Month / July 2014

by Magdiaries

Publishing’s pirates

Magazines are beautiful, challenging, stimulating, provocative, experimental and dynamic.

You’d never notice from a glance at your local newsstand.

When the early publishing pioneers discovered the desire for their publications they went to extraordinary lengths to meet it. They went outside of the system to employ legions of delivery men, armies of paper boys and they created a whole new business: the newsagent.

They were the pirates of their day.

Those companies aren’t pirates anymore, they are the captains of their industry. Independent publishers are the pirates now.

Our new company, Iceberg Press, aims to sink a few big ships.

David Parker | Co-founder, Iceberg Press



Grub Street Journal
by Magdiaries

Only two things count online

If there’s one thing worse than pessimism it’s baseless optimism.

Looking at the re-born New Yorker website, I’ve been thinking about how our faith in the thing we call “quality” is so often misplaced.

“Quality” works on paper. It’s under your fingers, advertised when you open your copy on the tube, flaunted on your coffee table.

It doesn’t transfer on-line. Here only two things count:

1. A site you have to visit more than once a day.

2. Items of content so powerful and obvious that people pass them on.

What you’ve got to avoid is everything in-between.

David Hepworth | Editorial director, Development Hell



Grub Street Journal
by Magdiaries

The awful truth

Nobody tells you about the transcribing.

You probably got into magazines because you like writing. Maybe you wanted to hang out with celebrities or play video games for a living. And sure, that’s (usually) fun. But, oh god, the transcribing.

Endless monotonous hours listening to your own idiotic voice, replaying the same bits over and over again because you mumbled. Your vacant questions. Their awkward laughter. The absolute certainty that one day your dictaphone will die mid-interview.

Transcribing is, without doubt, the worst thing in this working world. It’s a carnival mirror of your own inadequacies.

And it takes fucking ages.

Will Salmon | Freelance writer



Grub Street Journal
by Magdiaries

A necessary reminder

Commissions thinning; advertising nose-diving; publications reinventing themselves for a diminishing audience frequently less keen on paying.

It’s easy to feel disheartened, especially when lurking in a bubble with peers equally concerned about the industry’s future. But going ‘outside’ feeds new energy.

Recently, I was asked what I did for a living. I almost dismissed my work: “I write stuff.” “For what?” “Mostly magazines and the odd newspaper thing, such as…” Eyes lit up. Genuine excitement and interest.

A moment of feeling foolish before remembering the passion, the thrill of the chase, and remembering why I do what I do.

Craig Grannell | Freelancer writer (tech, games, design)



Grub Street Journal
by Magdiaries

The thrill of reading

The ability to read is the single most liberating skill that a human being can learn.

Once you can read, you can define your own future by reading what you want to, need to and adore. It’s a personal gift that never fades.

Magazines are a treasured part of why I love reading. They inform, entertain, occasionally irritate and always educate me. They’re made up of an extraordinary mix of focus, passion and the energy that editors pour into a single ephemeral publication.

The never-ending carousel of launches and the ever-changing publishing landscape keep me thrilled to this day.

Kerin O’Connor | Chief Executive, The Week; Executive Director, Dennis Publishing

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Grub Street Journal