Creating flipbooks saved my magazine and it can save yours

I was given the job of running a very small magazine after I graduated and the magazine grew in readers and credibility over the next 10 years.  Then everything changed once we realised we could not compete with the modern way of consuming information online.  We were only a very small niche publication but we had dedicated followers and we had important news and opinions to share.

I was torn between these wonderful fans and contributing writers we had gathered over the years and the need to make sure we could carry on publishing in these tough times.  Then one day I found the most incredible solution to my problems and I have never looked back.  Thanks to online flipbooks we have more fans that enjoy and support our magazine today than we have ever had and the credibility of our work still gathers momentum. The cross over from print to digital publishing made easy with this free Issuu alternative.

We are a niche magazine, as I have said, but we are also a proud group of experts who know that our little magazine is not just a well-designed publication to enjoy the aesthetics of, they also know the content is important and influential to the few hundred that read it every month.  We had always had difficulty in balancing the books and as print prices increased and readers disappeared to online blogging adversaries, we realised a change had to happen. I had always shied away from digital publishing, probably because I did not know enough about it or because I was scared of the change, but the day I found this service was the day I realised we could still keep publishing, we could still share our passions and that this did not compromise the integrity of our work or lose our appeal. 

Creating flipbooks

To publish our magazine we have new advertisers, new readers and a whole new lease of life in our magazine that we never thought possible. Bringing a whole new life to my magazine with digital flipbook publishing…you have to try it! We now have an online collection of over 70 publications.  They all sit together in our  kiosk and every day since we went live they have increased in reader’s week on week.  People we never thought interested in our work and raving about our articles, it’s terrific.

As the editor of the magazine I have a responsibility to the readers and to the magazine to make sure we find the most intriguing stories and share them in the most professional manner.  The digital publication of our magazine in digital flipbooks has never changed this. What is has done is allowed me to bring the magazine to life.  We have been able to add audio to the magazine.  We have made the content more usable to a wider audience we have been able to increase our readers because the audio in the publication has made complicated stories and opinion pieces easier for a larger audience to understand.  Its terrific to think that what started out as a small magazine can now we are not only read by its existing readers it can now be brought to life for a whole new spectrum of people we never imagine we’d attract.

Cool Features

Another huge benefit of having an online library of our publications is that we can show advertisers our whole collection of work to show them how valuable and influential our publication could be to their increased ROI – the whole account can be backed up with analytical data that is so attractive advertisers jump at the chance to support us. We can email them samples, send them password protected projects and portfolios only they can view.  I never dreamed I could create an email to over 100 potential advertisers in one afternoon that send them directly to a unique and professional sales suite.

Your guide to creating our digital magazines. I thought it might be best to give you this little guide to using it so you can see for yourself how easy it really is. Here is how you can create your first flipbook magazine. Go to nubuntu.org and follow the instructions to create a free account.  This takes only a few minutes and only requires your basic information to get started like your email address or you can login in via social media or your Google account if you have one.    The account can be customised to represent the company, including logos, contact information, colours and fonts. Once you have done this you simply click on the link and upload the PDF format of your publication you want to share.

Depending on how large the PDF file is the upload may take around 5-10 minutes and then you are finished, you have a flipbook ready to be embedded into your website, social media sites and even in email so you can send it directly to your readers. I love using the button as a link! Once you have the flipbook the potential of the digital format is revealed. This service allows you to maximise the flipbooks of your magazines you create by making them so easy to use and if you have any problems, there is online support at the click of a button. The content is in your Kiosk and you can password protect them so those who subscribe to your magazine can access your content. 

Explore how the publication is working

Think of it as a digital newsagents or corner shop with your magazines on the shelves – everyone can look at the covers and see them but only if you buy them can you read them.  The site is totally secure and we have never had one single problem. You can explore how the publication is working for you.  I really enjoyed the ability to see how and who was using our magazines by linking it directly to Google Analytics.  

You can test different styles and content formats and measure their success, something I could never do when I only had printed magazines. There is still the need for printed magazines and we still produce printed versions for people from time to time, however having an account has allowed the magazine to go from strength to strength and I am just so pleased with the service, the value it has brought and the wonderful benefits it has given me but more importantly the readers.