Choose the right digital magazine software for your publications

E-magazine is not just putting power to the paper version. It can save you a lot of printing costs and help you create a greener planet and thus give your company a greener profile in an attractive way. The trend is that more people like reading magazines online with their iPhones and tablets on the go. So it is worthwhile to consider creating online magazines for business now.There are a lot of applications vendors when it comes to create online magazines and other e-publications. Here is an overview of e-magazine providers. To find an e-magazine software provider, it is important to make it clear what you need.Do you simply want to make your print magazine electronically flip or do you want professional solution with video, animations, etc.?

If you just want a simple solution, free or simple software will be okay. Take a look at these free software.

Issuu Issuu.com is a reputable online application that allows you to create e-magazines and get a comprehensive overview of all your publications by simply uploading PDF magazines. Readers can also comment on your magazine and share it with others via social media.With the embedded codes, you also can make it easy to embed the online magazine on your own website or blog. However, if you use the free version of Issue, there are some ads on the e-magazines.

aXmag free aXmag has a free online yet simple conversion service that lets you convert your PDFs to a flip magazine in Flash format. It does not allow you to customize load screen in their free version.

For creating more interactive 3D magazines, there are some commercial software.

IHDP software In House Digital Publishing Software is a powerful yet easy to use application that can turn a PDF file into an online flip book fully customizable with embedded audio / video, hyperlinks, and your own company logo for emailing and your website. Be in full control of your creative process. Save on printing costs and be environmentally friendly. Capture statistics and reach a wider audience. It includes 3 versions which is pricing from $1499 to $5999, a little expensive in my opinion.

Zmags Zmags lets you easily create digital catalogs, interactive magazines and other online publications that are redefining the online browsing shopping experience across web, tablet, mobile, and social channels. It also offers integration with web shops, built-in basket and wishlist feature.Visit www.zmags.com.

Flippingbook Publisher FlippingBook Publisher enables you to create great looking Flash flip books with page turning effects from your PDF files. You can simply import the PDF, Words, PPT and image files, configure the looks and feel of the flip book, set user options to allow printing or saving, and then export the publication to Flash format, ready to be uploaded to your site. The program can also create a standalone EXE version that can be used for offline or CD publishing. The pricing is from $299 to $699.

XFlip XFlip page flip software is also a powerful tool that converts your PDFs into SEO friendly 3D interactive digital magazine.It allows users to add videos, sounds, images, Flash, hyperlinks, hotspots and other rich media into the flipping pages. You also can integrate Google Analytics with the output flip magazine from which you can get the traffic and views. Visit www.xflip.com to get more information.

What should you choose? There are many more providers of software than the ones I have presented here.When choosing their provider, it is important to clarify the requirements that you have in your software - that is, what functions it must support - and how many publications you need, because it often influences which option to choose. If you just need to make its catalog browsing flip in a nice format, I'd choose Issuu.If you want to create SEO friendly digital magazine from PDF with rich media, I would choose either XFlip pro or Flippingbook publisher. Do you have any good tool that recommend?