See the problem with getting delegation is people always want something in return.. capitalism right. We need SP in the first place so we can't offer monetary incentive.
Basically the best option is to grow the popularity of the magazine and by building a good following, which would then give us leverage to bargain for future delegation (in the form of offering exposure/marketing/supporting other projects).
As with any social platform building a community and supportive following around our product is key. We should triple-down our efforts in the short term on gaining exposure/popularity by putting out content people actually want to read and giving authors a place to be heard, basically getting a good chunk of the steemit community hyped about engaging with the magazine. If people are interested in the magazine content they will want to participate regardless of initial SBD reward, with the potential to recruit non-steemit followers.
If we do this the delegation and monetisation will come later, perhaps even partnerships with people who have funding but no following.
Don't talk to me in problems baby, talk to me in solutions
Ok, so beyond allowing people to submit articles on things they're passionate about, we could open an invite to people looking to promote something, be it; a new steemit business/project, website, indie game, new album, gofundme project, small business, a fucking movie I don't care.
Obviously we wouldn't just post pure advertisements, rather people could write a background piece, add pictures and make their project look really interesting all while providing a good article for us to publish.
This would open the door to grow our audience well beyond the confines of steemit by utilising other forums and communities to engage with people, while also bringing in lots of submissions.
So how can this make money?? Well by initially offering a free platform to promote stuff people will be incentivised to engage, subsequently growing our audience. Eventually we could charge a fee to advertise on the magazine or even write for a project. Additionally this will gain income from steemit by engaging with people who actually want to properly use this platform, as well as, gain attention from potential delegators by having outside attention (they love mainstream connections and cross-platform utilisation).
Of course we would still post regular articles to grow the account that way, but like any magazine, ads are key to profit. And being a social platform, followers a the key to all other opportunities.