Mag Heroes
A podcast about magazines and the people who make them. Every fortnight we hear from an indie magazine maker about why they started, how they put together new issues and the trials and challenges of producing a printed publication. Hosted by Dan Rowden of Magpile.com, Subsail.com and @dansmags.
Ben is the founder and editor of Fare, a magazine that explores cities via their food culture. We hear about the process of creating a first issue, why and how Ben travels to new cities for each issue, and using a reliable team of collaborators to create familiarity as the magazine jumps around the world.
Cam Held and Christine Reighley are the founders of Maine The Way, a magazine about the state of Maine. After two years and eight issues, Christine and Cam have built a loyal readership via crowdfunding and Subsail-powered subscriptions, and we also hear how and why they produce their magazine about Maine locally in-state.
Maine The Way
mtwquarterly.com
Instagram
Recommended magazines
Beside
Delayed Gratification
Kai publishes Offscreen, a magazine about the “human side of technology.” Now 22 issues in, Offscreen has grown from a title covering tech companies into a publication that challenges how we as humans think about technology. We talked about this progressive change in focus, how to make a magazine sustainable over an 8-year period and his popular newsletter, Dense Discovery, which he sends out weekly to 20,000+ readers.
Offscreen
offscreenmag.com
Instagram
Twitter
Show links
magpile.com/offscreen/
Dense Discovery
Offscreen Blog "Production" category
Heftwerk
Indie Maganomics post
Danny Giacopelli is the editor of Courier magazine, a title that covers business and startups from around the world. We had a great conversation about Danny's start in magazines at Monocle, his move across London to Courier and the magazine's plans for growth.
Courier
couriermedia.co Twitter Instagram
Danny's reading recommendations
Indhi Rojas is the founder and creative director of Anxy, a magazine about mental health and our “inner worlds.” Last month Indhi announced she has stopped publishing this multi award-winning magazine so I thought it would be great to hear more about Anxy's story. We talked about why she started a print magazine in a digital world, validating ideas and growing audiences on Kickstarter, and how to make the decision to end a well-loved and well-respected magazine.
Anxy
anxymag.com Twitter Instagram
Alice is founder and editor of Akin, a bi-annual magazine which is inspired by a different person for each issue. Alongside the magazine, Alice has started hosting events for the creative community in her native Norwich, England, and selling indie mags at various popups around the city, which we discuss in our chat.
Akin
akinmagazine.com
Instagram
Alice
Twitter
Instagram
Alice's reading recommendations
Sam is the Commissioning editor of Mundial, a football culture magazine from London. In our chat, Sam explains how Mundial came about as “a group chat that kind of got out of hand”, Sam's trip to New York for the recently released 19th issue, plus Mundial's latest project, a full-on football team.
Mundial: mundialmag.com Twitter Instagram
Sam: Twitter Instagram
Sam's magazine recommendations
Robbie is the assistant editor and commercial manager of PUSH, a new magazine focusing on youth culture. Robbie launched the magazine after university and has big plans. We also delve deep into PUSH's successful free distribution model.
Sponsored by
Subsail is a new platform to help you sell recurring magazine subscriptions and manage your subscribers. Built specifically for self-published magazines, Subsail is full of features to make selling and handling subscriptions really easy.
Where to find Push
Robbie's reading recommendations
Felicia is editor of SEASON, a football magazine for and about women. We chatted about the magazine's position in giving female football fans a voice, a final-year thesis that sparked the idea for SEASON, and a unique way the magazine engages its readers.
Sponsored by
Subsail is a new platform to help you sell recurring magazine subscriptions and manage your subscribers. Built specifically for self-published magazines, Subsail is full of features to make selling and handling subscriptions really easy.
Where to find SEASON
Felicia's reading recommendations
Kai is the Editor of Offscreen, a magazine that looks at the human side of technology. We talk about the magazine's custom subscription and ordering system, problems Kai had with the magazine's new binding method, and Heftwerk, a Berlin-based collective of companies Kai helped set up to make producing a magazine a lot easier.
SPONSORED BY
Subsail is a new platform to help you sell recurring magazine subscriptions and manage your subscribers. Built specifically for self-published magazines, Subsail is full of features to make selling and handling subscriptions really easy.
Show notes
- Offscreen's ordering system
- Building a custom magazine subscription management system (Offscreen blog)
- Rebranding diary
Where to find Offscreen
Kai's reading recommendations
Sam and Bethany are the editors of Counterpoint, a magazine full of illustrations and writing on a different theme each issue. We had a nice chat about Counterpoint's hand-bound and risograph production processes, moving from online to a very specific print product, and their upcoming issue about food.
Christi is the managing editor of Woven, a Seattle-based magazine that interviews artists, creatives and entrepreneurs. We talked about the magazine's journey from a digital platform to a printed publication, personally interviewing for each feature, and a potential to grow the team for future issues.
Wendy is the editor of Arcades, a magazine which buries itself in a city's suburbs for each issue. In our chat we talked about the magazine's origins as a student project, how the cities she features affect each issue and the magazine's raw design style.
