#FlipboardChat - My Take on Cause Magazines

I've written before about my love of Flipboard's magazine creation feature and have a bunch I really love curating, including a tribute to 24: Live Another Day and my love letter to old-school punk music.

I have a couple other magazines that are more of a passion project - #WomenLead and #WomenWhoTech - focused on important issues to me. When #FlipboardClub founder Aida Boucheron asked if I'd be willing to co-curate a magazine focused on the #YesAllWomen hashtag the other day, it was a no-brainer that I say yes.Because I'm unable to reliably join in this week's #FlipboardChat due to other engagements, Aida kindly sent me the questions ahead of time so I could answer them here and jump in when I'm able.Q1. When is the best time to launch a magazine for a cause? For tributes, how soon after breaking news?The sooner, the better. If it's a major cause or event, it's likely others will create one. Beyond that, if it's something you're really passionate about, capitalize on your passion and others' interest in the subject. This may be a subject you've long held dear, and now's your opportunity to share that passion with others.Q2. What is the best way to stage your magazine for maximum exposure? Also, how do you get the word out?My biggest way of getting the word out, actually, is #FlipboardFriday. People are actively looking for new magazines then. Elsewise, getting featured in Flipboard's #MagsWeLove is nice. I also have my magazines embedded in the sidebar of my blog (see over on the right for a couple) and on a page on my site. Finally, adjusting what mags are listed in the table of contents of my other mags (moving them up to the top of my list of mags) can be a great help to get traction on a new magazine if you have some others that get a lot of page views.Q3. What are your initial go-to sources for content? How do you organize them to keep up with new info?First thing I do is search Flipboard magazines for others on the subject that I might reflip, then using Flipboard search, look through appropriate hashtags and keywords on Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram, Tumblr and 500px. I only occasionally search Facebook - mainly if I don't have a lot of material from the other sources. I save all the appropriate searches and group them together in my subscriptions so I can easily go through them each day.Q4. How often do you add new content to your cause/tribute magazine? How much? How specific do you get?Sometimes multiple times a day. Sometimes once a  day. Sometimes I get lazy and don't catch up for several days. I tend to go in spurts and add a whole bunch at a time, because if I'm on, I'm on. However, for #WomenLead and #WomenWhoTech, I come upon interesting articles all day long, and add those after I read them, using the bookmarklet.Q5. If your magazine is about a dated cause/campaign, what do you do with it after the campaign ends?I haven't done this yet, but if it's a cause I hold dear, I would probably keep it alive in some way - maybe transforming it into a more general magazine about the cause.Q6. What challenges have you encountered when curating magazines for a major cause or a notable tribute?Differentiation. What makes my magazine different than other similar ones, so that people might want to read mine instead of - or as well as - the others?Q7. Any final words of advice for those who want to launch a Flipboard magazine for a cause or tribute?If it's something you care about, DO IT. Even if it's only for yourself. There's something very satisfying seeing a beautiful tribute to something you care so much about.Image courtesy of Aida Boucheron and Flipboard Club.