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February 11, 2014

Beacon – Become a Digital Publisher

ss-beaconBeacon is a tool that amateur publishers can use to create digital magazines that work seamlessly on both mobile and desktop devices. By lowering the barriers associated with creating traditional magazines, Beacon is opening up the door and democratizing the world of online publishing.

If you can create the content for your digital magazine, then Beacon can handle the rest. The web-based application offers tools for designing, editing, publishing, and even selling online magazines. Start out the process by creating your first issue. Just like with a print magazine, you’ll want to group content into individual issues to promote particular themes or subjects. (For example, a magazine about travel might have one issue devoted to Italy and another to Fiji.) Select a style for your magazine, ensuring the product you’re developing looks professional by using one of Beacon’s predesigned templates. Next, it’s time to add content to your magazine in the form of articles and photographs. Because you’re not working in print, you can create as many pages as you need and include all the text and multimedia content you can find in each issue. From there, it’s time to set the price and click “publish.”

Magazines published with Beacon work on every device, including tablets, smartphones, and desktop computers. Beacon is fully integrated with Stripe, which means you can sell your magazine to readers online for whatever price you select. Beacon also provides publishers with “magazine statistics,” which show which parts of their magazine are the most popular with readers.

Practical Uses:

  • Publish a travel magazine
  • Earn money by packaging and selling your most popular essays
  • Start a magazine about your hometown
  • Fill a niche in the marketplace by creating your own fashion magazine

Insider Tips:

  • Publishers should optimize their magazines for search engines
  • View the statistics page to see which parts of your magazine were most popular
  • Select your magazine design from one of Beacon’s templates

What we liked:

  • Users can create as many issues as they want for a flat monthly fee
  • Beacon magazines look great on virtually any device or platform
  • Magazines can be shared via a shortened URL
  • Publishers set their own magazine sales prices

What we didn’t like:

  • Beacon doesn’t offer publishers as many customization options as competing publishing tools

Alternatives:

Company Info:

  • Launched: 2013
  • Privately Held
  • Headquarters: Belfast, Ireland
  • Web site: http://beacon.by

Costs:

  • $20 per month
  • Beacon charges 10% + Stripe’s fee for all magazines sold

Comments

  1. Very nice design. Attractive. I wish it would be free or more cheaper. Nevertheless it is useful. I will give a chance. Thanks posting.

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