publish

Like a Rocket in the Sky: Propel Your Business to New Heights Using MagCloud

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Let’s face it, being successful takes work. Today’s world is dramatically different from the one fifteen years ago–it’s a noisy place full of fierce competition. The stakes are high and greatness is always on the line. If you’re anything like us, you know the challenge to be seen and heard is one of the most difficult. So how do you set yourself apart? In the spirit of entrepreneurship, we suggest trying some of these creative ideas to promote your brand—and ensure you remain in the know for your industry:

Establish yourself as THE expert: Your brand collateral is the most important opportunity to talk about your product or service. That’s why so many businesses (The Costco Connection, USAA Magazine) and owners have found that branded magazines are a unique way to pique audience interest with relevant content and information. It keeps you top of mind in a format that gets to your customers or target audience more frequently—be it annually, quarterly or monthly. How does it work? Well, by presenting your business in an editorial format you can:

  • develop prospective customers and foster increased loyalty
  • establish your organization or company as current on issues and trends
  • be a resource for information that is relevant to your audience
  • give depth and relevance to your brand in an environment you can control

Don’t be shy, tell your story: A custom magazine (e.g. This Workplace) or brochure (e.g. HP 360°) is the perfect way to chronicle the history of your company, a new product’s road to market, and much more. Consider the story you want to tell, and record or detail aspects that support your narrative. And don’t forget to employ social media either! Use Pinterest to crowd source ideas from fans and customers, leverage Instagram to showcase behind-the-scenes elements, and engage in conversation with your target audience on Twitter.

Showcase your amazing career: Showcase your career accomplishments and accolades in a magazine (e.g. Subject Matter, Trendi Creative) including media coverage, photos of your work, testimonials and anything else you’d be proud to display. Present it to prospective clients and include a link to it in your resume.

Keep pace with industry news and trends: Sometimes it seems as if the world—and the people in it—are changing faster than anyone can keep track. Start by putting your finger on the pulse of the industry. Draw insights and inspiration easily, and stay abreast of current and expected trends that are relevant to your business by reviewing what others are doing in and around you (e.g. Spinr Magazine, XXC Magazine).

Summer Wanderlust

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summertimewanderlustWhether you’re planning a big family vacation, or a small weekend staycation during the summer break, wanderlust seems to be an epidemic during warm summer months. In the Travel and Vacation Category of the MagCloud storefront, you can find all sorts of great publications to help inspire your travel whims, help you plan your trip, or inspire you to document your family adventure when you come home. And if you don’t get to travel anywhere this summer, you can always enjoy a good read on your lunch break and take a mental vacation.

So in honor of our own summer wanderlust, today we’re featuring some of our favorite travel-inspired publications on MagCloud.

LittleIndianalittle Indiana Quarterly Magazine

little Indiana: Where to Stay, Play, and Eat in Small Indiana Towns (population 15,000 and less). Just like littleIndiana.com, the magazine takes things to a whole new level! Find information about Indiana’s restaurants with outdoor seating, mom and pop ice cream shops, a young couple that renovated a building and restored a downtown, memories of summer from a town that no longer exists, a business on the brink of closure, and plenty more! Don’t miss regular features like “From the Hoosier bookshelf” and the Indiana trivia crossword puzzle.

toandfromTo & From: The Paris Issue

To & From Magazine merges travel and lifestyle.
The newest issue features Paris, “the City of lights.”

Tourism TattlerTourism Tattler: Kenya

The July edition of Africa’s premier Travel Trade Journal features Kenya, plus articles on Business, Conservation, Events, Hospitality, Legal and Marketing issues.

BVI NewbieBVI Newbie

A quirky and colourful guide to the BVI for residents and visitors. This books uses tongue-in-cheek commentary and bubbly design elements which keep the reader entertained and at ease when the time comes to move to Nature’s Little Secrets. This handy guide book also provides step by step instruction for several unfamilliar practices and/or procedures visitors often face while in the Virgin Islands.

Don’t just read about others’ adventures, publish your own.

Rather than let those sunny summer memories fade with your suntan at the end of the summer, start planning now to chronicle your summer adventures and photos into a cool summer recap magazine, or travel photo book printed through MagCloud. You can create a personal memento in magazine format to easily share your memories with family and friends in print and digitally.

Save and scan ticket stubs, itineraries and after your trip, compile all of your pictures and memories into a Square photo book or scrapbook using Apple Aperture  or Photoshop to share with your friends and family! If you’re not a big designer or super savvy with software–not to worry–you can try out our partner Poyomi’s on-line tool for photo book design.

Need some inspiration? Check out some of these great examples published on MagCloud:

DisneylandDisney Vacation 2013

To & From Magazine merges travel and lifestyle.
The newest issue features Paris, “the City of lights.”

Hawaii Trip 2012Hawaii Trip 2012

A 8″ x 8″ book of photos from the Splonskowski family 2012 trip to Hawaii

Go Big With Our Large Form Factor Products

Patty62 Comments

MagCloud users deserve larger form factor products and we are happy to offer not just one but seven large product types.

