Magazines: Industries - the appeal of print and independent magazines

 Q1: The independent print magazine is characterised as “published without the financial support of a large corporation or institution in which the makers control publication and distribution…“independent” in spirit due to a maverick editor or publisher who leads the magazine in an exploratory, non commercial direction”.

Q2: A small but growing body of evidence suggests that small printed magazines are quietly thriving even as the global newspaper and book industries falter

Q3: Magazines produced by large companies like Bauer Media and News Limited in Australia are struggling to keep readers from moving online. In contrast, those behind independent magazines use digital developments to their advantage, and have a strong online presence. These creators set their own terms and rely on collaboration to achieve them.

Q4: Independent magazines resourcefully utilise technological advances as well as social media to operate. Thanks to developments in areas such as digital printing and electronic file transfer, “people with expert knowledge of a special interest area can potentially take advantage of the low barriers to entry in the industry to originate their own magazine titles and use contract printers to create the finished product”.

Q5: Independent magazines are able to hone in on such specific markets because they are owned and developed by the same people: the founders, editors and art directors who share a similar creative vision. This is another distinction from mainstream, large-scale magazine publications. Where monthly and weekly magazines are directed by deadlines and the bottom dollar, and thus the demands of the owner or publisher, the release of an independent magazine issue is dictated by the pursuit of original content.

Q6: This spirit of collaboration encourages likeminded creative people to produce works together without the confines of editorial briefs typical of mainstream magazine art direction. “The term “do-it-yourself/do-it-with-others” emphasises semiotic self-determination in how citizens formulate and live out their identities and actions as citizens”. It is through this collaboration that the concept of a magazine community is established.

Q7: Audiences are experiencing "internet fatigue" and are overwhelmed by the digital world, so in response to this, a niche market for print media has been created, where the nostalgic sense of print and the physicality of it is valued as being able to deliver a stronger emotional connection than digital media.

Q8: 

Funding is a key concern for independent magazines. As with AFJ, crowdfunding campaigns are often used to accumulate the initial costs to produce. From there, creators rely on subscriptions and high cover prices to continue to produce, while not necessarily making a profit from each print run. While highly innovative, these methods require risk and a willingness on the part of the founders as well as contributors to expect little financial reward. Commenting on Brimble’s crowdfunding campaign in the Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Weekend liftout, Linda Morris observes that “this a source of much criticism of micro-circulation magazines: they cannot pay professional rates and their editorial management style comes at a cost of inquisitorial journalism”. Interestingly, the high cover prices of such magazines, AFJ retails for $25 a copy, does not seem to alienate readers. The high quality of the print and unique nature of independent magazines’ content and design justifies to buyers the high price relative to mainstream weekly and monthly magazines.

Q9: Independent publishing is undergoing a renaissance. These are magazines that play with the form, from open binding to multiple paper stocks. Their subject matter is as diverse as their production techniques, from mental health to trans rights, from football to street wear. They are driven by a passion, both for their content, and the printed form, and thanks to technology, they are able to reach audiences around the world. From Twitter to Instagram, from Patreon to Kickstarter, it’s never been easier to build an audience, and sell your creation to them.

Q10: Many of the independents never get past the first issue. That’s partly due to the way the magazine publishing industry is set up to favour the big publishers – those with multiple titles, large sales teams and economies of scale. These are the titles that rely on advertising (rather than copy sales) for revenue. They have a relatively cheap cover price (a 12-issue subscription to Vogue UK costs less than £20), and are filled with adverts.

Q11: It's easier than ever to build an audience, and while the magazine should be front and centre of what you do, it shouldn't be the only thing. And while the prospect of building a committed audience willing to spend money on what you produce might be daunting, it's not impossible. There are many independent titles that have crossed into the mainstream.

Q12: Shipping boxes of magazines is expensive, and with publishers taking all the risk (they pay for both shipping, and if the magazines don’t sell, the price of shipping them back), it’s key that publishers focus on getting as many direct sales online as possible. This goes back to building an audience - the more people aware you exist, the more people will purchase your magazine. That conversion rate will probably be less than 1 per cent, which shows how important it is to start building an audience before you publish.

  Q13: The article mentions The Gentlewoman, The Gourmand, Cereal and Kinfolk as examples.