17 Business Publications You Should Subscribe To ASAP

Whether you’re a recent grad just beginning your career journey or an experienced worker seeking to learn more about your industry and therefore boost your marketability, regularly reading web and print publications that cover news and information related to your field can keep you up-to-date on relevant trends, shifts and events. 

But now that readers can access  infinite digital publications and blogs in addition to print magazines and newspapers, it’s often difficult to pare down your options and find the versions most useful for you and your career pursuits. The good news? We’re here to help. Here, you’ll find a list of 17 business publications (both print and digital) that will make especially solid additions to your professional reading list, broken down by business genre.

Business and Finance

1. Forbes

A leader in business news for over 100 years, Forbes offers up useful lists and ratings (like America’s Most Innovative Leaders, The World’s Most Innovative Growth Companies and America’s Best Employers), timely editorials about business practices, office culture, and career growth, financial and small business-specific content, and helpful interview and job application tips. Forbes still exists as a print publication, but readers who want to stay paper-free can also access its articles online. 

2. Fast Company

Fast Company published its first issue in 1995, and it drew (and continues to draw) abundant inspiration from entrepreneurs and startup culture. The magazine, which exists in both digital and print forms, covers the tech industry at length, but also offers editorials about work-life balance, equality in the workplace, growing small businesses, and much more.

3. The Economist

If you’re seeking a publication devoted to financial news and how world events and political happenings influence the economy on global, national and individual scales. Anyone pursuing a career in high finance, government/public policy, or business will find well-wrought perspectives on those subjects in this heritage publication (The Economist dates back to the mid 19th century), and readers can access articles both digitally and in print.

4. Harvard Business Review

The Harvard Business School counts among the most prestigious MBA programs in the world, and the Harvard Business Review, which began in the 1920s as a publication for business students, now claims subscribers throughout the world, all eager to read HBR writers’ (a group including world-class entrepreneurs, academics and business leaders) takes on career advice, management strategies, corporate innovation and much more. HBR can be read online or in print, and while a limited number of online articles can be accessed for free, you’ll eventually need to purchase a digital subscription to keep reading. 

5. Bloomberg Businessweek

Published by Bloomberg Media, a company founded by billionaire, former mayor and current presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg, Bloomberg Businessweek features thorough coverage of a wide swath of industry news, ranging from politics to the environment to tech to philanthropy, but all connecting back to business and the economy. It’s an excellent starting point for a reader who wants a comprehensive growth of today’s business landscape, and it’s all available for free online.

Startups

6. Entrepreneur

Entrepreneur devotes its editorial space to small businesses, startup operations, and everything related to getting these companies off the ground and keeping them afloat. The magazine also has a separate vertical called “StartUps,” which covers startup culture and the rapid rise and growth trajectory of these small companies. Entrepreneur offers both print and digital subscriptions.

7. Inc.

With a digital version including section titles like “Startup,” “Grow,” “Lead,” and “Innovate,” Inc. is specifically designed to serve the needs of entrepreneurial professionals. It’s also an excellent source of workplace and job-hunting advice; career experts like Alison Green of Ask A Manager run columns within Inc.’s digital magazine. Readers can sign up for digital updates online or can subscribe to Inc.’s print edition.

8. The Startup Magazine

This free digital-only magazine began its life as a blog written by startup founders for startup founders, and that ethos remains alive and well at The Startup Magazine. Interested parties can sign up for free subscriptions to the magazine’s newsletter, and both the main site and the newsletter include relevant stories like “5 Ways a POS System Can Help Your Business Thrive,” “6 Reasons To Invest In Video Marketing,” and, of course, “How To Fund Your Startup”.

9. Foundr

A media company that calls itself “the go-to resource for helping today's entrepreneurs build tomorrow's leading businesses,” Foundr offers paid subscriptions to its digital magazine, in addition to an entrepreneurial podcast and a series of online video courses taught by entrepreneurs on subjects like “60 Day Startup,” “Advanced Email Marketing,” and “Start and Scale”. 

Marketing 

10. Adweek

For accurate, of-the-moment reporting about advertising and its affect of business success, look no farther than Adweek, a magazine beloved by the marketing industry since the late 1970s. Adweek’s news coverage spans topics like Agencies, Brand Marketing, Creativity, and DIgital, and industry pros can also take webinars (like “Best Practices for Mobile Users” and “How Do You Orchestrate the Non-Linear Customer Journey?”) on Adweek’s website. Print and digital subscriptions are both available for purchase.  

11. Advertising Age

Advertising Age (now known as AdAge) may the Dowager Countess of marketing publications, dating back to 1930, but the company has made an admirable effort to bring its magazine fully into the 21st century, as evidenced by its sleek, easy-to-navigate website. Articles like “The Most Overrated Ads of the Decade” and “Why People, Data and Technology Is The Recipe For Growth” provide compelling perspectives on hot topics in the marketing industry, and subscribers can opt for digital or print versions of AdAge. 

12. Digiday

When it comes to digital marketing, digital advertising, and related digital content, there’s no better resource than Digiday.  This (digital, of course) magazine offers paid subscriptions with varying levels of content access, but the home site also provides free articles like “Why Online Grocery Growth Remains A Retail Mystery,” “Digiday’s Top Trends In Media in 2020,” and “How Publishers Are Using Instagram To Promote Commerce Content”.

13. Campaign

The content presented in Campaign’s digital and print issues (and its website) seeks to appeal to a specific group of marketing professionals; it’s among the most industry-particular publications on this list. As a result, it serves up well-conceived articles written by acclaimed members of the marketing community, with special focus on agencies and their most effective (and least effective) marketing campaigns. 

Tech

14. WIRED

Arguably the leading publication involving the tech industry, Conde Nast’s WIRED strikes a brilliant balance between accessible content and nuanced pieces geared toward in-the-know techies. WIRED still publishes a print edition of its magazine, but subscribers can of course also access content online.

15. MIT Technology Review

It’s hard to imagine an establishment more attuned to rising tech trends and impressive scientific innovations than the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which is why MIT’s editorially-independent journal, the MIT Technology Review, should be required reading for anyone pursuing a career in this field. Subscriptions can be purchased for the print edition, the digital edition, or both.

16. TechCrunch

TechCrunch isn’t technically a digital magazine you can subscribe to; it’s an online publisher that offers all of its content for free on its webpage. But because it’s such a dominant force in Silicon Valley tech-startup culture — with events like TechCrunch Disrupt launching countless companies and even making appearances on TV shows like “Silicon Valley” — it’s a necessity for readers who want to stay abreast of the most current news in the tech world. 

17. ComputerWorld

IT and business-tech professionals have their own dedicated publication in ComputerWorld, which releases news, reviews and tech-related listicles on a daily basis. This all-digital magazine is available for free at ComputerWorld’s website.

FAQs

Are there publications specifically targeted toward small business owners?

The short answer is “yes”. While many publications geared toward new businesses lean more in the startup direction, certain magazines orient their content to appeal to small business owners of all stripes, from shop proprietors to restauranteurs to, yes, tech entrepreneurs. A few key examples include Small Business Resource Guide, Small Business Today and Small Business Trends.

What is a “business to business” magazine?

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