magazines

You are currently browsing articles tagged magazines.

Building an independent media empire – exclusive interview

January 26, 2009 in interview | No comments

b20 publishing

“I guess I started a magazine because I knew almost nothing about print.”

It may not sound like the best time to buy an entire magazine, but that’s just what Lothar Eckstein has done. Twice.

The founder and editor-in-chief of sleek magazine, in November he bought two of his favourite independent magazines, Qvest and Luna, from German company Mediakom, to create a stable of three fashion magazines under the umbrella of B20 Publishing.

He talked exclusively to the Blogsplosion, sharing tales of independence, economies of scale and the future of magazine advertising.

Read the rest of this entry »

News from the Magosphere 16th January ’09

January 16, 2009 in News round-up | 2 comments

Esquire puts a hole in Obama’s face
For $250,000, who wouldn’t? There could be some neat creative solutions made using this alongside the cover image in the future, like a Mad magazine-style trapdoor; though knowing Esquire US, there won’t be. A pull tab for BMW is to follow. “I think you can smell a gimmick a mile away,” says the VP of Discovery channel. I’m sniffing one from here

Papercamp highlights the future of tech and paper
Less gimmicky, more geeky. Originated by Dopplr’s Matt Jones; some of the ideas can be seen here. There’s a New York-flavoured edition coming up next month

Ads in PDFs scrapped by Adobe
Between them, Techcrunch and Nxtbook have it about right. However, I’m not convinced by the phrase “A true digital magazine is designed to be an elegant reading experience. While some are better than others, most all are more engaging than the PDF format” – PDF Mags begs to differ

Taschen’s London store gears up for a warehouse sale
Takes place on 23-25th January. Plenty of pulp mag books with slightly scuffed covers on offer on day one, fewer bargains by the weekend I’ll bet

Adbusting protests against Photoshop use
Fabulous in-joke fun

And the obligatory crisis roundup:

Jeans brand scraps magazine advertising
“Magazines will always be relevant. We are just trying something new this season.” And cheaper. Goes instead for marketing on its own website and instore

Arthur goes into hibernation
The community funding only postponed the end. The blog has been busy since, though. If you prefer a fictional version of this story…

…Bad Idea creates miniseries about print and the money pit
Occasionally amusing. “How about Kabuki theatre for the disabled?”

Funniest line of the magazine crisis so far
Though I’m not sure it’s true. But who cares?

Amelia interviews the Blogsplosion

December 22, 2008 in interview, Personal promotion | No comments

In a cross-the-streams moment, Amelia’s Magazine blog has just published an interview with me, talking about blogging, childhood and magazines.

The picture’s her, not me, btw.

The end of Amelia’s – exclusive interview

December 12, 2008 in interview | 4 comments

Amelia’s Magazine has long been a reference point for the independent magazine world.

Founded in 2004, each book-thick issue has been painstakingly put together by a gang of talented interns, illustrators and Amelia herself, to the acclaim of fans around the world. And the latest issue, number 10 (now available to pre-order) is its last.

Though the pop-culture/fashion articles mixed with illustration (and occasional free stickers) have always made its pages distinctive, Amelia’s is probably best known for its cover innovations: scratch and sniff, encrusted with Swarovski crystals (before Harpers Bazaar did it), covered in flock, glow in the dark, printed on metallic foil (before Interview did it)… the last issue’s logo is covered in lime-green glitter, ending a visually striking sequence.

The website will apparently continue, but the print is no more. Though some have blamed the financial situation for its demise, in fact Amelia decided to stop at the beginning of the summer, before the credit crunch really hit. In a Magtastic blogsclusive, she shares stories of ongoing financial hardship, fighting mediocrity and why she always suspected that ten might be enough…

Read the rest of this entry »

Tree-free paper: an unscientific review

December 4, 2008 in Clever ideas, Review, technology, Trend | No comments

This morning via FedEx I received something that could be significant – a special edition of the new issue of Clear, created for Design Miami. And it’s 100% Tree Free.

It feels and looks like a normal print magazine, but it’s not made from paper at all. This is the world’s first pulpless printed magazine, produced on premium synthetic paper by YUPO – a kind of polypropylene plastic already used for detergent labels, maps and menus.

How is it? Mighty strange.

Read the rest of this entry »

Colophon: the big reveal (1)

September 3, 2008 in Colophon, Personal promotion | No comments

Some news from the biennial thinkfest, actfest and lovefest for independent magazines (of which I’m a co-curator):

The Flash Pass is now available – granting you free entry to all events/workshops/exhibitions/cocktails, and a free copy of our NEW book (more on that soon). You’ll never spend a better 90 euros (45 euros for students, not including the book). Prices may rise in the future, so book now.

The exclusive online social network is live. Only for Flash Passers, participants and a few invited special guests.

For magazine makers – be part of our new book! Answer the short survey here.

And… this time we’re taking over the entire city of Luxembourg. See the 12 main venues here, with more info to come… It’ll be a magcity extravaganza. Many, many more secrets to be revealed verrrry soon.

You’ll be there, right?

Keep it to yourself

July 31, 2008 in Clever ideas, Opinion, technology, Trend | 2 comments

A new magazine-based file-sharing website called Mygazines has just launched, flagrantly breaking publishers’ copyright from around the world. Is it a threat, an opportunity or both?

Let’s step back a moment. When Amazon released the Kindle, most people focused on the experience of using physical object, saying how they did or didn’t want to read a book on it, how it was or wasn’t the same as paper, and so on.

What most people overlooked, however, was that Amazon was testing something else at the same time, something probably even more important than being an early seller of commercial e-paper: they were testing a sales model for digital publishing.

Read the rest of this entry »

« Older entries § Newer entries »