Magazines have served for generations to tell and share all kinds of local information. From history, science, fashion, or literature. These types of publications in the form of notebooks contain all kinds of articles and reports to keep you up to date on the topics that interest you the most.
With the advent of digital printing, the act of printing magazines has taken on a lot of people, and now anyone with an idea can open their own editorial line. However, the truth is that before you get to have your own magazine in your hands, you must know all the steps to follow to print a magazine and what are the best ways to do it today in the market.
“The press is not only the most powerful weapon against tyranny and despotism but also the most effective and active instrument of progress and civilization.”
Francisco Zarco
Steps to follow to print a magazine
The craft of writing and printing a magazine has been developing for years. It was in the 1920s when it gained all the prominence it deserved, thanks to the development of all the artistic and social movements of the time.
Since then, the process has been made and improved, designing state-of-the-art digital offset printing systems and leaving aside the typewriter to share information and knowledge.
In this way, printing a magazine has become a highly demanded phase in reprographies and printers, and famous self-publishing has even become a pointer. And it is that the world of printing seems to have no limits.
You can take care of printing a book or a poster, even stickers and even embossed bindings. Whichever way you choose to produce a magazine, these are the main steps that are carried out for its printing:
1. Creation of manuscript
The first thing to do to print a magazine is to be able to pass the idea and the content to a suitable program that is designed for writing and publishing texts. The two most basic and easiest to use, depending on whether you use a Windows or Mac system, are Microsoft Word or Pages, which are later converted to PDF format.
However, both have several limitations and are only suitable for simple designs. If something more precise is needed, the best program to do it is Adobe InDesign.
For a quick and hassle-free way to prepare your file, you can use a reliable Word to PDF converter to ensure proper formatting before moving to the next step
2. Design and cover
Once you have the text and the layout decided and fixed, you must proceed to design the cover, the image, and the style that you want to give to the magazine. This step is important when it comes to printing since it will be through the programs mentioned above, how the marks can be left so that the printer knows the range of color, the crop marks, the indentation of the text, and the lines per where to cut, print and fold.
3. Corrections and editing
Before sending it to the printer, it is quite useful to have it professionally proofread and proofread. It can be done by an editor who is in charge of re-reading and making spelling and stylistic corrections.
Most publishers have a department with experts who guarantee printing with the assurance that there are no errors.
4. Choice of printer and generation of plates
The manuscript and the original are already ready and designed for the print version. The next step is to choose the type of machine that best suits the type of printing we need. We must also generate the corresponding plates to be able to make all the copies that are needed as if it were a mime game.
Each design, shape, and run in a different order. Printers have many automated processes, but large print runs need to design their own machinery.
5. Printing
The moment of truth arrives, the impression. Here you must choose the type of paper to be used in the magazines and the number of runs, the size of the sheets, letter or A3, and the order.
All that remains is to let the technology work, which, with the help of professionals and the resources that have been provided, will achieve long print runs of magazines in a few hours.
6. Binding
All that remains is to choose the type of binding that the magazine will have and it will be ready to be sold or distributed with the highest quality standards and professional results. The most common type of binding for magazines is stapling.
However, if they are long-term semi-annual magazines, paperback binding with soft covers or rings can also be used.
7. Diffusion
Once the magazine has been printed, all that remains is to disseminate and market it. In order to do so, it must be given its own identification, or ISBN, and included within the system, contributing to its expansion to the tax and VAT system.
All this can be done individually or have an editorial team that is in charge.
Types of paper to print magazines
When deciding what type of impression and result you want to achieve in a magazine, you have to take into account various aspects such as cover design, layout, or colors. But, regarding the final physical result, one of the most important decisions has to do with the type of paper that is chosen.
To the touch of the readers, a paper magazine with a laminated cover is not the same as a magazine with a thick cover and cardboard pages.
All the details count and these are some of the most common types of paper for printing magazines:
Mate
This type of paper boasts of being one of the most elegant and select within the world of printing. Its finish makes it perfect for more daring designs and pleasant for the reader’s touch.
However, it is usually very fragile, so it must be protected with hard covers and it is not highly recommended for the magazine format.
Brightness
Another of the most classic types of paper for printing is gloss. This modality is ideal for sheets that have a lot of colors since it absorbs quality and nuances very well, also, it is not as brittle as matte and is more recommended for magazines.
coated
Over the years, the coated paper has become one of the most common and recommended types for printing magazines in the Spanish market. It has a coating that can be matte or glossy and that, in addition to protecting the blade, makes it very good quality.
Recycling
As an alternative option, you can opt for recycled paper. This not only retains all the properties of a conventional paper but also supports the environment.
It is a good marketing tool for a sustainable product.
Print stapled and cheap magazines online
Despite having today all kinds of technology and information to carry out a printing process for magazines, the truth is that, currently, there are many online alternatives. It is not necessary to have to agree on a number of circulations with a publisher to be able to have your own magazine.
Right now, and taking into account the boom that self-publishing has brought about, there are many platforms that help you print it yourself.
“The printing press is an army of twenty-six tin soldiers with which the world can be conquered”
Johannes Gutenberg
With just a few computers and design skills, you can create a magazine from scratch and even print it from home. However, if you do not want to complicate yourself and acquire this type of machinery, you can trust the platforms that have been created in recent times.
All of them have a team of experts behind them and, without leaving your home, they ensure that you have all the copies you want at your door within a few days.
Machines and programs to print magazines
The world of technology and advertising has made it possible for you to print a magazine yourself if you have an idea and want to do things at home. You only need to have time, desire, and the optimal technology to become your own printing company.
However, you should keep in mind that the results are not going to be the same as paying for it in a store and leaving it in the hands of a professional.
You can choose to buy a printer and do it all from your computer. These are some of the tools you will need to make a home print:
Printing machine
The first thing you are going to need is a printer that has the capacity to print large print runs, has good color quality standards, and can adapt to different types of paper, of different mm and dpi.
Although the ideal is to have a professional industrial printer, you can also do it from home. Today, in the market you can get small and cheap printers in any specialized center.
Programs
In order to print journals, it is essential that the manuscript is in a format that can be read by the printer and has the necessary parameters. As we said before, the two main ones are generic to the computer; Word on Windows and Pages on Mac.
However, there are much more specific programs with which you will have better results, such as:
InDesign
Lucidpress
Affinity Published
scribes
Printing your magazine is more accessible than you think
If you are starting your start-up and you want to distribute and print magazines, you should know that “more is more” is not always. For this reason, thanks to the tools, you can try printing small runs to see how they work and observe the data and the reception.
It may not be a multinational renowned magazine, but if you have an idea, the tools are at your disposal quickly and easily.
If you have an old recipe book that you want to clean, a study on psychology and sleep theory, economics and commerce, or even sports with reports by Toni Doblas. Everything is accepted and you will surely find readers who are interested in the same thing as you.
The world of magazines is like an all-you-can-eat restaurant, you just have to define your editorial line and get to work.
