Why do I always have this irresistable urge to start a magazine?
It’s like this burning passion that I can’t control, despite my better judgement. I would be absolutely crazy to try to launch a magazine, yet again. I’ve already failed twice. I used to run an online magazine back in 2004 that was pretty successful locally. We were the source for fashion in Vancouver. I ran the magazine for three years until 2007 when I decided I wanted to take the magazine into print. By that time I had already gained experience working for other publications as a writer as well as an editor, and had the valuable experience of being the editor-in-chief of a start-up food magazine for about 8 months before it, too, folded. So I had at least gotten the chance to see what goes into launching a magazine, from an insider’s perspective. I decided that if they could do it, I could do it. And besides, the magazine was already online and we had built up a loyal following.
I set about trying to find a partner for the new venture, since I figured that it was hard enough running an online magazine alone so surely it would be impossible to go into print by myself. Besides, if I had a partner I’d have twice the capital to invest. I decided to partner with a friend of mine who was a writer for the food magazine I edited for. He didn’t have any experience in publishing, but he had a solid mind for business and was willing to put forth a lot of money. In retrospect, hiring him wasn’t the best idea. What I didn’t realize was how unreliable this guy was. He talked a good game, but when it came down to doing the actual work he wouldn’t be around. He would request a meeting and then not even show up for it. I remember one time, he scheduled a meeting with the entire staff to go over details for the first issue. At that time, we didn’t have an office, so he wanted to have it at his place. So we all went out to his place, but lo and behold he wasn’t there. I later found out that he had taken off to Vegas for the weekend without telling anybody. It wasn’t long before I was having to pretty much do his work myself — the nice thing was that he was still paying for most of the expenses. But that didn’t last long. While we were in the middle of the first issue he disappeared and I never heard from him again. Didn’t answer his phone or return my messages. Didn’t reply to any emails. Just vanished into thin air. We still managed to release the first issue (people liked it!), but without the extra capital we couldn’t afford the printing costs to keep it going.
The next year (2008), I was approached to co-publish another magazine. I was able to put together an incredible team of people to help out with the photography, styling, editing, writing, etc. People that I never dreamed I’d even have the chance to work with. Unfortunately, what we didn’t plan on was the recession. Advertisers weren’t buying ads, especially ads in an unproven, start-up magazine. So we decided to put it on hold until the economy got a little better. Now I’m stuck. I really want to do this magazine, but I’m going to be traveling all next year so I won’t be able to work on anything until 2011. But hopefully by then the economy will have improved and getting advertisers on board will be a little easier. I hope that if nothing else, these past experiences will have taught me some valuable lessons. At least now I know what not to do. I can avoid making the same mistakes that I’ve made before. But the magazine industry is changing so quickly. Magazines are becoming a bit obsolete now, aren’t they? There’s so much competition out there and advertisers are dwindling. Maybe we could produce a strong online site and then move into print once we’ve proven ourselves a bit. I’ve done that before. Costs less, too.
For now, I’ll just have to keep dreaming. Maybe aim for a fall 2011 launch? Or spring 2012. And of course, I’ll still continue to freelance between now and then.
