Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Run a megazine?
Starting Out
--------------
Publishing has never been easier than it is today. The advent of desktop computing has transformed the process of newspaper production from the reserve of the very affluent to something that it is possible to get into even without an office. Modern desktop publishing (DTP) software and computers that can handle the jobs are available at a low cost (relative to the pre-digital era) and, because of the versatility of communicating through the Internet, you can have an entire editorial/production office that exists only online.
Equipment and supplies you’ll need
------------------------------------
(Assuming you’ll be creating a publication with a print run of over 1,000, as opposed to a small photocopied zine)
Hardware:-
----------
A good computer with a lot of memory. A good computer, with at least twice the minimum amount of RAM installed, is preferable if you're going to try to do everything on one computer. As one person wrote, "It is worth spending as much as you can on your computer." Another absolute in today's society is having a processor that is fast. In fact, as with any computing needs, the faster the better, but a processor that's at least 1.5Ghz should be considered an essential, dual core is even better!.
Apple (aka Macintosh) computers are what many printing companies and professional freelance designers use. That's a throwback to the early 90s, when DTP was in its infancy and using an Apple with PageMaker or QuarkXPress was the only option. The software, as well as overall PC platform, at that time, wasn't really up-to-par for heavy-duty use for typesetting. Today, though, Mac-based shops are popping up all over, i good starter computer is the iMac series computers.
If you are looking to produce a newspaper of any size with a team, you will want more than one machine. Page layout takes time, so the more availability you have the better, but this has to be balanced with cost, as well as warm bodies that will be using the machines.
A Flash drive, or DVD writer, and a External Hard Drive for long term backups. This is one important way, aside from FTP software, that you’ll move your digital documents around. They are also good for backing up your data. A DVD writer should be less than $50. Flash drives are even cheaper. As of Sept 2008, for $155, you can get a 1 Terabyte internal hard drive, so relatively speaking, that's cheap, especially when you look at prices from even three years ago.
A good printer. Laser is best and can be had for little money, new for less than $100 but look into spending around $400 for good one with network support built in. Laser also eats up a lot less ink than inkjets. It’s more pricey up front, but cheaper over the long haul, and they last longer.
A good digital camera. Film is not cheap. We recommend the Canon or Nikon point and shoot series. They’re fast, reliable and less than $400 new. When shopping around, find a digital camera with at least six megapixels, but eight or ten would be better, if possibl
Software:-
----------
Desk Top Publishing Software. Quark Xpress or Adobe InDesign (formerly Adobe Pagemaker). You may also want to look at Adobe Photoshop for tricking out your pictures. This can cost a lot, sometimes over $1,000 for each program when you buy the latest version. If you're just starting out on a shoestring budget, check on on eBay for older versions, as you can pick those up a lot cheaper. None of the programs are really difficult to use, and there are tutorials available on many Web sites. Also, do a search for email discussion groups and Usenet newsgroups focused on the specific piece of software, as well as your area of interest, such as "launching newspapers" or "launching magazines" -- there are newsgroups and discussion lists for everything!
For many things today, and to be able to find a printer that can accept your files without reformatting everything, you will want to get copies of nothing earlier than QuarkXPress version 3.3 or better or PageMaker 5. Be sure to check with the printer that will be publishing the final product to find out if their software -- likely within one version of being current with the newest release of the software package -- can open or import your files without issue.
As far as photo tools, look for at least Adobe Photoshop CS or newer. Other solid photo manipulation tools are Gimp and SnagIt, although they aren't as fully developed as Adobe Photoshop.
While there are other desktop publishing programs available, they generally aren't supported by actual printing businesses. If you must use a tool other than QuarkXPress or PageMaker, a Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) package, Scribus, is good. It isn't a feature-rich as either QuarkXPress or PageMaker, but it can help you come up with an end product. Scribus can natively print to portable document format (PDF), but sometimes the actual PDF doesn't work well for some printing companies. Be sure to run a test to ensure the actual final product will work for you, meaning that it will do everything you need and want, but also that the company printing your publication can open the final file to print your newspaper.
Website Software. If you're going to have a Web site for your newspaper, check out Adobe Dreamweaver (formerly Macromedia Dreamweaver), Adobe Pagemill, Microsoft Frontpage are good WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors for designing a Web site.
While we’re on site creation, make yours a dynamic site that uses PHP if possible. This software, available for free online, allows you to update your site as easily as sending an email from any computer. Instead of PHP, you could also consider using SSI (server-side includes) if your site is hosted on a Unix server. Using SSI is relativey simple. All you do is create and upload one file with the HTML coding, reference the file name from a static page, and everything changes. Be sure to research server side includes to get a full understanding.
