Guest post from Emma Jones, Founder of Enterprise Nation, the home business website and author of ‘Spare Room Start Up – how to start a business from home’.

 

Do you have content you would like to share with an interested audience of existing and potential customers? It’s never been so easy to package your content in a stylish way, and distribute it in a cost-effective way. Enter the age of home publishing.

 

Technology, the great leveller

It used to be that if you wanted to publish a book, magazine, newspaper or show series, you could only do so if you had access to large (and expensive) capital equipment and a workforce of hundreds. Not any more. Web-based applications are freeing up the imagination and putting home business owners in control of how content is distributed. Here are some to get you started.

  • Books - always wanted to write the authoritative guide for your industry/sector? Want to show off your portfolio of photographs or handmade goods in a coffee table style book? Now you can with self-publishing sites Blurb www.blurb.com and Lulu www.lulu.com
  • Newspapers - move over, Rupert Murdoch, the home business owners are coming to media town! Become a newspaper publisher with Newspaper Club www.newspaperclub.co.uk – the service is currently in beta but you can sign up and see what this tool could do for your business.
  • Magazines - digital magazines are becoming increasingly sophisticated with embedded links to buy products alongside video clips and interactive forums. Take a look at Yudu www.yudu.com and Zmags www.zmags.co.uk. According to digital publishing service, nxtbook media, advertising in digital magazines is more trusted than online ad banners so for your sponsors and advertisers offering a presence in a digital magazine and on your site offers a good rate of return for them.
  • Audio - speak to your audience by producing a podcast and inviting in guests who can be interviewed using Skype. Click here to read a round-up of features on how to produce a podcast.
  • Video - publish content of you making your product/service or customers saying nice things about your product/service, by using a Flip camera that can be bought for around £90 and comes with only one button so is hyper-easy to use! .
  • Online – share content and your expertise in the form of an online slide show using Slideshare (www.slideshare.net)

This list does not even cover publishing content for people to consume whilst on the move ie mobile applications and publishing for devices such as the iPad and Kindle – that will be covered in a future piece!

 

In the meantime, make the most of earning revenue from charging individual subscriptions or secure a sponsor who would like to be associated with your content and the viral way through which you’ll distribute it. Before you know it you’ll be publishing online, in print, and in audio/video, to an audience of interested readers/watchers/listeners. What a business to run from the comfort of your own home!