> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.ectobuilder.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Magazine Theme for Ghost: Sections, Editor's Picks, Long Reads and Memberships - URL: https://www.ectobuilder.com/blog/magazine-ghost-theme/ - Published: 2026-10-19T17:44:42.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-19T17:44:42.000Z - Description: A step-by-step guide to the Magazine theme for Ghost: turn sections into tags, set up the navigation, fill the front page, editor's picks and section fronts, add your writers, sell memberships and send a weekly newsletter. - Author: Michal Wlosik - Tags: Guides, Themes The **Magazine** theme is an Ectobuilder theme for publications with several sections and several writers: a culture magazine, a local news site, a travel title, a trade publication. It has a classic masthead, a front page with a lead story, editor's picks, a front for each section, a full-width long read, opinion columns and paid memberships. The demo is "The Meridian", a magazine of culture, travel and ideas, but every word, photo and colour can be changed. ![The Magazine theme homepage: The Meridian masthead with section links, a Latest strip, and a front page with a big lead story about a clifftop town and four smaller stories](https://www.ectobuilder.com/content/images/2026/10/image-mvfjge17.webp) The Magazine homepage: masthead, latest stories and the front page. Everything on the homepage comes from your Ghost posts. You don't arrange stories by hand: you tag and feature posts in Ghost, and each part of the page picks them up. - **Front page**: your five newest stories, the newest one as the lead. - **Editor's picks**: the four posts you feature, numbered, on a dark band. - **Section fronts**: one per section, such as Travel or Design, each showing the newest posts with that tag. - **The long read**: one story given the whole width of the page, with its photo behind the headline. - **Opinion**: your columnists, with their photos and names from Ghost. - **Newsletter**: a sign-up band for your weekly email. Stories get a big headline, a large photo and a reading column with a drop cap, followed by the author, comments and more stories from the same section. There's also a Membership page for your paid plans. This guide sets it up in six parts: - [Turn your sections into tags](#part-1-turn-your-sections-into-tags) - [Set up the navigation](#part-2-set-up-the-navigation) - [Fill the homepage](#part-3-fill-the-homepage) - [Add your writers](#part-4-add-your-writers) - [Sell memberships](#part-5-sell-memberships) - [Send a weekly newsletter](#part-6-send-a-weekly-newsletter) To follow along, open the theme from the [Ectobuilder theme gallery](https://www.ectobuilder.com/themes/) and connect your Ghost site under **Settings → Integrations → Ghost Admin API**. ****Want this theme for your publication?** Open the Magazine theme in Ectobuilder and make it yours. Starting is free, and you only pay if you’re happy with the design. [Start with the Magazine theme ](https://editor.ectobuilder.com/start/6036a30a-4ddb-4af7-8424-daf2125774aa?ref=ectobuilder.com) ## Part 1: Turn your sections into tags In Ghost, a magazine's sections are tags. A post tagged *Travel* appears on the Travel section front, on the Travel page at `/tag/travel/`, and with a red *TRAVEL* label above its headline. 1. In Ghost Admin, go to **Tags** and click **New tag**. 2. Create one tag per section. The demo uses *Travel*, *Culture*, *Design*, *Books* and *Opinion*. 3. Give each tag a one-line **description**. The theme shows it under the section's name on its tag page. 4. Create one more tag for the long-read slot: *Long read*, with the slug `long-read`. The Opinion section uses the `opinion` tag. When you write a post, put its section **first** in the Tags field. Ghost calls the first tag the primary tag, and the theme uses it for the label above the headline and for "More in Travel" under the story. You can add more tags after it, for places or topics; they appear at the end of the story. ![The Magazine theme's blog page: a big Latest stories title, section links, a lead story with a photo, and a row of three stories](https://www.ectobuilder.com/content/images/2026/10/image-mvfjg93x.webp) The blog page. Tag pages use the same design, with the section's name and description. ## Part 2: Set up the navigation The links under the masthead are your Ghost navigation. In Ghost Admin, go to **Settings → Navigation**: - Under **Primary navigation**, add *Home* (`/`), then one link per section, such as *Travel* (`/tag/travel/`), and