Hi Rachel,

At its simplest, all you need is the following:

1. A wordprocessor capable of producing a plain text file (Notepad will do at a pinch).

2. Bucketloads of enthusiasm.

3. A VERY clear idea of who you are writing to.

4. Lots of ideas for things to write.

5. An internet account with a service provider that isn't going to cut you off the moment your subscriber list starts to grow.

6. An email program. Until you manage to get a huge subscriber list, Outlook Express does the job quite adequately. My own e-zine has over 1600 subscribers and I still - at a pinch - can use Outlook Express.

Your first port of call should be a great web site: www.ezineuniversity.com Take a few hours to study all the material there and you will know as much as anyone.

Then your only problem will be to get subscribers, but that is a whole other matter!

Feel free to take a look at my back issues to see how one e-zine is put together. I don't think there is a typical format - there are as many individual ways to publish as there are publishers.

By the way, a web site is not a core requirement, but it does help.

Good luck,

Martin Avis


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