Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Niche magazines for niche people
Well, that showed me!
Not only did the Editor of Buck have the courtesy to get in touch and very politely correct the version of his magazine publishing history in my previous post, he also left a friendly comment about Eat Soup, to which the Launch Editor of that mag has replied.
This has led me to three interesting places:
1) Although the reporting of Steve Doyle's CV was factually correct, the order it was presented in influenced the way that information was perceived (note the deliberate use of passive voice to avoid personal blame). This is an important ethical and practical point for all journalists: you can be right and still make it sound wrong. (And I apologise for repeating "facts" without having checked them.)
2) As I spend my working life encouraging people to make magazines and delight in the making of magazines, I should be far more encouraging about start-ups and niche publications in this blog. After all, I have been there myself, and this article in yesterday's Independent Media section demonstrates that well targeted magazines continue to attract readers in sufficient quantities to make them sustainable for the people who create them.
3) Perhaps there really is a niche for style + food-writing. In which case perhaps there is a niche for a course in style + food-writing ... or at the very least, a specialised module ...
Not only did the Editor of Buck have the courtesy to get in touch and very politely correct the version of his magazine publishing history in my previous post, he also left a friendly comment about Eat Soup, to which the Launch Editor of that mag has replied.
This has led me to three interesting places:
1) Although the reporting of Steve Doyle's CV was factually correct, the order it was presented in influenced the way that information was perceived (note the deliberate use of passive voice to avoid personal blame). This is an important ethical and practical point for all journalists: you can be right and still make it sound wrong. (And I apologise for repeating "facts" without having checked them.)
2) As I spend my working life encouraging people to make magazines and delight in the making of magazines, I should be far more encouraging about start-ups and niche publications in this blog. After all, I have been there myself, and this article in yesterday's Independent Media section demonstrates that well targeted magazines continue to attract readers in sufficient quantities to make them sustainable for the people who create them.
[This leads on to a sub-discussion of what constitutes "success" but I suspect that's a topic for another post.]
3) Perhaps there really is a niche for style + food-writing. In which case perhaps there is a niche for a course in style + food-writing ... or at the very least, a specialised module ...
Labels: Buck, Cardiff Journalism School, Eat Soup, editorial passion, magazines, niche publishing, print magazines, specialised
Post a Comment