The Magazine

Well, I'm half way through setting up the first mag and I must say I like it! I've come to the realization though that I have way too many photos and not enough space in the magazine. I can't add more pages as it won't fold in half if I put too many pages in it. Weird huh?

Anyways, looks like I may be putting out more than one issue of the magazine. and I haven't even started on the book yet! Now that is going to be fun!

I am a simply man, I prefer things to be simple and uncomplicated. White must be white and black must be black, there is no room for gray. I guess that phoilosophy is stronger than i thought, I am almost finished with the first issue. Now, I must admit, I am cheating as I don't have any text nor do I have any ads to place in the magazine so it's been pretty simple.

What hasn't been simple is choosing the images! Had I known I had to browse through all the images I had I may not have started this little project. Gettuing them all into 68 pages is a pain too! I thought 68 pages would be enough to get most of my best images in there, but then I started thinking of themes so I had to rearrange everything on the fly. That was when I realized I have too many photos. and I haven't even come close to touching my infrared photos yet!

Looks like we're gonna have more than one issue!

What made you select 68 pages Jeff and is it an honest-to-goodness paper mag?

I used to subscribe to several "paper" photography magazines and i must admit, I doubt I will ever move totally to electronic editions of my favorite mags. I started looking around at magazines, in the airport, coffee shops, doctos offices and compared the page counts. I then started comapring the binding of the magazines, though I much prefer what's called perfect binding, I have settled on what is called saddle stich simply because it's cheaper in the print on demand publishing. Saddle stitch simple means the pages will be laid out flat and stapled in the center.

Because of this, I decided i didn't want to make the magazine too thick as it would cause some of the pages to pop off the staples. I settled on 68 pages because of a magazine I am currently subbscribed to, After Capture, and it feels good and takes a pretty good beating for saddle stich and 68 pages. It's not too thick and still gives me room to put some images into it.

now, the first issue I'm just doing a quick and dirty test to see if I can do it and to see how it comes out in print. If it meets my standards, I may adjust the next issue based on what I learned and any feed back i get from friends and family.

The other thing, since I'll be using MagCloud I am limited to a minimum of four pages to a maximum of 384 pages. Depending on how many pages, they have to be a factor of 2 or 4. After a certain amount of pages, it can be a factor of two, below a certain number it has to be a factor of four.

The other reason is i had to set a limit on this issue, other wise it would litterally be 384 pages of my photos!

I still haven't decided if I am going to allow a digital version or just print. The other factor to the process is that MagCloud charges 20 cents per page so I didn't want to go over board on pages. 60 pages comes out to about $13 dollars. I'm considering allowing a digital version and not charging for it if a print version is purchased. I haven't fully decided yet.

The one thing I have decided is that the second issue is going to be dedicated to infarred only! Should be a collectors editon if you ask me. lol

Hope this helps answer your question.

Jeff

Oh, and to help me with keeping my home life reasonably sane, I have decided to make it a quarterly thing though I don't know what's going to happen after the fourth issue. I am considering an issue for my "Writers and Friends" where people can submit "stuff". Yeah, I have lots of ideas, but theyr are starting to get a bit thin. I also want to do a magazine dedicated to Infared Photography. I think there is a market for it, I just need to get some "victims" on board to write articles and the like.

Oh, and just in case if your wondering, I have a few media kits from a national magazine and a local magazine to get an idea for ad rates. Yeah, I've done my research. Now I have to see where it takes me. lol

Sounds good. If there's anything i can do just give me a shout.

Don't know how you'll be able to help at the moment, but I wouldn't mind an honest critique when it's done and published.

That I can do for ya mate and i'll be honoured to give my input.

Sounds like things are progressing well. Will you be showing a preview here?

http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/204884

Check it out and let me know what you think. Yes, you can preview before you buy. Yes, you can even have it shipped to the UK.

It is a bit pricey, but I figure for a few of my images, it might be worth it. I didn't put too many words in it, though I probably should have at least named the photos. Oh well, I can make those changes with the next issue. The next issue is going to be my infrared issue.

Let me know what you think.

Jeff

Yes, some captions next time will be good.

A BIG thumbs up from me.
You have a great eye and you found some stunning locations.
Good on ya mate!

Thanks! I just wish I could have Scotland, Ireland and England in there too! I've even toyed with the idea of Romania. Unfortunately money has dried up again so I'll have to start saving. We've put off our Italy trip until next year. Can you imagine all the awesome IR photos I could get from Italy? lol

By the way folks, don't feel you are in any way obligated to buy the magazine. The price is a bit much for any person's budget. It actually costs $13.60 per issue and I just added 1.40 to round it up to $15. I wish there was a way to make the price a bit lower.

Anyways, it was fun and I learned a lot from it. I must admit I can't wait to get started on the next one.

It is a great way to show off your work! Did you have to buy software or did you do it through a website?

That is what I thought too! I had to buy Adobe Indesign which really helped put the pages together, then I downloaded a template from MagCloud that allowed me to make sure I was staying within their parameters. I get my free proof on Friday, so if anyone is in the que waiting to buy, hold off a bit until I can verify the quality.

Damn, I screwed up the cover! Oh well, I can say it was an artistic attempt to be different, to be non-conformist. Yeah, that's my story and I'm gonna stick to it. Wonder if anyone will believe me?

Anyway, second issue is in the early stages of design. It's going to be an incredidible issue packed with more than 84 images and more than 80 pages of fantastic infrared photographs.