Be passionate about profit
Passion for your subject is not enough, print publishers need profits to keep publishing
Hello to new September subscribers from Private Eye, Immediate Media, Our Media, Sussex Local, FIPP, Newsstand.co.uk, Alberta Magazines, Taylist Media, Poetry Magazine and Saveur.
This week I’m on about passion, profits and which matters most (spoiler: it’s profit)
Not a unicorn
Do you ever hear magazine makers talking about their publications like they are magical objects, mystically conjured into being rather than manufactured?
I love the enthusiasm, but I’m a wee bit less keen on the dewy-eyed reverence.
I remember tearsheeting a copy of a magazine in a training session and half the room gasping like I’d stabbed a unicorn. No, I just tore out some pages so we could stick them on the wall and talk about how to make them better.
Magazines are not works of art. Magazines are products and fetishisation of the format blinds people to the cold hard-fact that we need money to keep making them.
Passion is not the prerequisite
A couple of newsletters ago I advised publishers to ‘Make your magazine with the passion of your readers’. I stand by that, but passion is not a prerequisite for making a magazine.
Many, many great magazines are made by people who are just doing a job, magazine pros who aren’t really fussed about what their magazine is about. They just know how to make a magazine that readers love.
Passion is actually a privilege, more common in a market where independent publishers are making the titles they want to read, but not a guarantee of success. Without profit, magazines are a hobby, at risk of being replaced by sourdough starters or wild swimming.
Proper passion
I’m not saying passion doesn’t matter, just not your passion.
The most successful publications mainline their readers’ passion for their specialist subject. The devotion of niche audiences is the lifeboat that will carry magazine makers away from the sinking ship of mass market publishing.
That doesn’t mean it’s OK for us to drink our own Kool Aid. It’s natural to be buzzing because the biggest fish in your pond agreed to a cover feature because ‘your passion for the subject is next level’. But just like exposure, passion doesn’t pay the bills.
If you care deeply about the field your magazine publishes in, well done. You found a job you love and you’ll never work another day in your life… so long as you remember that you’re making a product that needs to be paid for.
Make enough to keep making
If you want to be passionate, be passionate about making a profit.
We need to understand our readers. We need to think like our readers. Often we have to represent our readers where we’re their proxy. But we are not our readers; they don’t have to think, ‘how am I going to pay the next print bill?’.
I’m not talking about chasing cash like a late-stage capitalist, cannibalising your credibility for the sake of a few more pennies. I’m talking about sustainability: making enough to keep making your magazine.
Love your subject, love your magazine, love your readers, but don’t forget to to think about how you’re going to make enough money to keep doing what you love.
Magazine Street Magic
Talking about doing things we love, I had the immense privilege of interviewing freelance magazine designer Angela Lyons on the stage at Magazine Street last week. We spoke about tractors, fonts and how it feels when your face doesn’t fit in an industry that has a long way to go on its diversity and inclusion journey.
The full video of my interview with Angela is available on the International Magazine Centre website, along with another dozen main-stage talks. Get yourself a virtual ticket to watch them all on demand.
Can you make a profit in magazines?
For The Jerry Maguire issue of The Grub Street Journal we spoke to people at the sharp end of magazine publishing, to find out if there's enough money in this business to keep the lights on.
Buy The Grub Street Journal’s Jerry Maguire issue and we’ll show you the money in magazines.
The return of Magazine Songs
If you’ve been with this newsletter for a while you might remember me sharing magazine themed music. Well, I'm putting the band back together… and if you have a favourite magazine song, just reply to this email and I’ll add it to The Grub Street Journal’s ‘Magazine Songs’ playlist.
This week, ‘A Magazine Called Sunset’ from the most excellent Wilco. Enjoy!
Good to be reminded of your Spotify playlist. Will enjoy it again this week!