Totes/meet-ups/videos/etc/etc

An indie mag newsletter by Dan Rowden
 

Issue 9 — April 26, 2018



     

Howdy,

Our house is basically an empty shell, no magazines to be seen! It's been rough. We're coming to Europe for the summer (missing the Mauritian winter) and I have some big plans...

1) Documenting everything mag related on YouTube
2) Launching a tote bag brand just for magazine lovers
3) A meet-up in London (and hopefully Bristol/Bath)
4) Hitting up Helsinki's magazine scene
5) More Coverage!

Needless to say, I'm very excited for the next few months.

For this issue of Coverage, I talked with a brand new magazine shop, a sport mag doing things differently and an editor championing creative business and entrepreneurship.

And as ever, there's a little discount treat for you at the end ❤️

See you next time from England!

-Dan

PS: I signed off on the two launch designs for Totes Love Magazines earlier today. THIS IS SUDDENLY VERY REAL

     



Rare Mags

Starting a magazine shop

Rare Mags is a brand new magazine shop opening its doors in Stockport, England, tomorrow. How exciting! I've been following along with development of the shop on Instagram (following a successful Kickstarter campaign last month), but I wanted to find out more about how a magazine shop is realised.

I asked co-founder Martin Wilson to describe their journey...

(And check out some photos of the shop coming together, below.)

The Past

For many (many) years, I worked for Magma Books in Manchester (a brief hiatus to manage a kitchen and gain a mortgage notwithstanding), where magazines and independent publications became an important part of what a bookshop needs to be. I founded Henry Press as a printers and publishers as a way of bringing simple, beautiful and importantly accessible (read cheap, to make and buy) publications to the market.

Holly (my co-founder) in this time had trained to be a teacher, immersing herself in design technology. Then she decided that the other part of her life—cycling—needed some time, and so now that’s what she does.

The Present

Rare Mags was born as a way of making a thing we could both be part of and bring our separate skills to, and give others a space to show their work. The shop is opening this week, and the air is still thick with plywood dust. Stock is arriving from far and wide, and the effort has now shifted from a successful Kickstarter campaign to thoughts of the grand opening. Stockport is the setting for all of this, which sits close to Manchester, but with such a contrast in topography that it couldn’t feel more different.

The Future

A magazine shop is a relatively simple idea in principle, but making all the other things you do count is the challenge. Rare Mags will be hosting a varied and tight schedule of exhibitions and accompanying publications, to showcase the best publishing talent we can find. The future of the town of Stockport will be enshrined in this plan.

🛍 If you're in the Stockport or Manchester area, head on down to Rare Mags' opening event tomorrow (Friday) at 6pm!

 
     
     
     



Good Sport

Origin Story

Good Sport is a magazine published in Australia, which “explores life through and outside of sport.” Recently, founder Ben Clement released Good Sport's third issue (see above), with a redesign.

Intrigued with the magazine's position in the quite saturated sport magazine world, I asked Ben about the magazine's origins.

“The idea was born out of the realization that there were no contemporary sport related magazines that looked at all sports and everything connected to them from design, art, music, food, culture and performance. From all levels from/for all people. 

“I had always worked in and loved print and always believed the medium is the strongest way to show and tell the best photographs and stories, so it made sense to put it all into a magazine called Good Sport.”

Pick up your copy of issue 3 of Good Sport at goodsportmagazine.com/shop/

     



99 Percent Lifestyle

I'm huge on entrepreneurship and creativity, which makes 99 Percent Lifestyle tick all my boxes. What started as a uni magazine project about creativity has morphed into a publication more focussed on entrepreneurs and the people behind creative businesses.

I talked with editor Conor Rees about his magazine's subject and putting together his third issue (out now!)

Dan R: What interested (or still interests) you about business and entrepreneurship that made you want to start a magazine about it?

Conor R: The magazine started out all about creativity. After I released my first issue, I realised I needed to give the magazine a more specific focus. I reflected on everything the magazine was about, and every article (besides the final 'Epilogue' feature) featured a different person; every article was a feature about a creative or an entrepreneur.

I have been interested in business for a very long time. Business and entrepreneurship are very creative and I think they fit perfectly alongside what you would normally class as creative professions. Starting a business in itself is creative; you need to create a brand image, a presence on social media, online and possibly in print with my business. You need to market yourself in a creative way to stand out, and if you have a product, then there are a lot of creative elements that go into that such as design and photography.

The magazine is all about people, but its main aim is to provide value in every single article and inspire action. By having 99 Percent Lifestyle focus on creators and entrepreneurs, I really think it provides a whole host of value in different areas.

DR: What are some trends or common themes in modern entrepreneurship that you have seen appear as this third issue came together?

CR: For a while now, entrepreneurship has become more mainstream. A lot of people view it as the cool thing to do nowadays, and with entrepreneurs having platforms to build an audience on, such as on Youtube, you can understand why.  

Most things I tend to see are all about producing content around your brand, giving your brand a personal touch (because people tend to follow people as opposed to faceless brands) and that you need to utilise social media as much as possible—even if you are a print magazine. A lot of these factors have been around for a while now, but all of these elements are constantly evolving alongside where attention is currently focussed (e.g a new social media platform).

Every issue of 99 Percent Lifestyle is varied and diverse in content; I don't like to have each issue follow a specific theme. I have loved some magazine titles but not picked up their new issue because it was about a theme not relevant to my interests. Instead, I have a collection of long-form features in the middle section of the magazine that revolves around a specific theme.

DR: What have you focussed on for this third issue?

CR: The latest volume is about building a business. One of the features in this section is all about the risks of starting up and ways you can reduce the risks as much as possible. One thing that isn't talked about enough is that starting a business is hard, and for every success story there are dozens of failures. With everyone idolising people like Gary Vaynerchuk and Steven Bartlett, it's important that people understand that this is a risk, it isn't going to be easy and you need to approach starting a business with the right mindset and go about it in the best way possible.

Though from my own personal experience, starting a business is probably one of the most exciting things I have ever done.

     

Scroll down for a special discount for all three 99 Percent Lifestyle issues!



Magazine meet-up in London!

Come talk magazines at my meet-up in London!

I'll be in London on May 11th and am hosting a meet-up for magazine fans and publishers. Come and talk magazines and meet new people ☺️ The evening will be purely about hanging out with other #magfans.

👀 I'll also be giving an exclusive look at the first Totes Love Magazines bags. You will be the first people in the world to see them!

Meet-up Details
Friday, May 11th from 7pm
The Queen of Hoxton
1 Curtain Rd, London EC2A 3JX

Check the event page on Facebook

Photo from Unsplash

     




Video: Packing up

Mag videos / mag vlog / #magvlog

I uploaded my second YouTube video last week, filmed as I packed away the 100+ magazines I have here in Mauritius before a long holiday.

I'm going to be making a lot more videos in the coming months. I'll be taking the opportunity of being in Europe over the summer to film meeting magazine makers, visiting magazine shops and launching my new magazine-related brand, Totes Love Magazines

All of this will end up on YouTube, so subscribe and stay tuned for more!

👉 Watch me flick through and talk about some of my fave mags

     



99 Percent Lifestyle discount

A discount just for Coverage readers ❤️

I've arranged a 15% discount off for 99 Percent Lifestyle, on all three issues and issue bundles. Have at it!

👉 Use the code COVERAGE at 99percentlifestyle.com/store/

     



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