Joomag vs Issuu Review – let the Battle begin [Unexpected Winner]

The fact that you're on this page means you are interested in a Joomag vs Issuu review. I have put a lot of time and effort into reviewing those two and tons of other competitors. But for me, there is one BIG WINNER: YUMPU Publishing.

YUMPU Publishing is similar to Joomag and Issuu a digital publishing website that lets you convert PDF to Flipbook and simulates the content and experience of reading offline publications such as brochures and flyers online.

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Why YUMPU Publishing is the best Joomag alternative

It is one of the largest Flipbook solutions in the world. It has achieved more than 20 million publications since 2006, which is considerably high compared to the world's biggest library.

Image shows the homepage of YUMPU Publishing

After finishing my Joomag review, I realized, that YUMPU Publishing had all of the things I needed for my business. None of the cool core features required a fee or subscription. That sounded like a good deal to me, so I decided to try out YUMPU Publishing.

I didn't risk much on it at first because I was worried that even if all the features were there, the quality might not be as good as with Issuu or Joomag. But, after using it for publishing for a little while, I was very impressed with it.

Some features of YUMPU Publishing:

  • Unlimited pages per publication

  • Reach millions of readers weekly

  • SSL encrypted communication

  • Option to embed PDF in websites & blogs

  • Share on Facebook & Co.

  • Player: HTML5, Flash, Javascript

  • Desktop, Tablet, and mobile ready

  • Add audio, video, and links

  • WordPress plugin

It uses a file format called flipbook (digital Magazines or Web Catalogs) that looks great and has a lot of customization options that other services hid away in the top tiers of pricing. On top of style and presentation, I could also do things like including audio or video in a document.

Those magazines are easy to share on social networks and works on just about every browser, OS, and platform combination out there. It loads pretty fast, too.

And as if that wasn't enough, the service also gave me one of my favorite features- the option to embed the Flipbook on my home page for free. This was huge, and the fact that I got all this for free pushed me toward using one of the best Joomag alternatives - YUMPU Publishing. I started relying on them more and more to publish my documents and convert my PDFs, and

I started relying on them more and more to publish my documents and convert my PDFs, and eventually, I canceled my Issuu subscription. I just didn't need it anymore. All of the things that I wanted Issuu for, I could find in this service.

Joomag vs Issuu - The Review

Upon publishing my first flipbooks, I tried both, Joomag and Issuu. Let me tell you, both options are fine, but my work needed something that would provide a platform to handle many more pages than what I was initially using.

For me, Joomag had its limitations and was not that easy to use. I also felt that I had a better chance of making money with my online catalogs if I moved to another tool that would provide better features than what I was getting from Joomag.

Image shows the homepage of joomag.com

Like looking in your pantry to see what is available before you start cooking, it is important that you see what is already in the publishing industry that will aid your publishing task.

When I was looking for Issuu and Joomag alternatives, the service had to fulfill several conditions. For example, I wanted social media integration to reach as wide an audience as possible.

Similarly, I wanted to have a service that would let me publish to potential readers coming from anywhere- any operating system or browser, and either a computer, smartphone, or tablet, just to make sure I had the best shot at finding new readers.

It was also very important to me that I could embed my publications on my own website. It didn't make sense to me to allow my content to be hosted somewhere else, and risk having readers not come back to my site or be distracted by ads and suggestions.

Joomag vs. Issuu vs. YUMPU Publishing...Pfew!

First, I settled on Issuu, because it seemed to be a better bargain and I've already seen some banner-ads in the past promoting the platform. Nobody likes having to pay for things, but I was happy with what I had and didn't see any reason to consider alternatives.

Image shows the homepage of issuu.com

But after a week or so, I reviewed Joomag, because Issuu was more of a cookie-cutter than a tool to take your publications to the next level. There were several other reasons for discarding it after that short time. First, I may have been doing the editing work the wrong way by not following the latest trends.

If it was a constant battle of Joomag vs Issuu, I felt that these tools were better off in another part of the world and not in my vicinity. I then began to check out some of the Joomag and Issuu competitors, like Flipsnack (I review them in my article 7 Best Flipbook Software Solutions), Flipboard, Yudu, Zmag, MagCloud, Zinio, and YUMPU Publishing.

A new technology called for new strategies and people were looking for exciting content and attractive elements in what they read.

Which format do those services use?

The publishing platform reviewed in this article uses the so-called "Flipbook" format. Flipbook format has many advantages over other document formats. It's also known as digital magazines.

For example, Flipbook documents can be easily embedded into any website, online store, or blog and made readable on many devices including smartphones, tablets, and PCs.

Flipbook format is more interactive than other digital book formats simply because of its ability to include signup forms, videos, audios, and hyperlinks effortlessly.

Moreover, digital magazines have 12 times more customers on Google, and they are indexed better with search engines to bring more traffic and new customers to your website. Best of all, your documents can be shared easily on social media networks which is why they are designed to have a shorter loading times than other PDF file formats.

