Want To Start Your Own Magazine? Here's How

The famous Mr. Magazine, Samir Husni, who teaches at the University of Mississippi and whose Guide To New Magazines is still selling out on shelves, has three pieces of advice for publishers of new magazines. In an interview with Mediabistro, he said the most important factors are 1) finding a willing audience to come back and read that magazine every month addictively, 2) having a very clear and concise brand, and 3) choosing an easily identifiable magazine name.

Read his valuable quotes after the jump and then let Ed know if you agree!

You said that Food Network Magazine was the most notable launch of 2009. What are some early signs that a magazine will flourish or it will fail?

The No. 1 [determinant] is finding a willing audience who is not only capable but can afford the price of your magazine. All the magazines that are actually surviving and are doing very well, they have the seeds of addiction built in them. When the Food Network Magazine first came out, I looked for what I call the seeds of addiction in that magazine, what will get you hooked so you will want more of the same. They had two major ingredients. They had food, which is, you know, everybody is addicted to eating. And then they had celebrities. And you combine the two together, and I felt, I mean they must have a winning formula.

And of course there was like three examples [Every Day with Rachael Ray, Cooking with Paula Deen, Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade] ahead of the Food Network Magazine that told me there's an appetite in the marketplace for something like that.

The second one is how clear and concise the concept is. If you look through the pages of the Food Network, guess what? It's either celebrities or food. It has a very specific DNA. So the more specific, the better the chances are that you are going to make it.

Is that the advice you would give somebody who wants to launch a magazine?


Definitely. From the name — you know, so many people come to me with those like whimsical names, fancy names, and I say you know what? If I am going to start a literary, political, fiction type magazine today, there's no way on earth I am going to call it the Atlantic Monthly. Because if I launched the Atlantic Monthly today, it would be a magazine about the Atlantic Ocean.

What do you think, Edsters? Would you buy a magazine every month that didn't have a clear brand? Or a name that easily defines what that brand is? Do you have plans to launch your own magazine one day?