Lucy is the editor of Ethos, a magazine reporting on ethical and progressive businesses and business people. We chat about Ethos' crowdfunding campaign from last year, their collaborative publishing projects, and the balance between their print and digital efforts.
Matthew is an editor of DOG, a "modern lifestyle magazine exploring the presence and influence of dogs and their owners in society.” It was great to hear from Matt about the magazine’s origins, how they go about selecting a different breed for each issue, and the ways they report on life with dogs.
Johnny is Deputy editor and Translator at Barcelona-based Perdiz, a magazine "about people and the things that make them happy." We talk about some of the interesting stories unearthed for issue 8, how the team go about sourcing their content, and the multilingual aspect of the magazine.
Sean is the Editor-in-chief of Positive News, a publication focused on good journalism about the good things that are happening. We chat about the magazine's history, starting as newsprint in 1993, and its smart, ethical and positive publishing outlook.
Show notes
Where to find Positive News
Sean's magazine recommendatios
Lene is the editor of Brygg, a magazine about "conversation and coffee." We discuss Brygg's past as a Norwegian-language coffee magazine, it's change to an English-language cultural title, and what's coming up in the next issue.
Where to find Lene and Brygg
- @lenehaugerud on Twitter
- @beyondmeek on Instagram
- @Brygg_magazine on Twitter
- @brygg_magazine on Instagram
- bryggmagasin.no
Lene's magazine recommendations
Steve is the founder of Stack Magazines, a magazine subscription service that sends you a different independent magazine every month. Steve is slowly building a magazine-focused empire; in this episode we touch on a few of his latest projects, the Stack Awards and the Stack podcast.
Show notes
- Stack Awards
- Real Review
- Stack Live
- Rough Trade
- Gym Class
- magCulture Meets
- Stack Podcast
- Publishing Playbook
Where to find Steve (and Stack)
Steve's magazine recommendations
Elliot and Samantha Stocks are the husband and wife team behind Lagom, a new magazine which looks at creativity, and the balance between work and play. In the episode, they talk through the new issue (released last week), how they manage publishing the magazine in their spare time, selecting photos for their covers, and we discussed their interesting use of partnerships to support the magazine's growth.
Show notes
- Lagom, issue 2
- Magpile Magazine Awards 2014
- 8 Faces
- Offscreen Behind-the-scenes blog posts
- Digest’s typography & grids (part 1)
- Pay your contributors
- @elliotjaystocks
- @samkabam
- @readlagom
Magazine recommendations
Gail Bichler has the envious job of Design Director at The New York Times Magazine, a publication setting trends in cover design, read by millions each week, and with a big relaunch just a few weeks ago. Gail explains how the magazine gets put together each week, her rise through the ranks at the magazine, and reveals her favourite NYTMag covers.
Show notes
Gail's magazine recommendations
Photo credit: Andrew T. Warman
This episode is sponsored by Newsstand.
Rosa Park is the Editor of “travel and style” magazine, Cereal, which is on the cusp of a relaunch, with a new design and a slight change in content scope. Rosa talks about starting a magazine with little experience in the industry, the balance of how much to share of new issues on Instagram and travelling around the world scoping features with Creative Director, Rich Stapleton.
Show notes
- Twitter: @cerealmag
- Facebook: @cerealmag
- Instagram: @cerealmag
- Volume 9 cover
- Guided by Cereal
- Cereal, Korean language edition
Rosa's magazine recommendations
This episode is sponsored by Hemlock.
Ryan Essmaker is half of the husband-wife team that started The Great Discontent as an online interview series in 2011. Launching a print edition in spring 2014, TGD has recently gone quarterly. I talked with Ryan about TGD's beginnings, current growth and the possibilites print brings to the previously web-only brand.
Show notes
- Brad Smith joins the TGD team
- 2014 Magpile Magazine Awards
- Issue 1
- Issue 2
- The Great Discontent Shop
- @greatdiscontent
Ryan's magazine recommendations
Kai Brach is the man behind Offscreen, a magazine about people who work on the web and with apps. We talk about Kai's transition from web designer to independent magazine publisher and discuss the importance of social media in today's publishing landscape.
Show notes
Kai's 3 magazine recommendations
- Scrag End
- Delayed Gratification
- Collect (no longer published)
Alec is Editor of Intern, a new magazine highlighting work by interns and sparking the debate about intern culture. We discuss the genesis of his publication, his work as an intern for other independent mags, and how Kickstarter has become a good way to launch a new title.
Philip is the Editor of The Ride Journal, an illustration-filled, storytelling biking magazine from the UK. We discuss Philip's passion for biking (and his bike collection) and how this fuelled the creation of this beautiful magazine, now on its 8th issue (released tomorrow).
Ibrahim is the Editor-in-Chief of The Outpost, a Beirut-based “magazine of possibilities.” We discuss The Outpost's origins in a region of flux and the current publishing climate in the Middle East.
Luke is the Art Director of Boat Magazine, a magazine that travels to and reports from a different city each issue. We talk about how Luke got into design, what he does in his day job and how he manages to balance that with his work on a nomadic magazine.
This first episode introduces Mag Heroes and lays out my thoughts behind starting this show.
