before we can start looking at the different online magazine creator programs you can use, we need to make sure we understand what we’re trying to do.

An emagazine, also known as a digital magazine, must be defined and understood in order to become an online magazine creator.

In a nutshell, e-magazines are essentially digital copies of printed magazines.

They should have the same amazing content, same beautiful images and same immersive experience as any printed one.

However, as an online magazine creator, you have some additional things to think about.

The best digital magazine software will let you add interactivity to your digital magazines online.

This means you can include links, audio, video and more as an online magazine creator.

But it’s not all pluses.

When you publish an online magazine, it’s going to be read by online users. This means that as an online magazine creator you need to be ready for people to read it on the train, in their cars, even in bed.

They may be using a traditional PC screen, but they may also want to view your issue magazine on their smartphone or tablet too.

Good magazine creation software will allow you to create an online magazine which is ‘responsive’.

This means it will view correctly regardless of the size of the screen.

However, despite needing to take this into account when you become an online magazine creator, you also have a massive upside to the equation.

There are no printing costs to consider, which means you can be an online magazine creator with as much content, colour and pages as you wish, with no restrictions!

How to make a digital magazine?

I’m not going to say that becoming an online magazine creator is easy. It requires dedication, creativity and commitment.

However, being an online magazine creator is much easier than you might think, thanks to all the magazine maker software that is out there to help you.

In order to become an online magazine creator, you’re going to need a few things, such as:

Awesome content:

Magazine creation software will help you make your own magazine a reality, but it’s still going to need content.

As an online magazine creator, you’re going to need plenty of inspiration to get ideas for engaging content.

I’ve found such inspiration lurks in:

  • Online forums
  • Social media channels
  • News articles
  • Competitor content
  • Q&A boards (e.g. Quora)
  • Content sharing sites (e.g. Reddit)

Starting to look for content inspiration in these locations is sure to let you discover some amazing ideas, so as a new online magazine creator, I recommend starting here.

Beautiful images:

As an online magazine creator, you’ll need to aim high with the visual appeal of your publication.

All your articles will need a proper magazine style layout, as well as an enticing cover design so that people actually take the plunge and read your magazine.

If you are unable to create your own images as an online magazine creator, you can try some of the free image websites to find professional graphics for your online magazine creator.

I like:

  • Pexels
  • Unsplash
  • Pixabay
  • Canva
  • Gratisography
  • Dreamstime

You may find that the very best images require payment, but as you’re only just getting started as an online magazine creator, I’m sure you’ll find enough in the free sections to get going.

A way to get it found:

When you’ve got to grips with how to make your own magazine, your next challenge is getting people to actually read it.

As a new online magazine creator, I recommend hitting up some of the bigger players in the industry, so that you get maximum traffic to your mag.

Some of my favourites for new online magazine creators include Magzter, Issuu and Joomag, but there are more out there too.

Once you know how you’re going to achieve all these elements, you’re on your way to becoming an online magazine creator of the highest calibre.

How to create an online magazine?

Let’s take how to create a magazine online step by step now. Becoming an online magazine creator doesn’t happen overnight, trust me! You’re going to need to put some time and energy into this if you want to be a successful online magazine creator. Here’s what you’ll need to do:

1. Identify your audience. Tailor your online magazine creator platform to target these people.

2. Uncover your niche. You need to be an online magazine creator with passion, enthusiasm and knowledge, so pick something that really floats your boat.

3. Identify your goal. Do you want to sell subscriptions as an online magazine creator, or drive traffic to your website? I’m not here to judge your goal, but you do need to set one.

4. Write some content. As a new online magazine creator, this will sound easier than it is. Research writing techniques by reading publications from other online magazine creators.

5. Source some images. I’ve mentioned some places to find free graphics as an online magazine creator. Create your own images if you can.

6. Lay it out beautifully. Some online magazine creator programs will include templates and layouts free for you to use.

7. Design a cover. A great online magazine creator for cover art will help you catch the eye of the browsing public on the virtual news stand.

