Hello magazine makers,
I’ve been noodling with The Magazine Diaries for over a decade now, ever since I published a little A5 magazine recounting the thoughts of 100 magazine pros on the print-digital transition. Since then, I’ve used the Magazine Diaries as a soapbox, a way of sharing ideas worth stealing and as a record of The Grub Street Journal launch.
The one thread running through every evolution has been a genuine desire to spotlight the strategies being used to make magazine publishing commercially sustainable.
More that ever, the magazine industry needs to fight to secure its future and my plan for 2025 is to get serious about making the Magazine Diaries a regular resource for publishers trying to make print work in a digital world.
I’m starting with this free weekly industry update and a longer ‘think’ piece every two weeks. The longer-term objective is to build out a paid Magazine Diaries subscription or membership offer that includes regular newsletter content, archive content from The Grub Street Journal, virtual meet ups, real world events and online courses.
I have no doubt things will develop as we go, but for now…
Welcome to the Magazine Diaries 2025.
Want to support the Magazine Diaries’ mission to report on how people are making print magazines work in a digital world?
Speaking at the UK’s Independent Publisher conference late last year, Juan Señor of the Innovation Media Consulting Group outlined five strategic principles for profitable publishing.
You can read Juan Señor’s advice in full on Inpublishing, but my takeaway is:
Understand what makes you special to your readers
Use that understanding to build direct relationships with them
Leverage those relationships to generate revenue
from your readers
from the brands that want to connect with your readers
from innovative brand extensions that cement those connections
Bonus thought from Juan Señor: “Listen to your editors, they will make you the money”.
If you don’t already follow Samir ‘Mr Magazine’ Husni, you really should; his blog is a treasure trove of magazine stories stretching right back to 2007. Every year Samir takes a look at magazine launches in the US and for 2024 he reviewed 39 launches, and nine re-launches.
Noting a drop in the number of launches, but an improvement in quality, his launch of the year is 21st century cannabis lifestyle magazine Hiii, “excellent on all fronts: content, design, and photography”. He also highlighted food and travel title Saveur as one of his favourite relaunches and you can hear my interview with owner and editor-in-chief Kat Craddock over on Media Voices.
Bakery brand pivots to print
No, bakery chain Gail’s is not giving up on croissants or cinnamon buns. They have, however, launched ‘Companion’, a full-flavoured 122-page publication with a tasty indie-mag aesthetic . This first issue is all about bread and includes stories about a prison bakery, a guide to the hidden breadmakers of London, and an interview with the ‘Queen of Sourdough’.
Companion is just the latest in a lengthening lineup of retail brands that understand that magazines are a marvelous way to build better relationships with their customers.
Is you Grub Street collection complete?
We’ve published four editions of The Grub Street Journal, each one examining how to survive and thrive in the modern, messed-up world of magazine publishing.
The Don Quixote issue: What kind of idiots still make magazines?
The Jerry Maguire issue: Show me the money in magazines
The Walking Dead issue: Why won’t print just lie down and die?
The Next Generation issue: Finding the future’s readers and leaders
Magazine NIBs
Want to support the Magazine Diaries’ mission to report on how people are making print magazines work in a digital world?
Magazine Songs
I have a Spotify playlist of songs that reference magazines… What? Don’t judge me.
If, like me, you inhabit the centre of a music and magazines Venn diagram, tell me about your favourite magazine song I’ll add it to Grub Street’s ‘Magazine Songs’ playlist.
Meanwhile, enjoy The Monkees ‘Stepping Stone’...