Quarterly magazines. Annual reports. Member communications. Your print investment should work harder for your members.
Preserve your print workflow • Serve mobile members better • Start where it makes sense
Member Magazines That Work How Your Members Actually Read
You're Caught Between Print Tradition and Member Expectations
Your quarterly member magazine represents significant investment. Beautiful design, professional photography, thoughtful content. Your members value it.
And now they also expect it to work on their phones. They want to find articles in search. They reference content in emails and social posts. Your board asks about 'digital transformation.'
But you're not a tech company. You're an association serving your members with the resources you have.
The Challenge
What you're doing now:
- • Print magazine (valued by members)
- • PDF on website (poor mobile experience)
- • Or flipbook (members complain about phone experience)
- • Or manual copying (takes your team days)
- • Limited reach beyond print circulation
What members increasingly need:
- ✓ Content that works on phones (70% of traffic is mobile)
- ✓ Articles they can find and share easily
- ✓ Professional experience that reflects your standards
- ✓ Access to archives without hunting through PDFs
The gap: You need digital that matches your print quality, without the complexity or cost of a complete platform overhaul.
Choose What Fits Your Situation
Use one approach, combine them, or different approaches for different content. You decide.
Turn Your Print Magazine Into HTML
When this makes sense: Your print workflow works • Members need mobile experience • Want better SEO • Don't want to change production process
How it works:
- Keep your existing print production (InDesign, agency, whatever works)
- Upload the final PDF to Publi (5 minutes)
- Get clean, mobile-responsive HTML
- Publish to your website or integrate with your CMS
What stays the same:
- ✓ Your print production workflow
- ✓ Your agency relationships (if any)
- ✓ Print magazine for members who prefer it
- ✓ Your editorial process
What improves:
- ✓ Mobile experience (no pinch-zoom)
- ✓ SEO (Google can actually index articles)
- ✓ Content reuse (articles become web content automatically)
- ✓ Member access (works on any device)
Example: Quarterly 48-page magazine → 12 web articles + archived back issues + searchable content. Same print investment, broader member reach.
Publish Member Content Digitally
When this makes sense: Member news between print issues • Quick announcements • Event coverage • Content that doesn't need print
How it works:
- Use our magazine-style CMS (no code needed)
- Write content like you would in Word
- Choose a template (matches your brand)
- Publish directly to web
What you get:
- ✓ Professional layouts (not blog-style)
- ✓ Templates you can customize
- ✓ No developer needed
- ✓ Quick turnaround (publish same day)
Use cases:
- Member updates between magazine issues
- Event coverage and photos
- Industry news and commentary
- Digital supplements to print magazine
Archive Preservation + Selective Conversion
When this makes sense: Years of back issues • Currently using flipbooks • Want to test HTML before committing • Need archives accessible
How it works:
- We host your existing archive (PDFs or flipbooks)
- URLs stay live, nothing breaks
- Convert recent/important issues to HTML
- Or convert over time as budget allows
What you get:
- ✓ Archive accessible (members can find old content)
- ✓ SEO preserved (existing links stay live)
- ✓ Flexibility (convert what makes sense, when it makes sense)
- ✓ No forced timeline
Use cases:
- Moving away from Issuu or other flipbook platform
- Testing HTML approach on recent issues
- Making high-value content searchable
- Gradual transition from flipbooks
Built for Associations
Professional & Trade Associations
Industry-focused membership organizations
Your situation:
- 5,000-50,000 members
- Quarterly or monthly member magazine
- Professional design standards
- Currently: Print + PDF on website, or flipbook
- Challenge: Members expect mobile, board asks about digital ROI
What you need:
- ✓ Preserve print quality online
- ✓ Mobile experience that doesn't embarrass you
- ✓ SEO so members find specific articles
- ✓ Time savings (don't want to add staff)
- ✓ Board-level justification
How Publi helps:
- →Convert print PDFs to professional HTML (5 minutes vs. 4 hours manual)
- →Maintain your existing print workflow
- →Clear value demonstration for board approval
- →Better member experience + measurable ROI
Examples:
- Engineering society quarterly magazine (6,000 members)
- Medical association monthly publication (12,000 members)
- Real estate professional magazine (8,000 members)
State & Regional Associations
Local chapters and state-level groups
Your situation:
- 1,000-10,000 members
- Quarterly magazine, sometimes less frequent
- May outsource design, may do in-house
- Currently: Print-only or PDF on website
- Challenge: Members want digital access
What you need:
- ✓ Digital solution that fits your situation
- ✓ Easy to implement
- ✓ Professional output (represent members well)
- ✓ Don't want vendor lock-in
How Publi helps:
- →Pricing that scales to your volume
- →No setup fees or onboarding costs
- →Start with just conversion, add digital publishing if needed
- →Export your content anytime (you own it)
Examples:
- State bar association magazine (3,000 members)
- Regional manufacturing association (2,500 members)
- State education association (5,000 members)
Membership Foundations
Educational foundations and charitable organizations
Your situation:
- Donor-focused or member-supported
- Quarterly or annual impact reports/magazines
- Tell stories, show impact, build community
- Currently: Print + email PDF, or flipbook
- Challenge: Donors span generations (some prefer print, some prefer digital)
What you need:
- ✓ Professional presentation (represents your mission)
- ✓ Both print and digital that work
- ✓ Donor stories accessible and shareable
- ✓ Measure engagement (who reads what)
How Publi helps:
- →Hybrid approach: Print for major donors, HTML for digital-first audience
- →Analytics show what resonates (board wants to know)
- →Content reuse: Impact stories → social posts → donor updates
- →Professional quality matches your brand standards
Examples:
- Environmental foundation quarterly magazine
- Medical research foundation annual report
- Community foundation donor magazine
Educational Associations
Academic and professional development organizations
Your situation:
- Academic or professional development focus
- Member journals or magazines (research, best practices)
- Conference proceedings and research updates
- Currently: PDF archives, possibly flipbooks
- Challenge: Members need to cite and reference content
What you need:
- ✓ Searchable archives (members looking for specific articles)
- ✓ SEO (researchers finding your content)
- ✓ Professional presentation (academic credibility)
- ✓ Integration with existing systems
How Publi helps:
- →HTML archives searchable by Google
- →Proper citation-friendly structure
- →API integration with membership systems
- →Preserve years of content in accessible format
Examples:
- Professional development association journal
- Academic society quarterly magazine
- Educational leadership association publications
Your Magazine Investment Should Serve More Members
Same content. Better reach. Measurable impact.
