Are you enthusiastic about writing, art, and creativity? Do you want to create a space for your peers to highlight their voice and talents? Launching a student-led literary magazine as a high school student is a fun and meaningful project! Not only will it be a celebration of the great talent in your school community, it’s also a great way to help you develop your leadership, editorial, and organizational skills. Below is a step-by-step to guide you from ideation to execution!
1. Define Your Purpose and Vision
As you embark upon this project, ask yourself what it is you want your magazine to do. Will it encompass poetry, short stories, essays, or a combination of genres? Will it include visual (art/photography)? Will its purpose be to celebrate creativity, initiate important conversations, or develop a place for students who feel underrepresented? Lastly, write a mission statement that outlines the purpose of your magazine so that you have a clear process for decision making.
Tip: Explore other school/youth literary magazines for inspiration. What do you like about them? What would you do differently?
2. Assemble Your Team
A magazine relies entirely on an enthusiastic and hard-working crew of students. Recruit students who enjoy writing, editing, design, and advertising. You will want a team of students to help with typical roles, which include the following:
Editor-in-Chief - overall management of the entire project to be published.
Section Editors - for poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and art.
Design/Layout team - for the look and feel of the magazine.
Marketing/Publicity team - to market your magazine, and bring in submissions.
Web/Social Media Manager - for the online magazines.
Hold an interesting meeting to share your ideas and ask students to join your team, and encourage robust numbers and diversity, while telling your potential team members that diversity of thought will add value to your magazine.
3. Find a Faculty Advisor
The majority of schools require a teacher or staff member to supervise student projects of any kind. Locate a teacher or staff member, who is committed to students, and who loves literature, art, and creative pursuits. They will help you navigate school policies, find funding opportunities, and point you in the right direction when needed.
4. Present the Plan and Obtain Official Support
You now need to present your project to school administrators. Prepare an informal proposal including:
Your mission statement
Your team structure
Ideas related to content,design and distribution
Budget and ideas for funding
A timeline to produce your first edition.
Be open to responding to the administrators' questions and concerns, and thanks for their time. Receiving the approach of a supportive authority figure will help provide resources for producing and promoting your magazine.
5. Choose a Format: Print, Digital, or Both?
How do you want to publish your magazine—paper, online, or both? Each option has advantages and disadvantages:
Print: Can't touch it before you have it, and there is something memorable about the paper form, but a cost to print copies.
Digital: There is minimal cost and students can access anywhere, plus they can share digitally. But the "special" feeling of print is lost.
Hybrid: If you have the budget or resources to do the best of both worlds.
Think about your budget constraints, any technical skills you have, and what your audience prefers. FREE tools such as Canva, Issuu, or Google Sites to publish your magazine digitally take the difficulty out of publishing.
6. Create Submission Guidelines
Decide what types of work you'd like to accept (poems, stories, essays, art, photographs). Decide on guidelines related to length, format, and deadlines for submitting work. Make sure your guidelines are inclusive and encourage submission by all students, not just your experienced writers.
Sample Submission Guidelines:
3 poems maximum (maximum 40 lines each)
Short stories and essays (maximum 1,500 words)
Art and photographs (must be high-resolution)
All work must be original and appropriate for school
7. Promote and Collect Submissions
Posters, morning announcements, social media, or word of mouth are all great ways to get the word out. Consider a creative writing workshop or a creative writing contest to generate excitement and encourage submissions. Make the process as easy for students to submit their work as possible—consider a dedicated email address or Google form for submissions.
8. Review and choose the content
Set up a fair, anonymous review process. Reviewers should review all submissions and choose based on quality, originality, and the overall fit of the piece to your magazine's vision. Considerations should also be made for voices, diversity of styles, etc. Let everyone know—successful and unsuccessful—in time. Provide constructive feedback if you can.
9. Edit and design
Before you develop the final layout, work with writers and artists to edit their content. Check for grammar, clarity and formatting. Fairly quickly, put all factors over into the design team so that they can also 'dress up' your content. Fonts, all use of a color palette/dark/light options, images/video, etc. should emphasize your vision as a magazine. And, everything must be school appropriate and free of mistakes.
10. Publish and Celebrate
With your completed magazine, it's time to share it with your school! If you are printing copies, consider having a launch party or reading. If you are publishing online, be sure to distribute the link widely. Celebrate the accomplishment of your contributors and team—there is a lot of work to be proud of!
11. Maintain Reflection and Plan Forward
After your first issue, collect feedback from your readers and team. What went well? What would you improve? Build from this information and make the next issue better. Think about creating the magazine as an annual or semesterly event.
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Through personalized guidance and independent research projects that can lead to prestigious publications, RISE helps you build a standout academic profile and develop skills that set you apart. With flexible program dates and global accessibility, ambitious students can apply year-round. To learn more about eligibility, costs, and how to get started, visit RISE Global’s official website and take your college preparation to the next level!
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