Starting a Tattoo Magazine

Starting any new magazine can be a challenge, but starting a magazine geared specifically towards one topic where there's already many established magazines as competition can be even more challenging. There are several factors to consider before starting a tattoo magazine.


Go with print or electronic versions. Although print magazines offer something tangible to readers who sometimes collect tattoo magazines or continuously pass them around to their fellow tattoo enthusiasts, it will also be a more expensive route to take. An electronic online version or e-zine will be cheaper to get going and you should see good traffic online if you promote your magazine correctly.

Determine what type of tattoo magazine you want. Tattoo magazines currently on the market are either geared towards the tattoo enthusiast or the tattoo professional. There are some that cater to flash or are very heavy on tattoo photos without much written content.

Contemplate style of magazine pages. There are a number of options for the actual printed pages of your publication including black and white or full color, glossy or matte, thickness and overall quality.

Find a competent printer. You need to shop around for a printing company to produce your magazine. Prices, quality and services offered are all going to vary.

Hire a designer. If you're not already trained in pagination procedures, you'll need to hire someone who can lay out the pages of your publication. The layout needs to be pleasing to the reader while still utilizing as much space as possible.

Hire an editor. This person will be responsible for coming up with content for each issue, assigning articles to either staff or freelance writers, editing all written material and possibly even choosing photos to include and basically doing everything necessary to meet all print deadlines.

Hire writers that are authorities in the field. These may be writers who've written for other tattoo publications and have a good track record, or could be tattoo artists themselves who also like to write about the industry.

Work up an editorial calendar. As publisher, you, the editor and designer will need to sit down and write an editorial calendar that will include the information you'd like to cover in each specific issue. Magazines always work ahead of schedule, which may be six months, a year or even longer.

Some print publications may also have an electronic version that offers more photos and articles that are different from what's available in the print edition. This is a good way to promote your print magazine and give readers a taste of what information is typically included.

Read the competition's publications. This gives you an idea of what they offer and what you can offer that's different from what's readily available. It'll also teach you what works for them and may help you decide if something similar will work for you.

Be prepared to lose money for at least the first year. The startup cost for print publications isn't cheap; you should research these costs and operational costs for the first year and have this amount already available.

There's a lot of established competition in the tattoo industry as far as magazines are concerned. This competition not only affects whether consumers buy your publication, but also who will ultimately decide to advertise in it.