finally *Membership* (`/membership/`). - Under **Secondary navigation**, add the links for the footer's "The magazine" column: *About*, *Membership*, *Contact* and *Privacy*. The footer's "Sections" column fills itself with your tags, busiest first. The masthead's small line at the top is your site description, from **Settings → Title & description**. The full list of stories lives at `/blog/`. Ectobuilder themes keep the homepage at `/` and the list at `/blog/` with a small `routes.yaml` file: in Ectobuilder, open **Settings → Ghost Settings**, click **Download** next to routes.yaml, then upload it in Ghost under **Settings → Labs → Routes**. The [Newsletter theme guide](https://www.ectobuilder.com/blog/newsletter-ghost-theme/#part-4-use-substack-style-addresses) shows the same steps with screenshots. ## Part 3: Fill the homepage The homepage is built from your posts, so the best way to set it up is to publish some. Aim for eight to ten stories across your sections before you launch, each with a **feature image** and an **excerpt**. The excerpt is the line under the headline, so write it like a magazine standfirst: one sentence that makes people want to read on. ### The front page The front page shows your five newest stories. The newest is the lead, with a big photo and its excerpt; the next four sit beside it. Nothing to set up: publish a story and it moves to the top. ### Editor's picks The dark band shows your **featured** posts. To feature one, open it in Ghost, click the **Post settings** icon at the top right and turn on **Feature this post**. The band shows the four most recent featured posts, numbered. Unfeature older ones to swap them out. ![The Editor's picks band with four numbered stories on a dark background, and below it the Travel section front with a lead story and three smaller ones](https://www.ectobuilder.com/content/images/2026/10/image-mvfjgh34.webp) Editor's picks (featured posts) and the Travel section front. ### Section fronts Each section front shows the newest posts with one tag. The demo has two: *Travel* in a lead-and-list layout, and *Design* as a row of four tall pictures. To point one at your own section: 1. In Ectobuilder, click the section front on the canvas. 2. In the panel on the right, under **Posts from Ghost**, set **Tag slug** to your tag's slug, for example `culture`. 3. Click the title on the canvas and type the section's name, then update the "More in…" link to `/tag/culture/`. ![The Ectobuilder editor with the Travel section front selected and the Posts from Ghost settings showing Posts with a tag, tag slug travel](https://www.ectobuilder.com/content/images/2026/10/image-mvfjgcua.webp) Choosing which tag a section front shows. To add another section, click **Add**, open **Post feeds** and drag in *Section front* or *Section row*. Alternate the two so the page doesn't look repetitive. ### The long read and opinion Tag a story *Long read* and it takes over the full-width band, with its feature image behind the headline. Pick a photo that is dark at the bottom, or one with a calm area for the text. The band always shows your newest long read. Posts tagged *Opinion* appear in the Opinion section, with the author's photo instead of a feature image, in the style of a newspaper's columnists. ![The long read band: a misty mountain village at dusk behind the headline The village that disappears in the fog, then the Design row with four tall pictures](https://www.ectobuilder.com/content/images/2026/10/image-mvfjgf47.webp) The long read and the Design row. ## Part 4: Add your writers A magazine has more than one byline. Ghost has roles for that: - **Contributors** write drafts but can't publish. - **Authors** write and publish their own posts. - **Editors** can edit and publish everyone's posts and invite writers. Invite them under **Settings → Staff → Invite people**. Ask each writer to add a **profile picture** and a short **bio**: the theme shows them in the byline, in the "Written by" box under every story, in the Opinion section, and on their author page at `/author/their-name/`. ![A story in the Magazine theme: a Travel label, the headline The town on the edge of the cliff, a standfirst, the author's byline and a wide photo of the town above the sea, then the text with a red drop cap](https://www.ectobuilder.com/content/images/2026/10/image-mvfjgjcf.webp) A story: section label, headline, byline, big photo and a drop cap. ## Part 5: Sell memberships Ghost has paid memberships built in, and takes no cut: readers pay through your own Stripe account. 