How to start a digital magazine for your members (a 90-day plan)

Somebody on the committee says "we should do a magazine". Everyone nods. Then it's yours.

This is a plan for turning that into a first issue. It assumes you're a small team, probably part-time, with a modest budget and a membership who will read what you send if it's useful.

1. Decide what the magazine is for

Write one sentence: "This magazine exists so that [members] can [do something] and so that [the association] can [achieve something]."

Examples of the second half: keep members informed between events, show what the association does with their fees, bring in sponsor income. Pick one main purpose. Everything else follows from it, including what goes in and how often it comes out.

2. Know who reads it

List the main groups in your membership and what each one wants. A student member and a retired fellow want different things from the same page. You can't please everyone in issue one. Choose the group that matters most and write for them first.

If you have no data, ask five members what they'd actually read. Five conversations beat a committee debate.

3. Choose a realistic schedule

Quarterly suits most small teams. Monthly is a lot of work. Twice a year can work for a very small organisation. See how often to publish.

Whatever you choose, put the dates for the first three issues in a calendar before you begin.

4. Count the cost

Time is the biggest cost. Then comes design, any paid writing or photography, and the platform that publishes the flipbook. A budget breakdown is here.

5. Plan the first issue

Aim for 12 to 24 pages. List the articles and give each one a writer and a deadline. A 12-item checklist for the first issue is here.

A first issue usually needs:

• A short editor's letter.
• One main feature.
• Three or four shorter pieces: news, a member profile, an event report.
• A page for what's coming up.
• Contact details for the team and a way to submit stories.

6. Collect the content

This is where schedules slip. Ask for contributions six weeks before publication, send a reminder at the three-week mark and set a hard deadline. Have two backup pieces you can run if somebody doesn't deliver.

7. Design it

Use a template and keep the layout simple. One font for headlines, one for body text, one accent colour taken from your logo. Design tips for non-designers.

8. Proof it

Have someone who didn't write it read every page. Check names, titles, dates and phone numbers. Using AI to help.

9. Publish it as a flipbook

Export a PDF, then turn it into an online page-turning magazine. Your members can open it in a browser without downloading anything. How to turn a PDF into a digital magazine.

10. Tell people

Email the link, post it on your channels, mention it at the next event. Fifteen low-cost ways to promote it.

90-day checklist

One thing to do on day one

Pick the date issue one goes out and tell somebody senior. A date other people know about is the thing most likely to get the magazine finished.