Alan Rutter

What is a magazine?

admin — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 12:31:37 +0000

This existential question has been rattling around editorial offices around the world for a while now, but Christopher Phin (of MacFormat and Tap!) has taken the excellent step of coalescing the debate into a hashtag: #whatisamagazine

Chris has already given an eloquent response to the question, and some of my thoughts below will cross over with his.

Let’s start at the beginning. The word magazine comes through the Arabic for storeroom or storehouse. From there you get the Italian magazzino (‘storehouse’) and French magasin (‘warehouse’ or ‘shop’). It’s why we end up with magazine meaning the part of a gun that stores the bullets, and magazine for these collections of editorial that we print on lovely paper – or, now, send out into the world in pixel form.

I’ve always liked this etymological root as a visual metaphor – magazines are spaces filled with stuff. So what makes this storeroom full of stuff special, and different from the endless landscape of stuff that is the internet?

I would say that a magazine is…

A collection of thematically linked stories Take stories is the loosest possible sense. Part of the beauty of magazines is their flexibility – they can encompass everything from hard news to esoteric illustration. What’s definitely true is that ‘stories’ is an infinitely better word than ‘content’.

Curated. This means much more than simply aggregated. It involves selection, yes – for quality, relevance, resonance and aesthetics. It involves ordering and adding context, assembling words and images in ways that amplify the impact of both. It means storytelling. Increasingly it means the skilful application of metadata to add meaning (it has been said it’s the new art direction).

Finite. Chris pointed to this one too. Sometimes when you’re thirsty, you’d like a glass of water – rather than having a firehose opened up directly into your face (that last bit represents the internet, by the way). As we curate, we create a cohesive and satisfying package. This can and is replicated in digital as well as print. Try giving a user a long piece of writing on a digital device without any progress bar, page counter or other indication of how far through it they are – they will hate it. It’s disconcerting. We like to complete things.

Designed. Yes, this will increasingly mean adaptive content and style sheets, but magazines will never by arbitrary in their presentation of content. Remember that we are telling stories. Try reading to a child in a flat monotone, and then try it while gesticulating and ‘doing the voices’. See which one they prefer. It’s the same for grown-ups. Design is the part of magazines that makes stories greater than the sum of their parts – the presentation matters. And it’s not just about the facts you’re given, it’s about how it makes you feel. And that’s because a magazine is…

An experience, not a commodity. Andy Budd talks more about this in this brilliant set of slides. The reason people paid (and hopefully continue to pay) for magazines is that they get an experience – one that can leave them feeling surprised, informed, inspired, soothed, amazed or something else. Magazines that were primarily functional (classifieds, listings, basic news) have been the hardest hit by the rise of digital. But buying most magazines is an emotive act rather than a rational one. Vogue is not ‘task-oriented’.

Collaborative. This is what has given me the greatest amount of professional joy during my career working with magazine teams. Nothing is done in isolation – images, design, writing and production have to come together seamlessly. And beyond the office walls there has always been the community itself – without which magazines, print or digital, wither and die. That digital channels give us better ways to engage with that community is a great thing. Look at the magazines launched through Kickstarter.

Periodical. Digital evangelists rage against the fact that magazine content is still delivered according to the archaic rhythms of the print cycle. Fine – we can change that. It doesn’t matter whether it’s weekly, fortnightly or every second Thursday of the month – the wait is important. When things happen at regular intervals, we can anticipate and savour them: Christmas, the World Cup, Graze boxes. Once everything is accessible at any time (see ‘House of Cards’ on Netflix), there’s no anticipation. Look at Delayed Gratification (disclosure: I’m a regular contributor). It’s a print-only, quarterly news review magazine. But it is worth waiting for.

Shareable. This is probably the biggest challenge with digital magazines. If we want to charge for access or content, can we then put everything on the wider web to be shared? On a cynical level, peer-to-peer sharing our best form of marketing. But more importantly, for the community around a magazine to exist, the sharing and discussion of the stories within it are absolutely essential. In my flat at university, the same copy of Mojo with a cover story listing the 100 greatest guitarists of all time sat on the coffee table, endlessly perused and argued over by us residents and a stream of intoxicated visitors. It was on the coffee table for four years. These days, that’s a hashtag – but the principle remains the same.

That’s my thoughts for now. Keep the debate going: #whatisamagazine

Photo Credit: brancolina via Compfight cc

Digital Magazine Awards 2012

admin — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 11:44:02 +0000

The third annual Digital Magazine Awards had their winner’s showcase at Proud Galleries yesterday, and it was a great event.

I was asked to do the keynote speech – always slightly nerve-wracking having to present to an audience that knows a lot about the subject matter. My line about it being hugely important to recognise and celebrate innovation (and share ideas and best practice) wasn’t just fluff. The best thing about the event (which is a world away from the usual stuffy, industry love-in awards ceremonies) was the chance to mingle with other people working on digital magazines.

From Condé Nast’s stable, WIRED picked up tech and gadget magazine of the year, Paul Solomons of GQ was designer of the year, and David Rowan was editor of the year.

