Advice on starting up your own creative independent magazine?

Replies15

  • I've just done this (https://bl.ag/) and happy to have a chat. You can see Issue 01 here: https://bl.ag/blag01/.

    I would highly recommend looking out for MagCulture's Flatplan workshop/seminar. I was at quite an advanced stage with my plans when I attended, but it was still really useful to finesse things. It doesn't look like there's one currently planned, but their site would have details, and they also offer more bespoke consultancy services: https://magculture.com/pages/events

    Good luck with whatever you do. It's fun, but lots of work too!

    PS. I recently talked about the experience in an online event, and this can be viewed here, after registering: https://www.typismsummit.com/a/2147516418/UpZ9rhzZ
  • This book might be of use: Written by Angharad Lewis who is former editor of Grafik Magazine and now Head of Vis Comm at London Met... Came out a few years ago but probably all still very poignant

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01N6T3T9C/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0


  • @Daniel Hawley-Lingham This is interesting and kind of confirms my thought that maybe it would be best to start digital. I want to know first whether I could build an audience that would be interested in buying physical prints. I'm thinking this will go hand in hand with heavy involvement on Instagram as well
  • Audience is key to success - print means you have greater logistics, overheads, print runs, distribution, postage, packing etc - so I think it's good to start digitally. The downside is that it's hard to sell as a product when it's purely digital - or at least to assign a value to it that people are ok with. However it is a great way to build an audience that you can then possibly sell a physical version into or even branch out into other things. I've known many publications that have started from either side on that conundrum. Most new print publications do not go the distance... but it's hard to sustain a digitial version - audeince/customer expectation are very different.

    Intern Magazine (UK) started out as a print based magazine - got to three isues than slowly switched over to more education/student based services and stropped any more print versions. https://intern-mag.com/

    The Great Discontent (US) started as an onlone magazine - build up a huge audience with a lot of hard work producing long form interviews with creatives then raised a huge sum of money to produce it in print via a kickstart campaign - it seems to have dwindled since then. https://thegreatdiscontent.com/

    That's just two examples of many. I have sat in and researched this field for many years - produced my own publication, Sculptorvox - and am considering a new foldout print puiblicaiton to go alongside my digital based project - but it's a little bit of vanity and I am not sure the business justification is there - marketing maybe.

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