10 things we wish we knew before making a print magazine

This week, as BRICKS launches its ‘I Support You’ issues for pre-order, the team shares our top tips to consider when making print magazines.

When we first started making print magazines, the process was simple. We ran open submissions, chose our favourite completed stories and editorials, put them together, and made an issue. There was a kind of immediacy to it, and a sense that if the work was strong enough, everything else would fall into place. In many ways, that simplicity was part of the appeal.

Ten years on, our process looks very different. Making a print magazine now is far more intricate: a tighter editorial frameworks, longer production timelines, more considered commissioning, and the practical realities of budgets, distribution and social media marketing.

For BRICKS #15 the ‘I Support You’ issue (Opens in a new window), we went in with a clear thesis statement, but it was through the process of making it that the issue honed in on what that actually meant in practice. A lot of what you learn only becomes apparent once you’re in it – when ideas don’t quite translate to the page, when timelines slip, or when constraints force better decisions than the ones you started with.

Below, we’ve broken down ten things we wish we knew before making a print magazine: the lessons that have come from a decade of doing it (and the ones that still catch us out). If you’re working towards your own magazine, or just trying to understand how print publications actually comes together, consider this our top tips for getting started.

And, as part of the ‘I Support You’ issue pre-order, Learner Platform members can also get 10% off when ordering – find the discount code at the bottom of this email.