The entrants in all the categories were notable for their international spread, and the mix of established consumer publishers, excellent custom publishing entries, and independents.

The overall winner was POST GRAVITY – controversial for some, not because it isn’t incredible (it is), but because people felt it couldn’t be fairly compared with magazines producing monthly titles. My view is that it’s more important at the moment to reward cutting-edge creativity than business models, others disagreed.

A huge amount of work by the DMA team goes into the awards, so thank you to them for creating something genuinely important (also for the free beer).

Time Out goes free

admin — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 10:34:53 +0000

I was on holiday last week, so it’s taken me a while to get hold of the first copy of Time Out in its new free incarnation. Full disclosure: I worked on developing the initial dummy for the free earlier this year, and I’m happy to see that’s it’s now out on the streets.

Plenty of comment and opinion on the new mag: there’s a highly analytical breakdown from Diamond Geezer, former staff writer Peter Watts lamenting the effect that the loss of listings will have on London’s small venues, David Hepworth rightly pointing out that Time Out’s heyday was built on a scarcity that the internet fundamentally undermined, the Londonist basically reserving judgement, and Peter Preston worrying that the lack of (particularly TV) listings could prove fatal. Christopher Fowler thinks it’s shit.

I’m with Jeremy Leslie in wanting to see more striking cover treatments – surely being unshackled from the coverline-laden newsstand approach can only be a good thing – but it’s too early to judge this.

It’s worth noting that the shift for the print edition hasn’t happened in isolation – as well as the website, Time Out also has apps for iPhone, iPad and Android. All free.

For anyone interested finding out more about Time Out’s strategy, editor-in-chief Tim Arthur will be talking about the process of going free and how magazines can evolve in the digital age at a Guardian Masterclass talk on October 22.

The other speakers are Luke Lewis, editor of NME.COM, and me talking about tablets.

Full details and tickets here.

Frieze magazine on the iPad

admin — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 13:35:34 +0000

Congrats to everyone at Frieze on their new, quarterly iPad incarnation.

I gave a little technical help at the latter stages of the launch (fun and games with getting into Apple’s Newsstand), and I’m very glad to see the finished publication.

Created using the Adobe DPS it has the same high-end design and beautifully presented imagery that you’d expect from the print edition, although the digital magazine also boasts specially commissioned video, audio and slideshows.

As ever, the more quality print magazines (and their creative teams) that are experimenting on tablets, the better.

Social engagements

admin — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 15:50:45 +0000

Two talks in recent weeks, to engaged audiences asking nicely tricky questions.

First up I was at the Social Media Influence 2012 Conference, on a panel with Rob Crumbie of Recyclebank and Frances Brindle, Director of Strategic Marketing and Communications at the British Library.

And then I was speaking at the Reinventing Magazines Masterclass at The Guardian, alongside Danny Miller, co-founder of The Church of London, and Steve Watson, founder of Stack.

A few points that keep coming up in the discussions at these events:

HTML5 is going to increasingly be the tool of choice for presenting tablet app content. The multiple new devices arriving imminently will make native coding a slow and low-cost way to roll-out, and we need some standards for both editorial and advertisers.

Two interlinked problems are still circulating discussions around digital magazines: discoverability and sharing. How do you get a digital magazine found on the increasingly crowded virtual shelves of the app stores, and how can you enable users to share content (a key way to encourage discovery) when you’re also charging for access to the content (and don’t want pirate versions floating around). Ebooks face a similar problem.

Digital magazines are only part of the offering. Whether you’re a high-end fashion magazine or a small independent, your tablet incarnation will one of your brand’s offerings, alongside websites, social media channels, events, ebooks and a printed product.

Image above by altemark.

Indie Publishing Masterclass

admin — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:11:19 +0000

There are more magazine-related Masterclasses happening at the Guardian.

There’s going to be a two-day weekend course on Independent Magazine Publishing, covering everything from business models and handling contributors, to the practicalities of printing and distribution.

Again, Danny Miller and Steve Watson will be joining me to host it.

And the ‘Reinventing Magazines’ event has sold so well that we’re running it again, on Wednesday 4th July.

Image of Heidelberg offset printer by Stitch.

Reinventing Magazines

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 10:18:35 +0000

I’m part of a trio of speakers at a Guardian Masterclasses event called ‘Reinventing Magazines’. It’ll be an interactive Q&A for anybody interested in new models and innovation in magazines – covering both print and digital.

Also speaking will Danny Miller, founder of The Church of London – the creative agency which publishes Little White Lies and Huck magazine, as well as Think Quarterly for Google.

And we’ll have magazine champion Steve Watson of Stack – the innovative distributer of the best independent magazines.

For more info and tickets head here

Image above by noodlepie

Social Media Influence 2012

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 10:16:52 +0000

I’m going to be on one of the panels at the Social Media Influence 2012 conference in London on June 12.

I’m going to be speaking alongside Rob Crumbie (Recyclebank), Philip Reisberger (Chief Revenue Officer at Bigpoint) and Frances Brindle, (Director of Strategic Marketing and Communications at The British Library).