That's not all. I also noticed that search engines like Google would index Flipbook documents so people will stumble on my content by searching keywords. Usually, that's a paid feature.

Conclusion...and the Winner is...

When writing this Joomag Review and its competitor Issuu, I found that YUMPU Publishing is where you can begin with a clean slate, start adding design elements one by one without losing the integrity of those elements, and work towards finish without confusion.

Consequently, you can decide what elements and features are worth the effort of including. This requires very little research and time as well. Your ultimate goal is a well-designed publication that includes all the necessary things to convince your audience and make them read more or stick to your service.

Advantages:

  • Embed the magazines on all platforms (website, Facebook, online shop)

  • Supports all modern device

  • Optimized for search engines

  • Fully integrated with all major social networks

  • Embed multimedia like videos or audio files in your magazine

  • Link to shop from your publication

  • Unmatched support

  • Developer API

  • Fast loading times

  • And much more...

Of course, there are more alternatives to Joomag and similar to Issuu, but with YUMPU Publishing you have it all because it is a pioneer in leading and emerging titles pertaining to culture, arts, fashion, home, and much else, all of which can be accessed through various devices and gadgets. It is compatible with all browsers, and unlike Joomla vs Issuu, you will never get out-of-proportion content while reading them on mobile devices.

YUMPU Publishing deals with many design formats when it comes to converting your PDF files to readable form on the internet. One such format is Flipbook which is the most popular form of publishing content for online readers. I hope you enjoyed my article. Please leave a comment below.

NATALEE KENNEDY
NATALEE KENNEDY

See my email to the CEO of Joomag which received NO response. The issues you read about within have STILL not been fixed. I am now 4 days behind my print schedule with no end in sight. If the CEO can’t even delegate this to the right person to be handled, just imagine how awful the regular customer service is. We’ve gone back and forth with these people countless times, and each time they give the same responses, and return our PDF with additional errors the next day. I have never written a bad review for any company, this is one for the books:

Mr. Vardanyan, I wanted to first let you know how much we have enjoyed using Joomag’s platform. Until recently, when I have not received adequate service despite our Gold membership subscription. I understand you are very busy, but I think you would like to be made aware of my experience, so this process can be corrected.

Allow me to explain, we have new relationships with several contracted venues who were promised the print copy of our magazine by the end of this week. Easily achievable because our magazine was complete and I had a deal constructed with our printers to produce them in two days in order to meet our deadline.

Tuesday morning, we tried to download our PDF from Joomag and came to find the system does not work properly. Upon speaking with someone, I was very admit that this was a time sensitive issue and needed the PDF same day. The customer service was not accommodating, and stated that they would be sending our corrected PDF by email (because the customer side was in beta but on Joomag’s side, they would be able to download it correctly) but the earliest they could have it was the following morning.

Wednesday morning, I received an email not with a corrected PDF but with a link to once again, our side, which still contained over 20 errors. I emailed back that there were still errors and received no response.

A few hours later, I called again and asked to speak with a manager, but was kept on the line with the representative instead, who my partner had to meticulously go through each error contained in the magazine. She then said another day would be needed to correct it, and the latest we would receive the PDF was Thursday morning.

It is Thursday afternoon. I am now more than two days behind schedule. I will not be able to deliver on my promise of having the magazines finished this week. And I still have not received a response from Joomag. I tried calling this morning but cannot get through on any lines.

This experience has been highly frustrating. Not only has this situation not been handled correctly from a customer service perspective, but I am yet to receive a finished product. For the amount that we pay for our subscription to this service, this delay is simply unacceptable, and is costing me quite a bit of money and my reputation with these venues is not being upheld.

I would appreciate it you could provide some feedback on this experience and please have our PDF corrected as soon as possible. Thank you for your time.

Best,

Natalee Kennedy

Michael Wilson
Michael Wilson

Dear Natalee,

I’m afraid I can’t help you with your issue. I’m just a blog owner who wrote a review about Joomag. I’m not NOT affiliated with Joomag in any way! I hope things get solved quickly.

Best, Michael

Teresa
Teresa

Hi Michael,

I am sorting through digital publishing software to create my business magazine and was wondering if Yumpu needs or has any subscription management software that goes with it. I very much want to build a marketing database that can be hard to do when publishing on the major platforms.

Thanks for the info,

Teresa

Michael Wilson
Michael Wilson

Dear Teresa,

you’ll need the webkiosk or appkiosk plan to be able to do that!

Best

Kelly Bingham
Kelly Bingham

Bahhaaa!

Good response Michael to Natalee and more importantly, thanks for the review of Yumpu. I’m going to give it a try and will let you know how it goes.

TED1965
TED1965

Thanks for this great article, Michael! I was looking for sites like issuu and similar to joomag.

The pricing model of joomag seems pretty okay, but there are other alternatives out there, that are free.

Hi, I’m Michael Wilson. I am a creative, passionate digital marketing professional with over 12 years of expirience in online marketing. I love everything about digital publishing and that’s why I want to share my thoughts about this matter on my little blog. I hope you enjoy!