Our goal was to have students actually lay out the magazine, using Pagemaker. Time ran short, however, and I had to do most of the layout myself. The program we used was Microsoft Publisher, which commercial print shops hate. The cover was a color photocopy printed straight from disk at a commercial printshop. Our production run was 100 copies.
Sales are usually minimal.
Most of the contributors buy a magazine or two, but the general studetn body is apathetic. The quality of this year's magazine was high, and we managed to get the local Barnes and Noble to purchase 20 copies. Get a core of 3-4 enthusiastic students who are good writers themselves. Obtain the cooperation and enthusiasm of your art and photography departments. Investigate your layout and printing capabilities early on.