'Magazines will always have a place on people's shelves'
Mainstream magazines might be struggling to survive against digital media, but their independent counterparts are thriving
In the basement of a London bar, gathered like a resistance movement or thralls to some secret perversion, 100 people have come together to discuss their passion for magazines. They particularly like the independently made, keep-it-on-your-bookshelf-afterwards type of mag, but organisers have encouraged the aficionados to share any and all new treasures they've found, regardless of subject or appearance. So long as it's made of paper and ink.
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Fittingly, the event is known as Printout; it takes place roughly once every two months. On a bench by the entrance, new arrivals – designers, journalists, students, assorted enthusiasts – are asked to put down what magazines they've brought along. Fan, Meat, Shoestring, Ctrl+Alt+Shift, Arty, Buffalo… Quickly, the table is covered with colourful titles, and at the end of the evening, after presentations by visiting magazine-makers as well as a bit of boozy mingling and lots of jokes about font kerning and paper density, departing guests will pick the publication that catches their eye and take it home.
Co-founder Steve Watson explains: "When [the chain bookseller] Borders closed down in 2009, the biggest independent magazine retailer in Britain was wiped out. This was a way of bridging the gap between great magazines and those who'd really like them if they knew about them." Watson, who in his day job runs a magazine subscription service called Stack, and Jeremy Leslie, editor of the blog magCulture.com, launched Printout last year. They'll host a party to celebrate its first birthday next month. "There's no problem with the product; the magazines being made are great," says Watson. If independent magazines face difficulties in 2012, he says, it's because of a lack of distribution.
Not the internet? Isn't the problem always the internet when nice, outmoded things are under threat? Actually, the consensus at Printout seems to be that low-flying indie mags are fairly well placed to weather the financial storms that have troubled the larger magazine houses of late. Indies have traditionally been made by tiny teams on tiny budgets: no change there. And loyal, stubborn customers have been made more loyal, more stubborn by encroaching digitisation. It's very possible to imagine a future, now, in which bound, tangible mags have been replaced by tablet-based alternatives and fans are clinging ever tighter to their copies of Huck and Last Hours, to Anorak with its 75-point Helvetica and Kasinowith its textured cover page.
At Printout, the crowd seems mostly optimistic about life in the iPad age; a point about the online threat, put by somebody during the open-mic part of the evening, raises a few chuckles. "Ah," says Leslie, chairing, "the death-of-print question…" He turns the subject over to his panel of speakers and Paul Willoughby, creative director of independent film magazine Little White Lies, says: "People are always going to have their personal space, their flat or whatever, and they're going to want to surround themselves with personal things. I think magazines will always have a place on people's shelves." Assuming, Willoughby adds wryly, the internet doesn't somehow bugger up the shelving industry too.
Both Watson and Leslie maintain that an affection for old media needn't mean standing against the new. Watson cherishes his subscription to the iPad version of the New Yorker. "People like to say, 'This is dead and that is living,'" says Leslie, who has designed iPad apps in the past. "It's not as simple as that. As with most new forms, digital will succeed in various aspects. Print will continue to succeed in others."
What do they think it is that inspires lasting fondness for the printed page? Leslie points to Printout's three speakers, Willoughby from Little White Lies and the creative directors from Anorak (a colourful title for children) and Wrap (an ingenious thing that falls apart to be used as wrapping paper once it's read). "Three magazines," says Leslie, "three distinct worlds. And it's their physical differences that define those worlds. As soon as those worlds are squeezed on to an iPad they risk becoming the same."
Watson has a more atavistic view. "As people, we crumple as we get older, we get smelly, bits break off. Something behind a glass screen, protected from being damaged, it's hard to feel an emotional bond with that." He picks up the magazine he's brought along to share, a German design journal with a bright-red cover. "Look – it's already starting to get bent around the edges. You feel an affinity with that. It's something that will die."
He adds the magazine to the array on the table by the entrance. There, frowning people flick through titles: Manzine, Strange Notes, Lick, Meat. Somebody picks up Reason, then Dweeb, then Surfer's Path, finally selecting Flamingo and putting it in their bag.
The next Printout is at the Book Club in London, EC2 on 2 May. Tickets cost £5; see stackmagazines.com/printout
Joel Cheng, 28, designer
What have you brought? Mountain Biking UK. Because… well, I love mountain biking.
