Topic: Describe a magazine/ book publication process.

By: Solomon Ojeagbase

There are various processes in publishing a magazine/book if it’s a book for academia, entertainment, financial, infotainment or sports. A magazine/book is generally supposed to share information or enlighten people on issues which are public knowledge or to bring something to the fore. Take for example a story about a teacher who knows very well firsthand how to communicate a topic to her students; a book about this individual will bring the awareness of people to the person in question. That is why we have to be conscious about what we write because once it is written there’s no going back.

We have about ten processes involved and first on the list is research. In research the publisher has to do a thorough evaluation of other magazines/books already in circulation in same genre as his/hers, and map out a plan to outwit them. Also he/she has to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of this other rival publications, in doing this the publisher would have to carefully read the magazines from cover to cover to be able to adequately sift out the flaws. This enables the publisher the convenience to bolster the strengths of his/her own publication.

Given the fact that the publisher is doing a synopsis of other magazine/book from his/her genre, he/she may also want to sketch out his/her target audience and age group; this could mean the people you intend to buy – read your magazine/book. In this case we may be looking at the youth cadre which is from eighteen years to thirty five years or the older cadre which is from 40 year and above. All this information is what will be in the market penetration strategy under research.

Secondly, consider your options and costs. In publishing cost is very important hence you have to consider 
 the price which the magazine/book would be sold for. As a price which is too exorbitant may reduce the patronage of your magazine/book, a publisher should be able to carefully analyze his printing option and synchronize it to hi/her budget; in doing this you have to consider the type of paper to be used and also the pages needed – how many pages needed will also border around your ability to compress the columns in the magazine/book to fit in with the budget.

Subsequently, in considering your options and costs he/she must put into consideration the circulation and distribution options. This is important because production is not complete until the product gets to the final consumers; in this case the readers. The publisher may also want to consider the possibility of getting advertisers this is also important because the magazine/book cannot be sustained alone by the sale, having at the back of our mind that desire for profit in some way could be the overarching motive for going into publishing. We should be able to present the book to our readers in such a manner that advertisers will also be interested in getting their adverts on the pages of the magazine/book.

Thirdly, he/she may consider the option of an online presence. Hence a comprehensive website which will catch the intrigues of the published material on the World Wide Web. This is an optional factor and may in some stages be needful if the publisher has a vision of taking the magazine/book to an environment without physical constraints or barriers. The internet is fast becoming the hub of information around the world and is often said that “if you don’t have a web presence then you are not alive”.

The aforementioned are processes to a magazine/book publication, but not limited to the following. As these other processes even though not as weighty as the ones elaborated are succinct steps to publishing a magazine/book. In no particular rendition; solicit articles, get advertisers, edit your articles, send them back to writers to look at the edited writing (proof reading), get it forwarded by a renowned writer/editor/publisher, dummy/graphic layout of the magazine/book, printing and finally marketing of the magazine/book.