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I publish a magazine online, and I also do some of the writing for it. It’s a big job that often leaves me pressed for time, and I need to make tough decisions about design and what to do with the budget. This isn’t just a hobby for me, so I need to make it count. It took me a long time to figure out which service was the most efficient way for me to convert my raw PDFs into a magazine that looks attractive and reads well. I picked YUMPU Publishing out of a big crowd of potential contenders as the best service to self-publish a magazine online. This is my story.

Why I chose this self publish online service

Getting the magazine up on a regular basis is tricky, but I love doing it. I just have to balance a lot of different tasks and tradeoffs when it comes to getting good software. For a long time, converting PDFs was a real hurdle. There’s a ton of different services online that can convert a basic PDF into a format with more pizazz, but they all have their drawbacks. Some of them are really eager to insert ads into your content. Some of them put limitations on where you can host the content. Some of them don’t work for mobile users or can’t be shared on social media. There’s a whole set that has good feature sets but costs a monthly subscription fee. I really can’t afford that- I’m not running a big operation, and most of the people involved are in it for love.

Here is a short video about this service and what it does:

Welcome to YUMPU video

The easiest way to publish a magazine online

When I first came across this site, I could not believe my eyes. It seemed too good to be true. The feature list on the free version was way better than any other free competitor and even some of the paid ones. I found it hard to believe that YUMPU Publishing could get away with giving away so many useful features without requiring a subscription. I decided to try it out and see if there was a catch. I’ve never looked back. It really can do everything it claims to do, which is a lot. Let’s go through some of the most useful features. First of all, its format, ePaper, looks great.

An embedded magazine from this service:

Example of embedded magazine in YUMPU

Just like a real magazine

It is an excellent format for online magazines because it has flippable pages. It’s a very natural form for an online magazine. When you publish your magazine online, you need it to look good, and ePaper looks good. On top of that, YUMPU makes it easy to share ePaper on all social media platforms, embed it into any host or source, and brand it however you please. On a technical note, ePaper works with all platforms and browsers, so it is easy for readers on mobile browsers like smartphones and tablets. That makes a big difference.

More and more people access Internet content with a mobile platform, so if you self-publish a magazine online, it is critical that you can reach those mobile users. It’s also important that the content is easy to find. For that reason, anything in an ePaper document will show up on Google and other search engines. Anything that makes it possible for people to encounter your content is a good thing. When you publish a magazine online, you need as many potential viewers as possible so you can convert them into loyal readers.

I started using this service mostly because of the freedom. If I feel like I want to add an audio file or an embedded video to an article, that’s easy. If I want to share it anywhere, fine. Other services place lots of restrictions on what you can do, or hide the freedom behind paywalls. YUMPU Publishing gives it all to you upfront. If you publish your magazine online and you are not satisfied with the service you have that takes care of your design, think about YUMPU. It stands head and shoulders above the competition.