How To Start A Magazine (And Make A Profit)

Last fall, Marco Arment launched a general interest magazine. It's called, aptly enough, The Magazine. Writers are paid $800 per article. There are no ads. Until recently, it was available only via iPhones and iPads. Astonishingly, it's already turning a profit.

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Arment walked me through the numbers. He has 25,000 subscribers who pay $1.99 a month. Apple takes a 30 percent cut, leaving Arment about $35,000 a month.

This cost of putting out the magazine is a bit over $20,000 per month. It comes out every two weeks, and each issue costs about $10,000. Roughly $4,000 goes to writers. The rest goes mostly to copy editors, illustrators, photographers and editors.

Arment had an advantage in getting his magazine off the ground: He's a well known guy in the tech world who created Instapaper, was the lead developer at Tumblr and now has his own blog and podcast.

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Then again, given all that, why go to the trouble of creating a magazine?

"I don't really know why I started it," Arment told me yesterday. Then he listed off a bunch of reasons why he started it.

He knew lots of good bloggers who weren't doing any magazine writing. He wanted a magazine that he wanted to read. ("General interest, with a geeky slant.") And, weirdly, the business case for a magazine was really compelling.

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"What I saw was a fluke in app store pricing," he told me. "If you have an app, you can charge, realistically, about $3 these days." Somebody buys the app, and that's it. But for a magazine, you can charge $1.99every month.

Of course, when you're publishing the magazine, you do have to pay for a new issue every two weeks. And if you're a publisher with no full-time staff, you're pretty much locked in.

"With Instapaper, I can take a few months off," Arment said. "I can't stop publishing The Magazine for two months and work on something else."

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8 ways to make money online from home

Discover Innovative Ways to Earn Extra Money

With more opportunities to make extra money than ever before, it can be challenging to decide where to invest your time. Explore this list of fresh ideas to earn money online and from home, including unique methods like walking, recycling, reviewing music, and even web searching.

Bookmark this page as we continually update it with new and fast ways to make money.

How to Make Money Online and From Home

These are some of the best methods to start earning extra cash today:

Matched Betting

Matched betting takes advantage of free bets offered by betting sites by 'matching' them at a betting exchange. This eliminates the mathematical risk since you are betting both for and against an outcome.

By leveraging the free bets, which can be as much as £100, you can potentially earn several hundred pounds. Many readers have successfully made hundreds of pounds from home using this technique. It’s legal, tax-free, and available to anyone over 18 in the UK.

Check out our comprehensive guide to matched betting for step-by-step instructions and a real example of how to make your first profit.

      Online Paid Surveys

Participating in online surveys is a popular way to make money in your spare time. Research companies constantly seek new members worldwide to answer surveys and test new products.

For a few minutes of form filling, you can earn cash or rewards. Some surveys pay up to £3 ($5). Recommended survey sites include Branded Surveys, Swagbucks, i-Say, LifePoints, OnePoll, Freecash, Pinecone, Toluna, Opinion Outpost, YouGov, Prizerebel, Marketagent, InboxPounds, Valued Opinions, Survey Junkie, Attapoll, Opinion Bureau, Maru Voice, Panel Base, and Y Live.

For more details, see our full guide to the best paid survey sites.

       Searching the Web

Make money by doing what you already do online. Qmee.com rewards you for searching on Google, Bing, Yahoo, Amazon, and eBay. Install a browser extension, and sponsored results will appear alongside your normal search results.

Each Qmee result has a cash reward. Click on it to collect your reward, and you can also complete surveys to increase your earnings. There’s no minimum to cash out, with your first payment potentially being as little as 72p wired to your PayPal account. Donations to charity are also an option.

Sign up for free and start earning from your searches today!

      Online Market Trading

Investing in the stock market can be lucrative if you learn to do it properly, though it involves risk. Only invest what you can afford to lose. Online platforms now make it possible to trade without traditional brokers.

eToro.com is a popular platform with over 25 million users worldwide, featuring in the BBC Two documentary "Traders: Millions by the Minute" and sponsoring several Premier League football clubs. Its CopyTrader feature allows you to follow and copy the investments of top-performing traders.

Start with a virtual portfolio and $100k to practice trading without risk. Real trades require a minimum of £/$10. 

For more information, follow our complete guide to trading on eToro. Remember, all trading involves risk, and you should consider whether you can afford to lose your money. Copy Trading is not investment advice. The value of your investments may fluctuate, and your capital is at risk. You must be over 18 to trade.

       Start Your Own Website

Generate passive income by starting a website. With Bluehost, you can set up a website in under 20 minutes at minimal cost, even if you’re not tech-savvy. Promote your site on social media to attract visitors and explore various monetization strategies.

Save the Student, started by Owen Burek while at university, is an example of a successful website serving over 1 million visitors a month. Follow Owen’s step-by-step guide to create a website in 20 minutes from home.

            Review Websites & Apps

Turn your web browsing skills into a paid job by reviewing websites and apps. UserTesting pays everyday people to review websites and apps, with each review taking about 20 minutes and earning $10 (£6.50) via PayPal.

Sign up for UserTesting, complete a test review, and start receiving websites to review in your inbox. TestingTime is another platform that pays for reviewing websites, apps, and new products and services.

        The 'Disney Vault' Secret

Disney restricts the supply of some home release classics by locking them away in the 'vault' for 8-10 years before re-releasing them for a short period. Buying these classics during their release window can lead to significant profits when they go off sale.

For example, Beauty and the Beast on Blu-ray 3D bought for £24.99 in 2011 sold for £74.99 a few years later. Current recommendations include Bambi Diamond Edition Blu-ray and The Lion King Diamond Edition Blu-ray.

       'Get Paid To' Sites

Similar to online surveys, GPT (Get Paid To) sites reward you in cash and vouchers for completing various online offers and activities. Popular sites include User Interviews, Toluna, Swagbucks, and InboxPounds.

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