Make Your Own Digital Mag With Glossi

These days, there are many ways for people to be content creators. Whether it's blogging or shooting YouTube videos, the Web has provided the democratization of content creation. That's gotten a whole lot prettier with Glossi, a new digital publishing tool that allows users to create their own online magazines. Now in public beta (you can request an invite here), Glossi offers an intuitive way for anyone to craft a digital magazine, complete with multimedia integration. Created by the social commerce company ThisNext, Glossi is a bid to branch out beyond the fashion and commerce world into the wider digital publishing realm. So, can a platform like this upend the magazine publishing industry? Glossi CEO Matt Edelman doesn't think so. He told 10,000 Words in an email that "demand for skilled, experienced creators is only increasing." Indeed, the platform sees itself as an additional avenue for established publishers – one example of this is Lucky's Glossi. Although the print magazine isn't going anywhere soon, (though we may be starting to see its demise), the platform does democratize the digital magazine creation process. "One of my favorite creators on the platform is a teenage duo who have launched a magazine called Liv, now in its third monthly issue. They're already starting to draw an audience. That's the power that Glossi puts into the hands of everyone," wrote Edelman. When asked about its business model, Edelman responded that they are considering a combination of e-commerce, advertising and distribution. "The magazine format does not have to be interrupted in order to generate revenue," he said. "Ads in a Glossi can be as beautiful as pages full of dynamic content." Though I haven't spent a lot of time on the site, some initial experimenting has proven the platform to be very intuitive. Uploading images is a breeze, and Glossi provides several page templates for you to get started. Editing a page is similar to your average blogging platform, with a toolbar at the top that gives you options to change the font, insert links, etc. You can change the size of pictures and text boxes on the page itself, and there is a page template that allows you to embed videos from YouTube and Vimeo. (As of this writing, that feature is still undergoing some fixes and isn't available to all users yet.) A published Glossi can then be embedded in a website or blog and shared via social media. Glossi is not the first to venture into this territory. Zeen, a similar platform by the co-founders of YouTube, is also offering a platform for the creation of digital magazines. So we wonder: Will digital magazines soon be as ubiquitous as blogs?

Fishbowl

Make Your Own Digital Mag With Glossi

Mona Zhang

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Mona Zhang