Start a Non Profit Literary Magazine

The poet E.E. Cummings once said running a literary magazine was like pushing your head through a straw. Thankfully, it is not quite that difficult and is often far more fun.

Steps

  1. Decide what kind of material you like to read. Take a look at other literary magazines and see what is offered. You can find both famous and obscure literary magazines at most bookstores from big chain stores like Borders to your neighborhood bookstore.
  2. Consider registering your magazine as a Tax-Exempt Non-Profit organization to keep your costs low. You can get tax exemption information from the State Franchise Tax Board in your state. Some states require higher fees than others, but the good news is you can reside in one (e.g. California) and register in another. California is very expensive - over $800+ while Delaware is less than $100! The advantages of a non-profit organization is you can bring in money through advertising and sales and keep the money to run the magazine without worrying about getting hit for taxes at the end of the year.
  3. Post a listing of the content you are looking for on web databases like craigslist.org to attract contributors to your magazine. You'll be flooded with would-be contributors and have a wealth of material to choose from. You can also post flyers at cafes and on college campuses. Ask your local bookstore if you can post a flyer or if they have a bulletin board where you can post news about your magazine.
  4. Attend local poetry readings and literary events in your community. Find authors who have some name-recognition and be prepared to give them some information on your publication. Many semi-famous authors will contribute to a new magazine for a relatively small fee and you can capitalize on their name recognition to attract other writers of equal stature and in turn use their names to attract authors with still greater name recognition.
  5. Many cities have Grant Libraries, which have large numbers of listings for organizations that provide grants and loans for literary magazines. If your city doesn't have one go to your local library and ask the librarian for a way to contact a Grant Library. Also, ask for a "who's-who" directory of writers. Many authors are listed in such publications, answer their own mail and are willing to consider reasonable and serious requests for contributions.
  6. If you want to avoid the costs of an expensive print-run consider starting off with an on-line publication. This is not a "blog," but an ezine. Take a look around the web and look at formats for other web-based publications, like Salon.com. Many traditional literary magazines, such as the New Yorker or the Paris Review, also maintain web pages. You can discover a lot of useful information and ideas on formats and style from looking at how they prepare theirs.
  7. Contact the businesses in your community. Ask if they'd be interested in purchasing advertising at a low "introductory" rate. To get an idea of magazine advertising rates, just call them and ask. If they ask who you are, tell them you are thinking of taking out an ad in their magazine. Be prepared to go quite a bit lower than an established publication and aim for companies like bookstores, cafes and smaller art galleries whose preferred clients might be reached through your publication.

Tips

  • Start small and aim for one or two semi-famous authors. Many authors who may be unknown to you still have significant reputations. A likely source of semi-famous authors is the faculty at colleges and universities. You can usually attend events at universities open to the public for a nominal fee or sometimes at no charge. For relatively small fees these authors might be willing to contribute, and, once you have one, you can capitalize on their name recognition to attract others. To really get their attention, be prepared to trade space for them to write about what interests them even if it's not your primary interest. Your goal is to build a list of relatively well known authors to gain credibility and then attract writers with more stature.
  • Will you serialize stories over issues? Charles Dickens and Joseph Conrad made a living off the idea, and several major genre literary magazines still make good use of the concept. James Joyce's Ulysses was originally published in serialized form.
  • Seriously consider being a paying market, in order to draw serious writers and gain author loyalty. Explore what the market is for magazines of your size and readership, and match that. Generally you can set a fixed price for smaller pieces, and cents-per-word rates for larger works.
  • Plan a year or so out before you begin: Will you have theme issues? Regular columns, features, short features? What size of articles or stories do you want to publish?

Warnings

  • Keep a box of straws on hand just in case E.E. Cummings was right!

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