Two other options for simple and easy-to-create and easy-to-maintain sites are to use a blog-based tool, such as WordPress for a self-hosted site, or WordPress.com for a hosted site, meaning the site's files and primary headaches will be dealt -- for free -- by WordPress. The disadvantage to using the hosted package with WordPress is that you cannot entirely customize the theme. You can modify the themes offered in the package, but beyond that, you don't have the option of uploading additional files to change the theme. The self-hosted option can serve you better for a personalized site. TypePad is another blog-based tool that many sites use as a mini-CMS (content management system) to mainain the site.
If you're experimental, geeky, and can understand technical stuff fairly quickly, check out full-fledged CMS tools, such as Drupal, Joomla, or other CMS packages. Many are FOSS packages for the download. Setting up most CMS packages is relatively painless once the files are uploaded to the server. Maintaining sites through blog-based and CMS-based platforms are easy, as you use a simple WYSIWYG editor interface to enter the stories (use a simple copy-and-paste approach), add a headline, a title (or "slug") -- which then becomes the URL, click SAVE, and you're done.
Telecommunications:-
---------------------
High-speed Internet. Yeah, it’s $40 a month, but it’s also indispensable for maintaining your sanity. You can also share WiFi with a neighbor, but be certain to read the Terms of Service for the plan's stipulations about sharing a connection.
A phone number and business cards. Voicemail is only about $10 a month and you can get 1,000 business cards from Staples for about $20. It sure beats writing your name on scrap paper, trust me. If you have a cell phone with unlimited use, or one with cheap rates, you could also consider using NetZero Voice (aka PrivatePhone.com), which offers free voicemail, a free voicemail number, and 10 free 10-minute "return" calls that display "your" phone number and business name (as you entered it when you create the account) per month. You can receive up to 10,000 calls per month for free. If you don't mind using a cell phone or other means to return calls -- even email, which many companies do these days -- this could be a possible alternative.
NOTE: On a check up of the PrivatePhone service on 12/14/07, it has been indicated that PrivatePhone will be discontinuing their service on 12/31/07. They recommend searching the internet for "Free Phone and Voicemail Service" to find other comparable services.
Web Hosting. You can register a .com or .org. for as little as $8. You can get good, reliable hosting for $15 to $35 a month for a basic site. Many Web hosts have packages with 200 gigs or more of space, with 2,000 email accounts, unlimited email aliases, and other features, for $19USD per month. Packages with less space can be had for $4USD to $14USD per month.
--------------
Publishing has never been easier than it is today. The advent of desktop computing has transformed the process of newspaper production from the reserve of the very affluent to something that it is possible to get into even without an office. Modern desktop publishing (DTP) software and computers that can handle the jobs are available at a low cost (relative to the pre-digital era) and, because of the versatility of communicating through the Internet, you can have an entire editorial/production office that exists only online.
Equipment and supplies you’ll need
------------------------------------
(Assuming you’ll be creating a publication with a print run of over 1,000, as opposed to a small photocopied zine)
Hardware:-
----------
A good computer with a lot of memory. A good computer, with at least twice the minimum amount of RAM installed, is preferable if you're going to try to do everything on one computer. As one person wrote, "It is worth spending as much as you can on your computer." Another absolute in today's society is having a processor that is fast. In fact, as with any computing needs, the faster the better, but a processor that's at least 1.5Ghz should be considered an essential, dual core is even better!.
Apple (aka Macintosh) computers are what many printing companies and professional freelance designers use. That's a throwback to the early 90s, when DTP was in its infancy and using an Apple with PageMaker or QuarkXPress was the only option. The software, as well as overall PC platform, at that time, wasn't really up-to-par for heavy-duty use for typesetting. Today, though, Mac-based shops are popping up all over, i good starter computer is the iMac series computers.
If you are looking to produce a newspaper of any size with a team, you will want more than one machine. Page layout takes time, so the more availability you have the better, but this has to be balanced with cost, as well as warm bodies that will be using the machines.
A Flash drive, or DVD writer, and a External Hard Drive for long term backups. This is one important way, aside from FTP software, that you’ll move your digital documents around. They are also good for backing up your data. A DVD writer should be less than $50. Flash drives are even cheaper. As of Sept 2008, for $155, you can get a 1 Terabyte internal hard drive, so relatively speaking, that's cheap, especially when you look at prices from even three years ago.
A good printer. Laser is best and can be had for little money, new for less than $100 but look into spending around $400 for good one with network support built in. Laser also eats up a lot less ink than inkjets. It’s more pricey up front, but cheaper over the long haul, and they last longer.