Among the hardcore social media strategists speaking will also be Alex Balfour (Head of New Media at London 2012) and Struan Robertson (Product Counsel at Google).

Should be an interesting day. Info on attending, and all the other speakers, is here.

Image above by lazybitez

Future of Books

Alan — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 11:27:36 +0000

Last night I chaired another Clever Boxer event at Soho House. This one was on the ‘Future of Books’, and we were privileged to have two excellent speakers.

Max Whitby is CEO of Touch Press, who are leading the field in re-imagining the book for the iPad. Their latest app is the amazing Barefoot Books World Atlas, while previous titles include an interactive exploration of the solar system, a fascinating look at the world of skulls, and a multimedia version of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land . They’ve also worked with Bjork on creating albums as apps.

John Mitchinson is a former head of marketing for Waterstones, the head of research for BBC’s high-brow quiz show QI, and the co-founder of Unbound – an innovative new business that crowdfunds books.

Max’s demo of his apps was probably the most eye-catching part of the evening, but the discussion covered many interesting areas.

The money

There was general agreement that the established business model of the publishing industry is in a parlous state, and that innovation is vital (John was at pains to point out that people at publishing houses are trying to do great work, in difficult times, for meagre rewards).

The apps produced by Touch Press are reaping huge profits through Apple’s App Store – crucially with a greater percentage of each sale going back to the publisher, and ultimately the author.

Unbound’s model allows for a 50/50 split of profits between author and publisher – again, far more than existing models allow.

Opportunities for authors

Max admitted that the costs involved in producing their apps meant they wouldn’t be publishing any first time novelists in the near future, but that the author (and excellent editing) are at the heart of what they do.

John highlighted several titles that have either raised or are currently raising funding through Unbound that, for different reasons, wouldn’t have seen the light of day (let alone any money) through traditional publishing.

‘The Fall of the House of Murdoch’ by Peter Jukes (who also joined us in the audience for the discussion) began as a blog on the Daily Kos, and couldn’t really have gone through the usual routes to market given its timely subject matter.

Charles Fernyhough’s ‘A Box of Birds’ is a literary thriller with the a neuroscientist lead character – Fernyhough was first published back in 1999, but has struggled to get this book out through traditional routes every since.

And while ‘We Can be Heroes’, a visual history of ’80s London clubland, may have been published in other ways, the strong community around the subject matter perfectly suits Unbound’s model.

Both speakers stressed the importance of authors having a ‘platform’, which is what Unbound in part provides.

Recreating the book

Although the Touch Press apps come with amazing multimedia and deep interactivity, Max was adamant that the book (and novel) as a form will continue to exist, and was highly skeptical of the hurling bells and whistles at books for little reason in order to enhance them.

John was happy to admit he’s a huge fan of Touch Press’s work, but was equally enthusiastic about the book as both a form and an object. He pointed out that it’s not the book that actually at threat, it’s the publishing business model. And people have heralded the end of the book everytime a new medium has come along (the first instance John has found is the emergence of music hall).

Distribution

Touch Press has had brilliant promotion, and thus sales, through Apple’s App Store. They refuse to work with Amazon, due to the company’s demand that it can set pricing as low as it wants.

John voiced concerns about Amazon’s dominance in the book market, but accepted that this is the reality that needs to be worked with.

Both speakers stressed the importance of the author’s relationship with the audience (that’s the platform again).

Max and John both agreed that the internet and emerging digital platforms are a more disruptive invention for books than the printing press.

Exciting times.

Image above by Flickr user -boltron

UK tablet magazines: the stats

Alan — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:34:50 +0000

The magazine circulation figures were out yesterday. Fairly gloomy for lots of publishers, but one new addition this time is the audited figures for tablet editions.

Journalism.co.uk has a round-up of figures for the second half of 2011 here.

It’s the first time we’ve seen audited figures, and it’s still early days. Since Apple launched Newsstand (and with it proper subscriptions and entitlements for print subscribers) in mid-October, halfway through the audit period, we’ll have to wait until July for a clearer picture. But there are a few things to note.

Firstly, it’s evident that – with Cosmo as a notable exception – the leading titles are all skewed towards a male and/or techie readership. This is probably unsurprising, but as tablets continue to spread it’ll be interesting to see if this stays the same.

Secondly, there’s a mix of titles producing some manner of bespoke edition for the iPad (several using either the Adobe or Woodwing platforms), and titles that are just porting their print pdfs. Again, this is worth keeping an eye on – it’s far more expensive to go down the former route (even though making no attempt to optimise for the device seems insane in even the medium term), and publishers will all be doing the sums.

And then there’s the question mark over whether publishers should be producing replicas of their monthly editions in any form (which is done to be audited), instead of re-imagining their brands entirely for tablets.

Here’s the top ten as it stands…

Men’s Health: 7,779
T3: 7,327
GQ: 5,731
Cosmopolitan: 5,675
Men’s Fitness: 3,987
Esquire: 3,745
MacUser: 3,648
Stuff: 3,630
Wired: 3,190
Total Film: 2,910

Image above by pamhule