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Indie mags bite the dirt
December 04, 2006
In the past several months, the indie publishing world has lost a few significant contributors to the international dialogue about politics: first Altar Magazine ceased to exist, but the editors redirected their attentions to working on Clamor Magazine. LiP, which was an online magazine for far longer than it was a print publication, also closed up shop this fall, and Clamor Magazine has just announced its demise.
I blame capitalism. But it isn’t that simple.
Lefties are notorious bad at figuring out the whole thing with profiting off of their hard work - I think some of it is guilt at wanting to give back to the community instead of reaping financial rewards (speaking for myself: struggling as I am, as soon as I get a chunk of change I’m either figuring out how to put it back into my business or I’m giving it away to someone who needs it more than I do). But the other part of it is just very very driven hope and optimism not backed by a business plan of any kind, combined with the fact that print publications are a nightmare to produce and distribute.
I’m the first one to champion new media, but new media is not a democratic form, because access has been and persists to be an issue. And expensive and headache-making as they can be, producing printed materials is an important endeavor - especially for marginalize communities, the joy and power of being able to hold something in your hands that was made with you in mind is pretty astonishing. I don’t know the answer to this problem, but I’d hate to see more indie publications drop off the map.
Posted by Dacia at December 4, 2006 12:10 PM
Comments
“new media is not a democratic form, because access has been and persists to be an issue.”
Really? By “access” do you mean available to poorer people who don’t have ‘net access?
Obscure publications are highly unlikely to be found in the average public library, but most libraries DO have internet access.
If you’re talking about being more widly available and read, I think that online is a far better venue for the smaller audience publications (and better for building those audiences up).
Distribution of magazines is rough enough for the “big guys” never mind the indies. To find any given indie magazine would be an act of hunting down the copies from store to store (and forget about the more rural areas).
Never mind the efficiency of buying bandwith to meet the actual needs of readership as opposed to the guesswork of print runs. Print also runs into the problem of unsold copies at some locations and sellouts that cause missed sales.
You blame “capitalism” in part. Maybe the market is telling these publications an important message: That Online is better for them than Print.
I believe “new media” is far more democratic than print. There is an argument for better readability and portability, but the gains in distribution efficiency outweigh the losses.
Posted by: Shawn L. at December 4, 2006 01:23 PM
I agree. Too many liberal/alt sexual publishing companies have no real sense of how to market, sell ad space, etc… I’ve seen a few such magazines tank because of the same problems.
Posted by: Josh Jasper at December 8, 2006 08:13 AM
