WHAT SOFTWARE CAN I USE FOR PUBLISHING?

Ideally, you should use whatever you feel comfortable with.

For almost three-years I compiled both my magazines using nothing more than a Microsoft Word newsletter template, adapted to accommodate the size of my magazines.  Surprisingly it worked very well.

Whilst Word is suitable for compiling a community magazine and getting it ready for publishing, as your magazine evolves you will find it easier to use specialised publishing software.  At the suggestion of my local printer I now compile my own magazines using Quark, simply because that is the program that they themselves use.

Prior to the introduction of full-colour covers to my magazines, Word proved very suitable, and once compiled I simply converted the whole document to a PDF file before submitting it for printing. With Quark there is no need to convert your document to a PDF file. I have no experience of any other publishing software but I imagine that most work along similar lines to my experiences with Word and Quark (which surprisingly enough are not too dissimilar, making the transformation quite a bit easier)

To spend a fortune on specialised software would be contrary to what this website is about.  Using something as basic as Microsoft Word allows you to commence publishing on a limited budget and despite what others may believe, Word was my partner for three years and proved perfectly adequate for my needs.

Michael Norfolk

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