Which magazine did you first fall for? I come from Sydney and the first magazines I bought on a regular basis were about surfing. I was always drawn to the ones that had a lot of photography, and made Australia and its beaches look beautiful.
What do you love about print magazines? The physicality. Getting your hands on it.
Jeremy Leslie, 50, editor of magCulture
What have you brought? Kasino A4, made by a design studio in Helsinki. The Finnish have a very melancholy outlook, and Kasino communicates that well.
Which magazine did you first fall for? Way back, it was Look-In, a kids' TV mag. Later, NME. It taught me a magazine is best when it has a point of view.
What do you love about print magazines? They engage your senses: sight, touch, smell; the sound of the pages turning.
Sam Parsons, 27, partnerships manager
What have you brought? It's called Wrap, a clever idea – it's a magazine, also wrapping paper. All these beautiful prints and illustrations that you reuse after.
Which magazine did you first fall for? I think it was Just 17. Boys; how to use lip balm, that sort of stuff. Later, the Face.
What do you love about print magazines? There are so many. I like newness, fresh ideas. I'm not very committed to staying with something. I love being there for the beginning of a new magazine.
Lawrence Stigner, 22, student
What have you brought? Clash, a music magazine. It's got the Killers on the cover, fashion in the back… it's bold, I like it.
Which magazine did you first fall for? My mum used to get me the Beano. I loved the smell of it.
What do you love about print magazines? It's all about the smell, about presence. And I'd actually prefer this magazine if it was bigger. You want lots for your eyes to take in.
Philip Diprose, 37, video editor
What have you brought? A cycling journal called the Ridethat my brother and I make in our spare time. No bike reviews. We care about people's adventures on bikes.
Which magazine did you first fall for? After the Beano, commercial cycling mags, until I started to notice the churn. It's winter – here's another article about making your bike winter-proof…
What do you love about print magazines? The weight of it. Hearing the thump of the post and knowing something's arrived that's not a bill.
Victoria Talbot, 25, graphic designer
What have you brought? Lick. It explores ball sports, art, illustration, nature… I got it in a bundle of independent titles called a "grabby". You never know what you're going to get. One of the others was called Tattooed Memoirs. Lots of people telling personal stories about their tattoos.
Which magazine did you first fall for? Girl Talk. Pictures of puppies and how to play the Neighbours theme tune on the recorder.
What do you love about print magazines? The sensory element. Being able to physically curl up with it.
Chloe McClaren, 22, journalism graduate
What have you brought? KnockBack, an alternative women's mag. You can read it, still eat carbs and not wear dresses.
Which magazine did you first fall for? Mizz, when I was 13. It made you feel a bit rebellious when you really weren't.
What do you love about print magazines? You've got it in your hands, haven't you? You can take it out, show it to friends. If I'm on the internet I tend to think, "I'll read that later when I can give it my full attention", and then forget to read it. If you've got a magazine it comes with you everywhere.
Kate Vanhinsbergh, 24, bartender and editor
What have you brought? Shoestring, an arts magazine I put together. Lots of photography, lots of text, no funding. Many contributors are teens; have never been published before and never been through rigorous editorial processes. This is a platform for them.
Which magazine did you first fall for? Dazed and Confused, when I was 14. It seemed so connected to youth culture.
What do you love about print magazines? The connection between writers, photographers and readers. I don't think you could ever replace that digitally.
Steve Watson, 30, magazine distributor
What have you brought? A magazine called 032c, made in Berlin. The title refers to the Pantone colour of the cover. So, yeah, obviously this is a print lover's magazine.
Which magazine did you first fall for? FHM, as a teen. There was Gillian Anderson in a bikini, of course, but I also loved the way staff wrote themselves into stories. It made the reader feel part of something.
What do you love about print magazines? You've got a beginning, a middle, an end. No links, no videos. The limitations, in fact, help build your relationship with a magazine.
Since you’re here …
… we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading the Guardian than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help. The Guardian’s independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too.
I appreciate there not being a paywall: it is more democratic for the media to be available for all and not a commodity to be purchased by a few. I’m happy to make a contribution so others with less means still have access to information.Thomasine F-R.
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