1. In Ghost Admin, go to **Settings → Tiers**, click **Connect with Stripe** and follow the steps. 2. Add your paid tiers. The demo has *Member* at $8 a month and *Patron* at $25 a month, each with a short description and a list of benefits. 3. Go to **Pages → New page**, title it *Membership*, open **Page settings** and choose the **Membership** template. Publish it. The Membership page reads your tiers from Ghost, so prices and benefits stay up to date without touching the theme. Below the plans is a short FAQ you can edit in Ectobuilder. ![The Membership page: Support independent journalism, with Free, Member at $8 a month and Patron at $25 a month](https://www.ectobuilder.com/content/images/2026/10/image-mvfjgi5j.webp) The Membership page, with tiers from Ghost. To make a story members-only, open its **Post settings** and set **Post access** to *Members only* or *Paid-members only*. Insert a **Public preview** divider where the free part should end. For more on plans and pricing pages, read [how to build a pricing page in Ghost](https://www.ectobuilder.com/blog/ghost-pricing-page/). Paid subscriptions need a Ghost plan that includes them: any self-hosted Ghost, or [Ghost(Pro)](https://ghost.org/pricing/?via=michal-207c22&ref=ectobuilder.com) Publisher and above. A busy magazine with several writers and thousands of members is exactly what Ghost(Pro) is built for: hosting, updates, backups and email delivery are handled for you. Compare it with the alternatives in [Ghost(Pro) vs other Ghost hosting](https://www.ectobuilder.com/blog/ghost-pro-vs-other-hosting/). ## Part 6: Send a weekly newsletter Every sign-up box in the theme, in the newsletter band, after each story and in the footer, adds the reader to your Ghost members, ready for your newsletter. 1. In Ghost Admin, go to **Settings → Newsletters** and check that newsletter sending is on. 2. Edit the default newsletter: give it a name like *The Friday edition*, a sender name and your header image. 3. Write a weekly round-up as a normal post and choose to send it by email when you publish. Five stories with a line each is plenty. Ghost can run several newsletters at once, and readers choose which ones they get. A magazine can add one per section, such as a travel letter, under **Settings → Newsletters → Add newsletter**. To let readers discuss stories, turn on Ghost's comments under **Settings → Access → Commenting**. See [comments for Ghost](https://www.ectobuilder.com/blog/ghost-comments/) for other options. ![The Magazine theme on a phone: the masthead, section links, the lead story and smaller stories as compact rows](https://www.ectobuilder.com/content/images/2026/10/image-mvfjgg7d.webp) On a phone, the smaller stories become compact rows. ## Next steps - Change the colours and fonts under **Style**. The demo uses a deep red with Newsreader for headlines. - Upload your logo in Ghost under **Settings → Design & branding**; it replaces the wordmark in the masthead. - Add a [table of contents](https://www.ectobuilder.com/blog/ghost-table-of-contents/) to your longest stories. - Browse more designs in our roundup of [the best Ghost themes](https://www.ectobuilder.com/blog/best-ghost-themes/), or see the [Newsletter theme](https://www.ectobuilder.com/blog/newsletter-ghost-theme/) if you write alone. ## Frequently asked questions #### Can I choose which story is the lead? The lead is always your newest story, like on a news site. To put a story on top again, change its publish date in Post settings. To highlight stories without moving them, feature them so they appear in Editor's picks. #### How many sections can I have? As many as you like. Each section is a Ghost tag, and you can add a section front for each one on the homepage. Five to seven sections keep the navigation readable on a phone. #### Why does a story appear in the wrong section? The theme uses a post's first tag as its section. Open the post, drag the right tag to the front of the Tags field and save. #### Can several people write for the site? Yes. Invite them under Settings → Staff as contributors, authors or editors. Each gets their own byline, author box and author page. ****Ready to launch your magazine?** Everything in this guide works on your own copy of the Magazine theme. Start free, connect your Ghost site when you’re ready, and only pay if you like the result. [Start free ](https://editor.ectobuilder.com/start/6036a30a-4ddb-4af7-8424-daf2125774aa?ref=ectobuilder.com) #### Do I need paid memberships? No. The theme works as a free magazine too. Skip Part 5, and take the Membership link out of the navigation.