8. Upload and convert. I recommend turning your online magazine template into a flipping, interactive magazine, which can be done easily with some of the free online magazine software I’m going to introduce to you.

9. Shout about it. Spread the word about your publication, using all tools available to you. Email marketing, social… get the word out so your magazine gets some eyeballs.

10. Evaluate and repeat. As an online magazine creator, you need to evaluate constantly. Did your magazine creation software live up to expectations? Did your content work for you? What can you do better next time?

As a new online magazine creator, it’s crucial you publish regularly to build up a base of fans and followers.

Make sure you’re using an easy online magazine maker to let you spend more energy creating content than fiddling with the tools.

What software is used to make magazines?

I’ve found that you need a bunch of different digital magazine publishing software as an online magazine creator in order to get the job done. These include:

  • Word processing — your initial content will probably be written in MS Word or something similar
  • Image editing — you’ll need to tweak your images to make them perfect
  • Layout tools — as a new online magazine creator, you’ll need hand holding through the layout process
  • Cover creators — a magazine cover creator will let you make amazing cover art
  • Publishing platforms — once complete, you’ll need somewhere to host your magazine, so people can read it

To save you some time, I’ve reviewed some of the best online magazine creator programs for your use.

As part of my digital publishing platform comparison work, I want to share my nine favourite and best online magazine publishing software choices.

These will be a great place to start as a new online magazine creator.

What is the best digital magazine software?

My nine choices are a mix of online magazine creator programs and other little tools which help you to become a successful online magazine maker. See what you think:

1. Magcloud

I love this online magazine creator. It comes with loads of free templates built in, and more if you upgrade to the premium online magazine creator option.

2. Issuu

Although the options for using this tool as an online magazines creator are fairly limited, as a hosting platform, it’s great. 80 million readers use Issuu every month, and as a new online magazine creator, that’s a great number. Ideal for creating an online magazine.

3. Zmag

If you want to be able to link to products, or perhaps your ecommerce store, this online magazine creator is a great pick. It allows unlimited product based links, making it easy to turn your reader into a customer.

4. Joomag

As an online magazine creator, Joomag is amazing. It is simple enough for even a novice online magazine creator to pick it up fast but has enough functionality to let a more experienced online magazine creator get all technical and bespoke.

5. Canva

I promised you a magazine maker app which would let you create gorgeous magazine covers with ease, and this is it. As an online magazine creator, it’s lacking in functionality, but for a little bit of graphic work, free of charge, you can’t beat it.

6. Anyflip

Hopefully you’ve read some offerings from other online magazine creator businesses, and have experienced the luxury of a 3D flipping magazine? If so, this is the program you need as an online magazine creator to turn your PDF into a gorgeous flipping book.

7. Blurb

This is more of an advanced online magazine creator program, but if you’re a bit experienced already, it could be a good choice. I like it because as well as being a magazine maker free printable versions of your publication are also available; it’s nice to have the option.

8. Adobe Spark

If you’ve ever been involved with online magazine creator graphic design, you’ll have heard of Adobe. Although most Adobe programs come at a high cost, this online magazine creator is actually free to use.

9. Madmagz

I love that the online magazine creator templates in this software have actually been made by professional magazine designers. It’s a quick, easy and free way to create an online magazine that looks like the professionals made it.

Well, I seem to have given away all my secrets about being an awesome online magazine creator.

Hopefully you’ll find this useful and will have a crack at using some of these online magazine creator programs to create your own magazines.

Final thoughts

I never said I would help you become an online magazine creator with zero input from you.

However, I hope you now know how to start an online magazine for free, and that when it comes to being a magazine creator online free is totally possible.

I would love to see your endeavours as an online magazine creator. Please do share our creations with me!

--

--

Marvin Baradely

Writer; Digital Magazine Software Specialist; Food Lover