I frequently meet people who are thinking of starting a new newsletter or magazine. Often such people spend most of their time worrying about how their publication will LOOK, not how it will SELL. Sadly, more than two-thirds of new publications started by first-time publishers flop within a few months. Luckily, there are some simple steps you can take to increase the odds that your own publishing ideas will succeed.

Samir Husni and I wrote the two most widely distributed books about starting new magazines. Mr. Husni is a journalism professor at the University of Mississippi. I am a co-founder of three computer magazines and a full-time publishing consultant. His book is called, Launch Your Own Magazine and Hamblett House in Nashville, Tennessee published it in 1998. My book is called, Starting and Running a Successful Newsletter or Magazine, published first in 1997 by Nolo Press, and now in its second edition. Both of us have web sites offering tips and advice to startups . Between us, Professor Husni and I get about 6 or 7 emails or phone calls every day from people asking how they can raise the money to start a new magazine. Adding all those calls together, we talk to about 1500 people per year Ð more than 7,000 since our books were published.

Obviously, it's a different job selling ads to General Motors or Nike than to your local coffee bar or movie theatre. And it's easier to sell ads for a well-known publication than for a startup or a small independent magazine. Still, we can generalize about the selling process, and if you follow the process I'm describing here, it will serve you equally well in either context.

Magazine business plans usually include a text description of the magazine idea, some sample pages (possible a mock cover, table of contents, and a few feature articles), and three years of financial projections, plus detailed analysis of competitive magazines. I offer a simple planning kit that includes a text outline of the text and a financial workbook. Click HERE for more information about the kit. You should also review the best-selling book about magazine plans: