Has God given you a vision for magazine publishing? Over the years we have shared the stories of people through whom God has worked in their magazine publishing ministry. Their experience, their magazine, and their challenges are all different, but the call from God is the same. We want to hear your story. Have you launched a Christian magazine or restored an existing magazine? Please tell us how God led you into publishing and what has happened in the years since you began your publishing ministry. Please email Jennifer with the story of your journey.

Here are some of the stories of others God has called to magazine publishing:

• Alina
• Alina and Estera
• Daniela
• Daphrose
• Francis
• Gary
• Ivanova
• Jason
• John
• Joseph
• Lara
• Nuru
• Nzandi
• Sarolta and Botond
• Sherrin
• Vera

Where do great ideas for your magazine, blog, or website come from? Everywhere!

As you plan content, you want to listen widely to gather more ideas than you need. The top of a funnel is very wide, it captures everything that flows from above. Just like a funnel, you want to collect many ideas for content, so that you aren’t limiting your thinking. Later in the planning process you need to narrow down the many ideas to a few great ones, but if you limit too soon, you might miss some great thinking.

Listen for needs

Whether you are scanning social media, blogs, or talking to people in your sphere of influence, listen to the needs people are expressing. Or the needs they are not sharing about. Often people will not be as direct as saying, “I need to learn how to handle conflict in my marriage.” But by observing how they act, what they share, and even what they don’t share, you may be able to infer their real needs.

As you listen to more sources and in different settings, try to spot trends. If you keep hearing similar needs or issues in several settings, pay attention. Your listening can include places such as coffee shops, lines in the grocery store, Bible studies, work groups or neighborhood gatherings.

Listen from diverse sources

While your content should focus on a specific audience segment, such as Christian families or Christian singles, listen to what people in different contexts are saying. Everything you hear may not apply to your audience, but let your listening reflect the widest part of the funnel at first. If you see lots of information in the secular press about how people are having difficulty finding affordable apartments, reflect on what this might mean for people in your audience.

Part of listening widely to diverse sources includes listening to people you don’t necessarily agree with. While articles that end up in your magazine or on your website should always reflect the values of your organization, you can learn about current challenges in culture by listening to people who don’t necessarily share these values. Consider what worldview is behind their thoughts or actions. How might your magazine help your readers see people who hold this worldview as Jesus sees them?

Listen to the Holy Spirit

The process of putting together a magazine can seem like a long list of tasks. From gathering lots of ideas, to focusing the content, to editing excellent articles, and finding great images—it’s a lot of work to create a magazine. But as a Christian magazine publisher, editor, or designer, you have help! You have the Holy Spirit guiding you.

Ask God to help you to listen, so that you will see new ideas. Ask God to put the right people in your path, so you can learn from their stories. Ask God to for extra insight as you go about your everyday life, so you will be aware of the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

By Carla Foote, Fine Print Editorial

The most important issue for a new or existing magazine (or newsletter, website, blog) is to clarify your target audience.

A new magazine needs to carefully define who they are serving with their publication. Saying that your magazine is for “everyone,” or “all Christians” is not an adequate response. Such a broad audience focus will make it difficult for you to evaluate whether particular content will meet the needs of your audience. It also makes it hard to find your readership, as you will need to share about your magazine with everyone or all the Christians in your area in order to develop a following.

It is tempting to define an audience broadly because you don’t want to exclude potential readers. But a broad, general focus will not distinguish your magazine from among a rack full of magazines. Why would someone choose to read your magazine? What unique attributes can you offer through your magazine?

A well-defined target audience doesn’t exclude other readers, but it clearly invites in those who match most closely with your core readers. Someone outside your target audience may read your magazine and even become a regular subscriber, but that’s because they have found that your content is interesting.

For example, a magazine focused on people under 30 who are interested in spiritual conversation and open to Christianity will have a design style that resonates with people in that age category. It will include articles that invite people into considering ideas about faith and promote questions and exploration on topics relevant to people under 30. Having such a clearly targeted audience doesn’t mean that someone older will not pick up and read your magazine. But it does mean that every piece of your magazine package is focused on meeting the needs of that under-30, spiritually-interested reader.

A clear focus helps every design and content decision. As your graphic designer is working on layouts or your editorial team is planning content (or you, if you are wearing all these hats), all the design and editorial decisions will be filtered through a consideration of how your target audience will react to the content and design.

Audience definition goes beyond age, gender, and faith position. As you work to align your magazine strategy with the needs of your audience, it is helpful to create a few fictitious personas to whom you are targeting your content. These can be based on actual people you know who fit your desired audience, or they can be a compilation of attributes that you know are characteristic of people in this stage of life.

What about an existing magazine? When do you need to re-define your target audience?

Your magazine strategy can carry your magazine through many years. However, at least once a year, when you do your annual planning cycle, revisit your target audience statement and consider if it is time to adjust your focus. You may combine this evaluation with a reader survey every few years, or with periodic questions on social media to get feedback.

One of the hardest things about a magazine targeted as an age demographic, is that you need to keep adding readers at the younger end of your niche, so you don’t “age out” of your audience. If your readers are parents, then over time your current readers age out of your audience and have grown children. You probably don’t want to shift your focus to older adults, but you need to continually replenish your core audience, so you keep serving parents in each successive generation. However, since there are always new parents who seek guidance, your audience can be replenished, if you stay relevant to the current needs of parents.

Defining your core audience and keeping your magazine content and design focused on the needs of this audience is essential for a sustainable magazine.

By Carla Foote, Fine Print Editorial

Are you looking for a simple way to organize the progress of every article for an issue of your magazine? And, not only have it organized, but have it all in one place? You need a production chart. The purpose of the production chart is to provide an overview of where each article stands in the production process for an entire issue.

Get a free sample and start yours today!

The Least of These tells the story of Graham Staines, an Australian missionary in India, who was martyred, with his two sons, on January 22, 1999—twenty years ago. I remember when their deaths made the news. It was horrific.

The movie is told from the point of view of a journalist who sought evidence that Staines offered illegal inducements to conversion. It captures the sentiment of Hindu nationalists who strongly opposed Christian evangelism. It also portrays writers’ and editors’ concerns: the search for truth, the power of words to move others to action, the changing interests of readers, and the pursuit of profit.

I did not expect the movie to approach the Staines story with a journalist’s perspective, though this certainly heightened my interest. My connection to the story came a year and a half after the tragedy, when I published an article from Babu K. Verghese, an Indian writer and editor who detailed his organization’s efforts to publish a book on the matter. Burnt Alive: The Staines and the God They Loved was released in just 63 days, and became a bestseller for GLS. The article was featured in an InterLit magazine on publishing and persecution.

The tragedy and its aftermath remained in the news for years. What kept the story current were not only the crime reports and religious and political controversy, but its consequences. When Gladys Staines learned of her husband’s and sons’ deaths, her reaction stunned the public. She and her daughter forgave the killers. They put their trust in God. They looked to him for the future.

Staines remained in India, continuing her ministry. In 2005, India’s government gave her an award for her work serving lepers in Jesus’ name. In 2016, she received another award. And now, a movie will reach new audiences with the myriad of challenges these missionaries posed to those who learned their story.

Whose story will you tell today? How will you tell it? Who can help you to share the essentials with integrity, excellence, and sensitivity? How can you multiply its reach?

At Magazine Training International, we struggle with these questions. We work to equip and encourage media professionals who want to make an impact for Christ on their communities and nations. We do not do this alone; your partnership is vital. When you ask a question, offer feedback, participate in a webinar, or attend a conference, we can tackle these issues together. Unlike the lonely journalist in The Least of These, you and I have brothers and sisters to pray with, learn from, and to share our tears and joys. May we motivate one another toward more effective ministry!

— Kim Pettit, chair of MTI Board of Directors

Six times a year we host live workshops on various aspects of magazine publishing including writing, editing, management, design, and digital publishing. Occasionally we throw in topics like how to prevent burnout that we know you need. While we would love for all of you to join us during the live session, we know that just isn’t possible so we record every session. You can watch any of them for free, any time you want. Just login to MTI Online and check out our library of free resources.

To date, there are 33 recorded workshops, including:

Le cours d’Introduction à la publication d’un magazine est particulièrement destiné aux personnes travaillant en Afrique francophone pour des magazines chrétiens déjà existants ou à l’état de projet. Il propose de vous former sur la gestion, la rédaction et la conception graphique de magazines. Une équipe internationale de six instructeurs enseignera ce cours en Français. Les étudiants qui assistent à toutes les sessions recevront de la part de Magazine Training International une attestation certifiant que le cours a été suivi dans son intégralité.

Note: Unfortunately, we are unable to offer translation as this course will be offered entirely in French. Please let your friends in Francophone Africa who are interested in magazine publishing know about this conference.

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