CURRENT APPROACH
- Print circulation: 5,000 members
- PDF on website (maybe 500 downloads)
- Flipbook (limited mobile usage)
- Total reach: ~5,500 members
WITH HTML CONVERSION
- ✓ Print circulation: 5,000 members (unchanged)
- ✓ HTML on website (better engagement)
- ✓ Searchable articles (organic discovery)
- ✓ Social sharing (member advocacy)
- ✓ Total reach: 8,000-10,000 members
Same budget. Better member service.
Board Justification
Value comparison:
- •Publi Starter: $149/month for quarterly magazines
- •Alternative: Manual conversion (hours of staff time per issue)
- •Alternative: Flipbook platforms (limited mobile, no SEO)
- •Value gain: Better member reach + SEO + mobile experience + time savings
Questions boards typically ask:
What's the member benefit?
→ Mobile experience, searchable content, better access
How does this compare to current spending?
→ [You fill in based on your situation]
Can we measure impact?
→ Yes: analytics on engagement, member feedback, usage metrics
AI That Understands Magazine Layouts
Preserves reading order and structure. Works on phones.
95%+ accuracy on professional magazine layouts
- ✓ Multi-column member magazine layouts
- ✓ Annual reports with complex typography
- ✓ Text wrapping around images
- ✓ Photo captions properly associated
- ✓ Professional association publishing
The Result
Clean HTML that preserves your magazine's structure and reading flow. Mobile-responsive, SEO-friendly, accessible—professional quality that serves your members.
When Simpler Tools Work Fine
Simple one-column newsletters and basic documents convert fine with free tools. If your publications are straightforward, you might not need us. Our strength is complex magazine layouts where free converters scramble the reading order—the publications associations typically produce.
Discover answers in FAQ's
Consider: What are you currently doing? If using flipbooks, compare features and cost. If manually converting, calculate time savings. If doing neither, weigh member value vs. investment. We provide ROI calculators to help with your specific situation.
No. Keep working with your design team or agency exactly as you do now. We work with your final PDFs.
We provide ROI calculators and board presentation templates. Focus on: better member service, value demonstration, member engagement metrics.
Yes. This adds digital options, doesn't replace print. Serve members who prefer print AND members who prefer digital.
We can host archives as-is (flipbooks or PDFs) and convert selectively. Or convert all over time. Your timeline, not ours.
Yes. Upload 10 pages of your actual magazine (free test). See quality on your content before deciding.
That's typical for associations. Pricing scales to volume. Quarterly magazine = perfect fit for Starter plan ($149/mo).
No. Upload PDF, get HTML. If you can upload a file, you can use this. Integration with your website can be simple embed or API (your choice).
Export all your content. It's yours. We don't lock it in. Month-to-month plans cancel anytime.
Via API, yes. Push content to your existing website/CMS. Or use our hosting. Your infrastructure, your choice.
Is This Right for Your Association?
Different situations call for different solutions. Here's how to think about it.
What's working with your current approach?
- •Print magazine serving members well? PDF downloads sufficient? Don't change what works.
- •This is for associations where something feels like it could work better.
What are members asking for?
- •Hearing about mobile experience? Requests for searchable archives?
- •Members sharing that they can't read on phones? These signal HTML might help.
What's your board's priority?
- •If board is asking about digital transformation, cost savings, or member engagement metrics—this provides answers.
- •If board is happy with status quo, less urgency.
What's your publishing frequency?
- •1-2 times per year? Manual conversion or free tools might work fine.
- •Quarterly or monthly? Automation starts making sense at that volume.
What's your technical capacity?
- •No developers on team? Managed solution reduces friction.
- •Have IT support? Can integrate with existing systems.
The Point
We're not right for every association. We work best for associations that: publish professional magazines regularly (quarterly+), have members asking for better mobile/digital experience, want to preserve print workflow while improving digital, need to justify spending to board with clear member value. If that's not your situation, that's completely fine. If it is, we're here to help.
Schedule a 20-minute call to discuss your specific situation →Ready to Serve Your Members Better?
Start with a test. See quality on your actual magazine.
Test Your Magazine
Upload 10 pages of your current issue. See the quality in 5 minutes.
Upload free test →Download Board Deck
Present to your board or executive director. ROI and member value justification.
Download deck →Cancel anytime • Export your content anytime
"What used to take our team 6 hours now takes 5 minutes. Same quality, better member experience."
— Communications Director, State Professional Association