Share Your Creativity with Literary Magazine Printing
From budding authors to emerging artists, students are free to express themselves in their school literary magazines. This popular club gives creative students the opportunity to publish their writing and art in their community.
Whether you’re a magazine staff member, editor, or faculty advisor, keep reading to learn the most important tips for literary magazine printing that will help you publish your school’s best literary magazine yet!
What is a Literary Magazine?
A literary magazine is a curated collection of writing and art. Many schools publish literary magazines, but they’re not limited to the academic setting; professional literary magazines such as Tin House and The Kenyon Review give creative writers and artists platforms for their work as well.
Some literary magazines consist of works tied together by a common theme, while others focus on an aesthetic or representing a variety of literary styles. They commonly include both prose and poetry, and many include visual art as well.
Literary Magazine Printing
Printing a literary magazine is a rewarding experience. When you’re thinking about printing one, consider the following high school literary magazine ideas, which will help you make the best design choices while keeping costs low.
Create a Budget and Stick to It
If you’re a student editor of your school’s literary magazine, make sure you understand your magazine’s budget, and calculate an estimate of your printing costs early in the year. For your estimate, include the following:
- Number of magazines printed
- Number of pages per magazine
- Black and white or color printing
- Paper type
- Shipping costs
If you can’t find this information on your printing company’s website, feel free to ask for an estimate. Understanding your printing costs will allow you to decide how many pieces to include in your magazine, as well as whether you need to choose a different paper type or print in black and white.
Pro tip: raise money to fund your magazine. If you realize that your budget won’t cover all of your printing costs, try some creative fundraising techniques to help you cover the gap. Bake sales are some of the highest-earning fundraising opportunities, so consider hosting a bake sale with a fun theme, and encourage artistic magazine staffers to create flyers advertising your event.
Think About Page Denominations
Your production staff is likely bursting at the seams with ideas and inspiration. When you receive many submissions from talented writers, you might be inclined to include every piece in your magazine.
However, even if your budget could accommodate this, remember that the number of pages in a traditional folded and stitched magazine needs to be divisible by four. This is due to the printing process: each piece of paper for your booklet is folded in half, creating four pages. Therefore, your page number can only increase or decrease by four pages at a time. On the other hand, if you’re planning for your literary magazine to be perfect bound, the number pages can be divisible by two.
Keep this in mind when creating your magazine design. Blank pages might look strange, so adding more pieces of writing to fill those pages, removing pieces to eliminate pages, or incorporating those blank pages into your magazine design will solve this problem.
Consider Your Software
Editing and designing a literary magazine can be an intimidating project, but choosing the right design software can help.
Many literary magazine editors use Adobe InDesign to create their layouts, as it includes many design tools that will help you make your dream magazine a reality. Save your finalized design as a PDF, which your printing company can easily work with.
If you’d like help with your magazine’s design, feel free to ask ZoePrint’s helpful design team, who can clear up any questions.
Print on Beautiful Paper
Literary magazines are works of art, and they deserve to be printed on high-quality papers that add to the readers’ enjoyment.
If you plan to include art in your literary magazine, print the magazine on a glossy paper such as 80# or 100# gloss text paper that lets color images pop. The artists have put their heart and soul into their work, so print your magazine on a paper that lets readers appreciate every detail.
Partner With a Printing Company that Understands the Value of Literature
When you’re bursting with high school literary magazine ideas and are ready to print, there’s nowhere better to get the job done than ZoePrint! We offer a range of magazine design options so that you can print the booklet that fits your needs–and your budget. We can even help you with your design and ship your literary magazine directly to your school! We also print all of the other printed materials your school needs.
To get started with cheap literary magazine printing, order online or ask ZoePrint for a custom quote!
