Media Voices co-founder Peter Houston sends out a weekly newsletter called The Magazine Diaries: how to make print magazines work in the digital world, a companion newsletter to print magazine The Grub Street Journal. Each edition shares behind the scenes chat, insight into what they’ve learned on their magazine making journey, and more.
Magazines are mystical. Making magazines is not.
Back in the day, before the celebrity editors and town cars disappeared, the magazine business was fancy. An aura of opulence shimmered off the the newsstands, magazine people spent time with superstars that ‘ordinary people’ could only dream of glimpsing. And people bought the dream.
People will still buy the magazine dream, but for good or bad, it’s a different dream.
The days of pretending we can float above the grubby realities of the commercial world are long gone. It’s time to pull back the curtain and be honest about what it takes to make a magazine.
Honest with ourselves: Invest in success
To make the shift to Print 2.0 takes investment. You can’t cut your way to a profitable publication, at least not for long. If the magazine future rests on premium positioning [SPOILER: It does] publishers need to invest in great content, great design, great marketing and most of all, great people. And if you’re an indie, you need to invest your time in being great in all of those areas.
Honest with advertisers: Sell a different dream
Advertisers used to buy scale. That’s why US magazine publishers would give readers $1 subscriptions. But Facebook scale can never work in print and it’s time to be honest about that. We need to explain to Print 2.0 advertisers that they are buying a different kind of attention than online advertisers… less, but for longer and without the digital distractions.
Honest with readers: Quality costs
Maybe most importantly, we need to be honest with readers about the deal we want to do with them. If we promise to make magazines that feed their passions, tell them things they didn’t know and make them think, smile and act, they’ll need to pay more than they might be used to.
Kat Craddock, in announcing Saveur’s return to print, explained the deal perfectly.
Frankly, the old-school, high-volume print model isn’t sustainable—at least not for SAVEUR. Traditional magazine publishing tended to rely on selling subscriptions for a song, sometimes even giving them away, just to build massive circulation lists. It’s no secret that the pool of potential subscribers isn’t what it used to be, and even huge circ numbers don’t promise the ad revenue they once did.
Meanwhile, the parts of our brand that make it special—the ambitious culinary travel writing, first-in-class photography and design, and rigorously tested original recipes—are expensive to produce. We also have a renewed dedication to offer fair and equitable compensation to our contributors. Therefore, the model has to change.
In short, this means the print issues will cost a little more than they used to, but I guarantee it will be worth it… we’re committed to offering you an affordable luxury: a premium print magazine that is more sustainable than ever—environmentally, socially, and financially.
For Saveur, the digital content is still there, there’s social media and there’s a newsletter. But if you really want to buy into the Saveur dream, you’ll get two issues a year at $25 each – and probably buy yourself a Saveur apron for $38.
The secret is harnessing the magic, while acknowledging that magazines are also manufacturing – balancing those passion plays with the harsh realities of paying for stuff.
Support The Grub Street Journal
If you want to read more stories about how to survive and thrive in this messed up media landscape, get The Grub Street Journal. In every issue, you get:
- Real-world magazine questions with real-world answers
- Relevant, relatable content that you need to read
- Expert voices from across the industry
- Insights that will help you do a better job
- Silly stuff that will probably make you laugh