Tabloid Product Family

At 11″ x 14″ trim size Small Tabloid is smaller than a standard newspaper but larger than our Standard letter-size product.  Our Large Tabloid product has a 17″ x 11″ trim size offering more room for images and content. All Tabloid products are published on premium cover stock, have Wire-O Binding, and are ideal for large format portfolios, custom calendars, manuals and more.

  • Small Tabloid: 11″ x 14″ and 14″ x 11″ trim size options
  • Large Tabloid: 17″ x 11″ trim size
  • $0.36 per page with full color printing
  • 8 to 90 pages in length in multiples of 2
  • $2.00 per copy for durable Wire-O Binding

Poster Product Family

Our full-color, double-sided Poster are printed on premium cover stock and come standard with UV coating giving them an extra sheen and making them more durable. Posters are ideal for promotions and special event keepsakes such as gallery exhibits, music festivals and fundraisers.

  • Available in 12″ x 18″ or 18″ x 12″ trim sizes
  • Full-color professional printing on 80# premium cover stock paper
  • Standard UV Coating front and back for increased durability
  • Each individual Poster is only $2 to print ($1.50 for orders of 20 or more).

Large Square

MagCloud is adding to its Square product family by offering a new large form factor Square product. At 12″ x 12″ trim size, this new product is great for one-of-a-kind portfolios, photo books or training material.

  • Available in 12″ x 12″ trim size
  • Durable Wire-O Binding
  • 80# premium cover stock
  • 8 to 90 pages in multiples of 2
  • $0.36 per page with full color printing
  • $2.00 per copy for Wire-O binding

Standard Landscape

Finally we are also expanding our Standard product line, with the addition of a landscape option. Measuring 11” x 8.5” and also using Wire-O Binding and premium #80 cover stock paper, this new product option is useful for portfolios, magazines, booklets, catalogs and more.

  • Available in 10.75″ x 8.25″ trim size
  • Durable Wire-O Binding standard
  • 80# premium cover stock
  • 8 to 90 pages in multiples of 2
  • $0.20 per page with full color printing
  • $2.00 per copy for Wire-O Binding

Note: Standard Landscape page and trim size will also be available as a Flyer option.

What do you think of these new products and how do you plan to use them?  Let us know in the comments section below.

Summer Fun with MagCloud

Patty2 Comments

Over the next six weeks we’ll be sharing blog posts that discuss how to use MagCloud to plan vacations, create excitement for family reunions, capture all your summer memories and more.

First up is creating MagCloud published photo books directly from your iPad with the Poyomi Photo Book application. This iPad application makes it easy to create photo books while on the go–select photos, design your book, order, and have MagCloud print and deliver them before you even get home from your vacation.

Step 1: Select your Photos

Poyomi’s app makes it easy to choose photos for your book from your iPad albums including your camera roll and iCloud PhotoStream, or import them from third party websites such as Flickr, Facebook, Picasa, SmugMug and Dropbox.  Simply upload your photos to the Poyomi Book Editor by selecting the specific photos you want to include in your book.

 

Step 2: Organize Your Photos

The Book Editor lets you organize the photos in your book by date taken, alphabetically or you can drag and drop them to create a custom arrangement.

You can also add captions, rotate images and ensure your photos print as large as possible by favoriting them.

 

Step 3: Design Your Book

Poyomi allows you to select from four of the MagCloud product types–Letter (aka MagCloud Standard), Digest, Digest Landscape and Small Square. You can also choose your binding type either Saddle Stitch Binding or Perfect Binding for books over 20 pages.

Poyomi’s design features include four color schemes for the inside of the book, as well as multiple type face colors for the cover title of the book.  Title your book and choose a wrap around cover photo or individual photos for the front and back of your book.

The Book Editor also allows you to crop and select portions of the cover and back photos for the perfect look.

 

Step 4: Preview Your Book

All that’s left is previewing and making final adjustments to your book.  You can write a brief intro to your book including using one of your travel photos as a background image, as well as creating a brief closing note to go at the end of the book.

Once you’ve previewed your entire book simply tap “Finish”.

 

Finished!

That’s it in a few easy steps you’ve created a travel photo book on your iPad without ever leaving your beach chair.

Poyomi gives you the option to save your book to your Poyomi account for editing when you get home or you can create a personal home page where friends and family can preview and order copies of your book. Finally you can purchase it directly from your iPad with a credit card or via a PayPal account.

 

How can you imagine using Poyomi’s Photo Book iPad app this summer?  Let us know in the comments section below.

Our Product Family Keeps Growing

Patty22 Comments

Today we launched two new products into the MagCloud family–Digest Landscape and Flyer.

Digest Landscape is compact and ultra-portable at 8.5″ wide x 5.5″ tall. It’s perfect for portfolios, brochures, catalogs, books and more.  Simply upload an 8.5″ wide x 5.5″ tall PDF and we’ll trim it down by 0.125″ on the top and bottom and 0.25″ on the outside edge to a final size of 8.25″ wide x 5.25″ tall so it’s ready for our professional printing presses.  We’ve also updated our website preview app so users will be able to preview your publication in all it’s landscape glory.

