Terrifying? Little ol' me?

So a friend of mine with a business background has agreed to aid and abet me on a trial basis. This is very exciting stuff. Now all I have to do is avoid scaring her off. :-)

AIEEEE!

Would you look at this? Someone stole my freakin' magazine title! Dang them. Well, now I have to struggle to find a new title. I could just name it after myself like Jane or Marie Claire. But I actually think there may already be a magazine with my name on it. Well, at least I got my final project in for my class. That's the rudiments of a business plan. And I've decided that I will use some of the money that came from my grandparents to hire a magazine consultant. But I don't know if much of anything will happen during the next several months while I am in the UK.

Optimism

I missed class tonight. I also didn't go to this mixer for art/photo/design people with Ed2010, so no networking for me. My internship is cheesing me off. And I'm finding more and more magazines and ezines that seem to already be using the same idea as mine. But they are barely on the radar, so maybe it will be okay. But it's hard to feel optimistic right now.

Bully

I now have a circulation plan and something resembling a cover. Bully for me. I am not looking forward to constructing an advertising plan though, I tell you what. I am glad however that doing this NYU class will jumpstart my business plan.

Things I Don't Like

I badgered my friend into considering becoming my business manager/partner in starting my magazine. I don't know what she'll ultimately decide, but hopefully my awesome charisma will sway her. My mock-up cover doesn't look much better than it did before. It also occurs to me that I'm not sure how I'm going to print it, since I effed up my printer some weeks ago. I hate HP. I hate everything technology based at the moment. And now for my class I have to write up a table of contents (I may just do it in word. InDesign is too confusing and reading the tutorials is too boring), and a page on the competition. Also a circulation strategy, an advertising plan, and an ad sales marketing plan and edit promotion plan. It just sounds incredibly boring. But I guess you always have to do some things you don't like.

InDesign

I downloaded trial of InDesign. So far I am not a fan. My limited experience with Quark makes me think that Quark is easier to use, though I cannot be sure. Also, Adobe works really slowly on my computer; whether that's due to the fact that it's temporary software or that I have a Mac I don't know. Anyway, I started a mock cover for my magazine to include in my final project for my NYU class. It's a pain in the tuchus. But then again, what isn't?

Soon

Hmm. Doesn't look like there will be a much a relationship with the girl from the Ed message board. Oh well. May start writing some articles soon.

Art and Sales

A friend of a friend came up with some graphic design ideas. If nothing else it's good to feel like something is being done. Also, a woman in my class is actually in sales, so I emailed some of what I have in terms of ideas and such to her. Something is better than nothing.

Someone cares!

I posted on the Ed2010 message board about my start-up (I cannot believe it took me this long to think of it) and I actually got a response about it! SWEET!

Also, I finally remembered today that I had borrowed my sib's Dummies guide to business plans and I stuck the CD-rom in my computer. And now I am pretty much confused by what is popping up. Well, I suppose I'll figure it out eventually.

The Magazine

So, this will be my blog about trying to start my very own magazine. It's smart, it's cutting-edge, it's CLASSIFIED INFORMATION! Well, the concept is at any rate. Let's just say that I have enough worries about the market becoming closed to me without broadcasting my idea to any and every viewer of this site.

So here's what I have: a concept, a sense of the editorial need, and some potential article, column, and cover line ideas, and some innovative ideas about circulation.

Here's what I don't have: a concrete business plan, a designer, any money of any kind, a clue.

I am more than half through a continuing education course at NYU about magazines, yet I still feel as though I don't really know how to get started. I have books, which I am finding less than helpful, perhaps because I am reading them less than regularly. And, the people in this class aren't exactly easy to network with, and I blame the instructor in large part for that.

Well, I'm trying, I'm trying.

--Aine Bina