Stack Magazines

"It started out of a need – there was no place for magazines in Berlin." Mark Kiessling and Jessica Reitz opened their magazine shop Do You Read Me?! in Berlin in 2008, and over the last 10 years they have become renowned for their discerning collection of quality print. In this episode Mark reflects on a decade of selling the best magazines, including the changes they've seen during that time and the massive increase in the number of independent magazines around the world.

"To see your little magazine poking out on the shelves is an amazing feeling." James Roberts and his friend Hugo Ross launched Vanguards magazine together while the two of them were studying Fine Art at Edinburgh University. With their studies behind them, the pair collaborated with 12-B, a design and risograph studio in London, to produce the second issue of their magazine exploring Scottish design and brands. In this episode, recorded at the end of 2017 just after the second issue had launched, James speaks about his excitement at seeing his magazine out in the real world, and why the pair plan to move beyond Scotland's borders in future issues.

"I have an urge to make things that stay in the world." James Guerin is the founder, publisher and editor-in-chief of Berlin Quarterly, the literary and arts magazine that considers the cultural world as seen from Germany's capital. In this episode he reveals his motivations for making the magazine, the vintage magazines that still inspire him and his own desire to leave a lasting impression in print.

"How can you change without changing?" Marco Velardi is editor-in-chief of Apartamento, the iconic interiors magazine that is currently celebrating its 20th issue and 10th anniversary. We met up in Berlin to speak about the enduring pressures of independent publishing, the things they've learned along the way, and the challenge of keeping a magazine fresh while remaining familiar.

"It was three of us in a white van." Thomas Sumner is the creative director of The Essential Journal, the men's fashion and lifestyle title based in Liverpool. Now distributing 50,000 copies every month across Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and London, and working with high end advertisers like Rolex and Jaguar, he reflects on the title's rapid growth, its editorial ethos and the opportunities that lay ahead.

"I'm always waiting for the surprise." Christoph Amend is the editor-in-chief of Germany's Zeit Magazin, the magazine distributed with news weekly Die Zeit. In this conversation he speaks about his earliest experience of writing articles, how his first professional magazine jobs taught him that creativity and profitability must go hand in hand, and why it's important for him as an editor to keep on writing.

Hear all the judges' comments and winners' acceptance speeches from this year's Stack Awards, recorded live at The Queen of Hoxton on Monday 20 November 2017.

"Eastern Europe deserves a means of expression." Kajet is a new journal published from Bucharest and dedicated to telling unheard stories from across the region. First-time magazine makers Petricā Mogos and Laura Naum dropped into the Stack office this week to speak about their experiences making the magazine, and to explain why we need a fresh and authentic voice of Eastern Europe.

"I think we needed this period of very beautiful and luxurious magazines to prove that print was of worth... but now we're moving on." Ruth Jamieson is the author of Print is Dead Long Live Print and Angharad Lewis is the author of So You Want to Publish a Magazine, and together they judged the Student Magazine of the Year category in this year's Stack Awards. They came over to Somerset House for the judging session this week, and after we'd picked our winner, we sat down for a wider conversation about the current state of independent magazine publishing.

"You guys don't make dog owners look crazy..." Julian Victoria and Emily Rogers are the editors of Dog, the lifestyle magazine for people who love dogs. With its ultra simple cover concept, Dog has become a familiar sight on newsstands around the world, and in this episode they reveal their motivations in making the magazine, and explain why their readers aren't quite as doggy as you might expect.

"If we can't capitalise on football being more popular than it's ever been, we probably shouldn't be in the business of making a football magazine!" Mundial is the football lifestyle magazine that was launched by Dan Sandison and Seb White as a one-off print project for the 2014 World Cup. Fast forward three years, and the co-founders tell the story of how their quarterly magazine has evolved from that first issue, and why they're aiming to make the most of next year's World Cup in Russia

"This is the survival mode for magazines – they'll never disappear because they're so beautifully made... You can't do that online." Marc Robbemond and Reny van der Kamp are two of the people who run Athenaeum Nieuwscentrum, the Amsterdam magazine shop that's an Aladdin's cave for print enthusiasts. In this episode they speak about a life spent selling independent magazines, and the boom they're seeing in indie print.

"People of Print is about everyone being part of it – we're not just some company telling you what's cool." Marcroy Smith is the founder of People of Print, the organisation that started out as a simple list of screen printers and expanded to become a publishing company, a printer, a retailer and many more things along the way. In this conversation he recounts the often accidental journey he has taken over the years, as he responded to problems he encountered and tried to find a better, fairer way to put print out into the world.

"Everything is about story, and the content defines the design." Cassius Matthias is the founder and editor of Yes & No, a bold new magazine that defies categorisation. In this conversation he tells his own story, of how recovering from serious illness set him on an unconventional path to publishing his own magazine, and how a background in filmmaking informs his original approach to telling stories in print.

"It's almost as if they don't care about the future of the magazine industry." Fraser Allen is the publisher of Hot Rum Cow, the Edinburgh-based independent magazine dedicated to booze. The tequila issue has just hit shelves, but after five years and some top industry awards, Fraser and the team are calling time on the magazine. In this episode he speaks about his frustrations with distribution and retail, the opportunities he still sees for both independent and mainstream publishers, and why now is the right time for a new challenge.

"Independent magazines are more like a culture than a market." Urs Spindler and Malte Brenneisen are the co-organisers of Indiecon, the co-editors of Gentle Rain magazine, and the co-founders of Die Brueder, the creative agency based in Hamburg and Berlin. For this final episode from Indiecon 2017, I spoke to them about the challenges faced by independent magazine makers today, and heard their thoughts as both industry commentators and individual creators.

"I would have quite liked it if we hadn't needed to publish The New European in the first place." Steve Anglesey is digital content director of The New European, the multi-award-winning newspaper that was set up in nine days as a response to Brexit. The whole project was only expected to last a few weeks, but one year on, he reflects on the newspaper's first year in print. Recorded live in front of an audience at the Indiecon festival in Hamburg in August 2017.

"The devastation of the shooting at Pulse nightclub was one of the biggest markers that shifted the intention of my work, and made me question why I was doing it." Ryan Fitzgibbon, editor-in-chief of Hello Mr, on the shock that led to the relaunch of his magazine for gay men, as well as a new publishing project that aims to empower new voices from across the LGBT community.

The Stack Awards opened for entries this week, and Kirsten Algera and Ernst van der Hoeven flew into London to join us for our launch event, which brought together some of the winners from last year. They're the creators of MacGuffin magazine, our Magazine of the Year for 2016, and I met them at their hotel the morning after the event to find out more about what it meant for them to win the award, and what they have planned for the rest of this year. This is our last episode of the podcast for the summer, but we'll be back in September with more conversations with independent magazine makers.

Davide Cazzaro is the Seoul-based publisher and editor-in-chief of Nang, the magazine of Asian cinema. He dropped in at our office when he was in London earlier this year, and gave us a look behind the scenes at the latest issue, themed around scars and death. He also spoke about the many opportunities he sees for 'micropublishing', as well as the various challenges involved in producing and distributing a small independent magazine, which will probably sound familiar to anyone who has tried it themselves...