A good digital camera. Film is not cheap. We recommend the Canon or Nikon point and shoot series. They’re fast, reliable and less than $400 new. When shopping around, find a digital camera with at least six megapixels, but eight or ten would be better, if possibl
Software:-
----------
Desk Top Publishing Software. Quark Xpress or Adobe InDesign (formerly Adobe Pagemaker). You may also want to look at Adobe Photoshop for tricking out your pictures. This can cost a lot, sometimes over $1,000 for each program when you buy the latest version. If you're just starting out on a shoestring budget, check on on eBay for older versions, as you can pick those up a lot cheaper. None of the programs are really difficult to use, and there are tutorials available on many Web sites. Also, do a search for email discussion groups and Usenet newsgroups focused on the specific piece of software, as well as your area of interest, such as "launching newspapers" or "launching magazines" -- there are newsgroups and discussion lists for everything!
For many things today, and to be able to find a printer that can accept your files without reformatting everything, you will want to get copies of nothing earlier than QuarkXPress version 3.3 or better or PageMaker 5. Be sure to check with the printer that will be publishing the final product to find out if their software -- likely within one version of being current with the newest release of the software package -- can open or import your files without issue.
As far as photo tools, look for at least Adobe Photoshop CS or newer. Other solid photo manipulation tools are Gimp and SnagIt, although they aren't as fully developed as Adobe Photoshop.
While there are other desktop publishing programs available, they generally aren't supported by actual printing businesses. If you must use a tool other than QuarkXPress or PageMaker, a Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) package, Scribus, is good. It isn't a feature-rich as either QuarkXPress or PageMaker, but it can help you come up with an end product. Scribus can natively print to portable document format (PDF), but sometimes the actual PDF doesn't work well for some printing companies. Be sure to run a test to ensure the actual final product will work for you, meaning that it will do everything you need and want, but also that the company printing your publication can open the final file to print your newspaper.
Website Software. If you're going to have a Web site for your newspaper, check out Adobe Dreamweaver (formerly Macromedia Dreamweaver), Adobe Pagemill, Microsoft Frontpage are good WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors for designing a Web site.
While we’re on site creation, make yours a dynamic site that uses PHP if possible. This software, available for free online, allows you to update your site as easily as sending an email from any computer. Instead of PHP, you could also consider using SSI (server-side includes) if your site is hosted on a Unix server. Using SSI is relativey simple. All you do is create and upload one file with the HTML coding, reference the file name from a static page, and everything changes. Be sure to research server side includes to get a full understanding.
Two other options for simple and easy-to-create and easy-to-maintain sites are to use a blog-based tool, such as WordPress for a self-hosted site, or WordPress.com for a hosted site, meaning the site's files and primary headaches will be dealt -- for free -- by WordPress. The disadvantage to using the hosted package with WordPress is that you cannot entirely customize the theme. You can modify the themes offered in the package, but beyond that, you don't have the option of uploading additional files to change the theme. The self-hosted option can serve you better for a personalized site. TypePad is another blog-based tool that many sites use as a mini-CMS (content management system) to mainain the site.
If you're experimental, geeky, and can understand technical stuff fairly quickly, check out full-fledged CMS tools, such as Drupal, Joomla, or other CMS packages. Many are FOSS packages for the download. Setting up most CMS packages is relatively painless once the files are uploaded to the server. Maintaining sites through blog-based and CMS-based platforms are easy, as you use a simple WYSIWYG editor interface to enter the stories (use a simple copy-and-paste approach), add a headline, a title (or "slug") -- which then becomes the URL, click SAVE, and you're done.
Telecommunications:-
---------------------
High-speed Internet. Yeah, it’s $40 a month, but it’s also indispensable for maintaining your sanity. You can also share WiFi with a neighbor, but be certain to read the Terms of Service for the plan's stipulations about sharing a connection.
A phone number and business cards. Voicemail is only about $10 a month and you can get 1,000 business cards from Staples for about $20. It sure beats writing your name on scrap paper, trust me. If you have a cell phone with unlimited use, or one with cheap rates, you could also consider using NetZero Voice (aka PrivatePhone.com), which offers free voicemail, a free voicemail number, and 10 free 10-minute "return" calls that display "your" phone number and business name (as you entered it when you create the account) per month. You can receive up to 10,000 calls per month for free. If you don't mind using a cell phone or other means to return calls -- even email, which many companies do these days -- this could be a possible alternative.
NOTE: On a check up of the PrivatePhone service on 12/14/07, it has been indicated that PrivatePhone will be discontinuing their service on 12/31/07. They recommend searching the internet for "Free Phone and Voicemail Service" to find other comparable services.
Web Hosting. You can register a .com or .org. for as little as $8. You can get good, reliable hosting for $15 to $35 a month for a basic site. Many Web hosts have packages with 200 gigs or more of space, with 2,000 email accounts, unlimited email aliases, and other features, for $19USD per month. Packages with less space can be had for $4USD to $14USD per month.
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