Friday, April 25, 2008
The power of passionate editorial in print
Last night I had a stark reminder of the power of a printed magazine: its name is Sideburn.
Sideburn is an A5, perfect bound, 82+4, full colour throwback – or rather, it is the classic iteration of journalistic passion. Produced by two guys in a small town of the flatlands that surround FormerEmap's motorcycling centre of operations, it is all about, and only about, flat-track motorcycles and the people who build and ride them.
In grown-up commercial terms, that's a niche of a niche of a niche. In reality it's a fantastic magazine, full of the kinds of machines and people I love to know about.
For all the teaching I do about professional magazine craft and the digital future of publishing, Sideburn contains one eternal lesson. When you come down to it, there is nothing, NOTHING, to beat passionate editorial in a mobile product. Totally, unconditionally mobile. No electricity or signal or wireless network needed. Available anywhere, anytime.
Great things come in small packages, as Kenny Roberts once found:
Picture from Superbikeplanet.com
Sideburn is an A5, perfect bound, 82+4, full colour throwback – or rather, it is the classic iteration of journalistic passion. Produced by two guys in a small town of the flatlands that surround FormerEmap's motorcycling centre of operations, it is all about, and only about, flat-track motorcycles and the people who build and ride them.
In grown-up commercial terms, that's a niche of a niche of a niche. In reality it's a fantastic magazine, full of the kinds of machines and people I love to know about.
For all the teaching I do about professional magazine craft and the digital future of publishing, Sideburn contains one eternal lesson. When you come down to it, there is nothing, NOTHING, to beat passionate editorial in a mobile product. Totally, unconditionally mobile. No electricity or signal or wireless network needed. Available anywhere, anytime.
Great things come in small packages, as Kenny Roberts once found:
Picture from Superbikeplanet.comLabels: editorial passion, flat track, mobile, motorcycles, print journalism, print magazines
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