Did you know that in 2018, 42.4% of adults with internet access are reported reading at least a single digital magazine issue in the last 30 days? That’s almost half the population! Global digital magazines readership is definitely growing, so if you’ve been thinking of publishing your own digital magazine, this is the time to do so. When launching your publication online, it’s important to pick which digital publishing companies to be your partner. The right platform will help your publication grow.
There are hundreds of options out there available, but don’t feel overwhelmed just yet. We’ve made a list especially for you! Check out these digital publishing companies that can help you launch your publication with ease:
FLIPHTML5
True to its name, FlipHTML5 offers you a platform to showcase an interactive web-based magazine. If you already have your content ready as PDF files, you can simply upload them and they’re ready to go!
Creating an account with FlipHTML5 is free, and there are some limited features available for you in the free plan. They have 5 different pricing plans, ranging from $15-$25 per month, plus a $999 Enterprise plan (that you only need to pay once!).
They offer different limit for the storage, how many uploads per day, and how many pages per book that you can have depending on which plan you’re on.
You can use your own logo/branding with any of the paid plans, however, their Editor feature is not available unless you’re on their Platinum plan.
iMAG
iMag is web-based publishing company aimed at businesses. Their big mission is to help businesses who want to grow traffic online, and a lot of their features reflect this.
Once your magazine is published, iMag will optimize your content (including images!) for SEO to help you get the highest ranking in search engines.
In addition to using your own company’s branding, iMag will also give you the option to sell advertising space in your publication. You also have the option to make your content interactive by adding audio/video files.
At the moment, iMag does not offer any free plan or trial. Their pricing plan starts from $15 to $139 per month. Their full white label solution only available on the highest Enterprise plan.
KOBO
If you are looking to publish e-books, then Kobo would be a fantastic option for you! Kobo Writing Life is one of the biggest ebook publishing companies. It offers a simple, four-step process for uploading e-books, and the company will convert your manuscript into an epub file for free with no additional cost to the author.
Kobo’s app is available on multiple platforms: Apple, Android, Blackberry, and desktop.
Kobo’s royalty policy is very simple: they offer the authors 70% of the list price on books priced $2.99 or higher, and 45% on books priced between 99 cents and $2.98. You can also offer your books for free if you’d like to!
One of the greatest thing about Kobo is actually its partnership with American Booksellers Association, which can help your ebooks get more exposure.
If you’re looking for more e-book publishers recommendation, check out our blog post here.
Now, what if you’re just starting out with your digital magazine, and you need an affordable web-only option for now but you want to grow your magazine (probably having an app) without having to switch platform? Then you should definitely check out these two digital publishing companies: Yumpu and MagLoft!
YUMPU
Yumpu offers 5 different plans, and the paid plans range from $19.95 to $339 per month. With the Free plan, you will still be able to access their Editor and some basic settings, which is not bad at all!
You won’t be able to create your magazine from scratch, as their Editor is only for editing the issues you uploaded. But if you already have your own platform to create your issues, it shouldn’t be a problem.
If you want to have an app for your magazine, you will need to be on their highest or second highest plan. Their highest plan offers both iOS and Android app as well as In-App Purchase. While with the second highest plan, you have to choose between having iOS or Android app, and there’s no In-App Purchases feature.
With any of the paid plan, there will be no advertisements and your magazine will be optimized for search engines.
MAGLOFT
Call us biased, but we do think that we offer the all-in-one solution that most digital publishers are looking for! MagLoft has 4 different pricing plans, starting from $99. You are, of course, welcome to create a free account with us and explore our tools.
There are no plan restrictions within MagLoft’s drag-and-drop Editor, and on top of being able to upload your existing issues, you are also able to create an issue from scratch with the Editor! You are also able to create and upload as many magazine issues as you’d like.
MagLoft’s Standard plan is for Web-only publishing, but you will be using your own logo, branding, and domain. You can also connect the Web App to your own Stripe and PayPal accounts in order to sell your content.
If you want to publish your magazines as an app, there are 3 options you can choose. You can upgrade to MagLoft’s App Plan to get a Web + Android app, or upgrade to our Mobile Plan to get Web + mobile apps. The Mobile plan is all-inclusive, and MagLoft will build you an Android, iOS, as well as Amazon app. You can also upgrade to our highest plan, Business Plan to unlock more features suitable for agencies. The app will be built and published using your own developer account, making it fully yours. MagLoft doesn’t take any commission from your sales.
BEST DIGITAL PUBLISHING COMPANIES: CONCLUSION
With hundreds of digital publishing companies available out there, picking out the right one obviously won’t be easy. It will depend entirely on your current situation and how you see the publication growing. There are various aspects to consider: budget, content creation flow, size of the audience, web-only or native app magazine (if you’re still unsure, check out our blog post here and here to see why you should get an app!)
We hope this article helps you in your journey of finding ‘the one’ digital publishing partner! If you think that it might be us, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us via live chat (should be available on the right bottom part of your page) or shoot us an email at support@magloft.com.
