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Ten Steps to Publishing Your Own E-zine

By Pamela White

Starting your own publication no longer has to involve a major financial investment. Creating your own online newsletter, or e-zine, may cost you hours of your time, but doesn't have to cost any of your money.

It's fun to send out a newsletter to friends and family on your culinary exploits and food history research. As a hobby, an online newsletter is a tool for personal growth, and is certainly a satisfying way to spend your extra time. But what if you want your newsletter to be more than an avocation?

1. Decide the purpose of your e-zine. An e-zine is a tool to promote your self, your business, or your products. Publishing an e-zine is one way to establish expert status. It builds up your publishing credits and provides you with a great sample of your work when pitching to publications. Certainly, an e-zine can do all of the above, based on your focused topic and how you use it.

2. Plan whether your e-zine is free or for pay. This will depend on your preference, and your purpose. You will undeniably gain more subscribers if the newsletter is free, but since it's free, some subscribers will delete it unread when inundated by work, or by e-mail. If you charge a fee, consider how your readers will pay (check, PayPal, Click Bank).

3. Choose your focus. A narrow focus lets readers know what to expect from your newsletter. Ideas could be a weekly newsletter including daily menus with recipes, a bi-weekly newsletter on food trends and where to order the latest gourmet items, or a newsletter focusing on healthful eating. Local e-zines, depending on where you live, can draw world-wide interest. Publish an e-zine on Chicago dining and nightlife, or New Orleans' style cooking.

4. Decide on your publication schedule. Stick to a regular schedule whether it's weekly, bi-weekly or monthly. Haphazard publication is okay for that family and friend newsletter, but once you're in business, your schedule becomes important to subscribers, who may very well forget you if you skip an issue.

5. Maintain a subscriber list. Deciding how your subscriber list will be stored is a monumental decision. Yes, you can change list provider at a later date, but you will either have to transfer the e-mail addresses by hand or ask readers to re- subscribe, risking losing some. Sign up at Yahoo, Topica, or SmartGroup for a free listserv. You can also create your own list and maintain it manually, but a computer crash can wipe out your entire list. There are also professional services that will maintain your subscriber list like MS List Builder, and Spark List.

6. Promote your newsletter. Free online promotion is the place to start. Place a listing in e-zine directories, and join some Yahoo and Topica listservs that exist to promote e- zines.(search for "free content" or "article announce") Submit a press release on www.PRWeb.com for free. Once you've built up your own newsletter articles, submit them to article banks, listservs that promote articles to e-zine publishers like you and to other e-zines in exchange for ads or links to your e- zine or information on how to subscribe. Join listservs with like-minded people and include your subscribe information in your signature.

7. Find quality content. Certainly you can skim the article banks and article announce listservs for content, but you may have better luck by paying for content or asking your writer or chef friends to share their knowledge with your readers. Writing most (or all) of your content is also an option. Keep your content fresh by giving your readers what they want. Play around with your topic by interviewing chefs, including links to gourmet shops and books on your chosen topic, and sharing cooking tips and recipes. Staying current on your topic by reading magazines, attending classes and networking will give you endless ideas for articles. Sell ad space and join affiliate programs, especially if they are of benefit to your readers.

8. Design your format. The easy way out is a text newsletter like this one, but I love the HTML newsletters that I receive from other publishers. A text newsletter can be formatted quickly, include links and is deliverable to all types of e- mail accounts. To keep your newsletter looking clean, use 10 pt. new courier typeface, and limit lines to 65 characters. HTML newsletters allow bright colors, can mimic your website's design and provide interest through layout and type faces. You can write your own code, use a template or hire a designer for your HTML newsletter.

9. Include important information. Your masthead should state the newsletter's name, volume and issue, date, copyright, subscribe and unsubscribe information, and ISSN (International Standard Serial Number). List your website, if you have one. Share contact information.

10. Build a website. A website for a newsletter is not essential but can increase interest in your work. Internet searches for your topic will not list your newsletter, unless you have a website. Websites allow you to archive issues, bringing in readers who don't want to subscribe but are looking for the information you offer.

Beyond this crash course on doing an e-zine, I recommend the following resources for your e-zine start up and growth, and keeping up on trends:
http://www.ezinequeen.com
http://www.ezine-tips.com
http://www.booklocker.com/books/548.html