The book starts with the basics: why there is a constant need for new magazines, what makes for a successful magazine, and the life cycle that all magazines go through. Then it plots out, step by step, what is involved in starting a magazine: how to test the concept for a new magazine, produce a pilot issue, develop a business plan, assemble a staff, raise money, and more. Next the book helps you develop an organizational plan: who’s in charge of what, how the various departments get their jobs done, and how they interact with each other. Finally, Kobak covers how a magazine’s strong brand can be used to expand into other areas, such as database marketing, book publishing, and the Internet.

Peppered throughout with immutable laws of magazine publishing, real-life examples, helpful charts, and 168 things you must do, the book concludes with appendices on the history of the business, sources of information, major suppliers and consultants, a glossary of terms, and other necessary facts and information about this growing industry.

Author James Kobak took up the unthankful task of trying to write a user-friendly guide to a profession that many magazine publishers study for four years or more at a university or college.

For the most part, Kobak does a pretty good job. He is obviously enthusiastic about the subject. He has been direct witness to the start-up and/or purchase of many magazines. So he knows his subject.

The reader faces one big challenge. Reading this book is like scraping the top off a mountain. Once the reader moves past the initial "you can do it" enthusiasm of the first few chapters, s/he is immediately faced with the immensity of the task that starting a magazine may present. By the time Kobak closes up his last few chapters with the drudgery of statistics, bookkeeping and forecasting, the shackles of optimism will have rolled away from the reader's demeanor and the reality of his/her endeavor will stare him/her boldy in the face.

There is so much information crammed into the 300-some pages of this book that I ran my highlighter dry trying to capture it all. Kobak writes in an unintimidating style for those new to publishing. That said, however, the information is sometimes muddled by sloppy editing and the author's occasional lapses of clarity in his writing.

For its wealth of information alone, this is a must read for anyone who plans on starting a publishing venture without going the college route. Kobak eplains very clearly that starting a magazine is not inexpensive. Perhaps that is why he priced his book so reasonably. So that we readers could learn that fact first.