How to Start a Magazine

November 1, 2002
The one-time owner of Kirkus Reviews, James B. Kobak, imparts magazine-industry wisdom in How to Start a Magazine. Moving from the conceptual to the practical, Kobak approaches his lesson in five parts: trends and statistics about the business; steps in starting a new magazine (mission statements, business plans, pilot issues, testing through single-copy sales, etc.); the major operations involved in publishing a magazine (i.e., editorial, production, marketing, circulation); magazine as brand ("It earns the loyalty, friendship and confidence of its readers as it speaks to them one-on-one about a subject they are very interested in"; "It establishes a market-place between its readers and advertisers"; etc.); and industry facts and information sources. Discussing case studies and stats of publilcations from Martha Stewart Living to the Harvard Business Review in a friendly, down-to-earth style, Kobak renders the jargon, concepts and numbers accessible.