Our double-sided, single sheet Flyer product is ideal for brief messages or content that changes often such as sales promotions, menus, product data sheets, event schedules and more. Simply upload an 8.5″ wide x 11″ tall PDF and we’ll get it ready for printing by trimming it down by 0.125″ on all sides to a final size of 8.25″ wide x 10.75″ tall.  We print Flyer publications as a single sheet with a front and back side, so if you only upload one page don’t worry we’ll automatically add a blank page for the back side.  The Flyer product does require a minimum print order of 10 copies which will be bundled into one shipping order.

We hope you enjoy these new products and would love to hear how you plan to use them in our comments section below.

Easier Access to Publisher Tools

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With our redesign of the MagCloud home page we’ve put the most important publisher tools just a few clicks away. Now when you sign-in to MagCloud you’ll immediately have access to a variety of publisher tools including  sales stats, publication drafts, promotion tools, recent orders and much more.

Your personalized home page will dynamically serve up content that is most important to you:

  • Sales Information: If you sell your publications via MagCloud, you’ll automatically see your pertinent sales stats: page views, recent sales, digital downloads, your followers and your sales earnings.
  • Publishing Tools: You’ll have easy access to your latest drafts, and one click access to promotion tools, your address book, a pricing calculator and your entire publication library.
  • Recent Purchase History: You can easily access recent order details and available digital downloads.
  • Recommendations: We’ll recommend other publications you might be interested in based on other publications and publishers you’ve shown interest in.
  • News Feature and Tips Updates: We are constantly adding new features, offering new templates and giving out design tips to make your publishing lives a little easier and you’ll be able to access the latest information directly from your home page.
So sign-in to MagCloud to check out our new home page design and let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Get With the Program

Lauren2 Comments

Planning for an event can sometimes be, well, eventful. There are always changing schedules to deal with, speakers canceling at the last minute, and 11th hour edits to the program. Making it to press in time (sometimes weeks before the event) with all of these adjustments can be nearly impossible. So, why not lighten your load and use MagCloud?

With fast print turn-around times (as fast as 3-business days for some orders) and great digital options, you could have your next event’s program done quickly, printed beautifully and even offer a digital option to attendees who would rather have their program on their mobile device.

Whether you are planning an internal training day for 10, a corporate meeting for 100 or a conference for 1,000+, MagCloud makes it easy to publish a program with just a few clicks of the mouse and have prints delivered straight to the event location. How easy is that?!

Need shipping that fits your budget? Use the MagCloud pricing calculator to figure out what level of shipping option works best for you.

To help you get started, we have 3 basic templates for Adobe InDesign (CS3 and later) Microsoft Word, and Apple iWork Pages. You can also find templates for sale online from many sites, but be cautious that many of them will require some tweaking to output for print through MagCloud. Please see our How to Guides for details on MagCloud-ready settings.

Ready to design on your own? Get inspired by other publishers’ event and sports programs and agendas on MagCloud:

  

 

Streamlined Publish Process

Patty3 Comments

It just got easier to publish on MagCloud. We’ve  revamped the publishing process for all MagCloud products making it easier to upload, update and manage your publications. With the new Publish Process  you can name your publication, select your product type and begin uploading it to MagCloud all in one simple step.

As part of this new publish process, we’ve also introduced the MagCloud Smart PDF Uploader, so if your page size is slightly off, the new uploader will automatically resize pages, check and warn for low resolution images, and add blank pages if the publication doesn’t have the exact page count needed for the chosen binding option.

We’ve also addressed some of our publishers’ most common requests. We have removed the back page tagline to give you even more design freedom. The lower right-hand 1.4″ by 0.625″ of the back cover will be covered by a white label with an order number in print versions of the publication. In the near future will further reduce the amount of space reserved for MagCloud use to a very small .5” by .5” square space in the lower right corner of a publication’s back page.

In addition, we have removed the ‘Issue Number’ nomenclature.  We realize not all our publishers are creating traditional magazines and you have told us that requiring issue numbers can be confusing. Now publishers have full control over naming their publication.  And if you still want an issue number, no problem, just include it as part of your publication title.

For all of you out there publishing single publications, or special editions, we no longer require that you publish as part of a ‘Magazine’ group.  Instead, you can now publish a standalone publication, or group your publications as collections.

Today’s release also includes enhanced search functionality making it easy for readers to find their favorite publishers and publications.

And last, but certainly not least, we are excited to announce a new addition to our MagCloud mobile family, MagCloud Newsstand for WebOS. That’s right, we’ll be bringing MagCloud to WebOS tablets this fall. With the MagCloud Newsstand for WebOS, readers will be able to browse, preview, purchase, download and read all of your MagCloud published content on their WebOS TouchPad devices.

Let us know what you think of the new Publish Process and today’s announcements in the comments section below.