Jeremy Leslie started magCulture as a blog back in 2006 and has since built a multichannel business that celebrates, promotes and sells all things magazine. He is 100% our kind of guy.
When I asked him the ‘idiots’ question, he got it instantly because he’s been asked it before. Even if it’s not asked explicitly, he says it’s always implied. “The subtext is, you’re fucking crazy,” he laughs. He says the people who just don’t understand why you would make a magazine in the first place are often entrenched in the digital world, resistant to the idea that print has any role or relevance. But for Jeremy, printing magazines isn’t an anti-digital thing. It’s an adding to digital thing.
“I think for some people, there’s this kind of polarized point of view where, while you’re doing print it means you hate digital. That’s not the case at all. My business, your business, all the magazines that we stock, with one or two extreme exceptions, everyone relies on digital. That’s a given.” When I spoke with Jeremy had just held magCulture’s fifth Flatplan event. Now online, the magazine-making masterclass is for people who want to turn an idea into a real-life publication. He said the members of the group weren’t joining with some vague, dilettante notion of publishing. They were very focused on trying to make something concrete in print.
“We had 45 people willing to join us for a masterclass that took two half-days out of their weekend. There were people in San Francisco and Seattle getting up at 5am to join us.”
Jeremy runs sessions in his London shop with students doing university courses in design, fashion and journalism. He says the difference in talking to young people now compared with maybe a decade ago is that, back then, all they got excited about was doing something digitally. Now, print is the exciting thing. “The digital sphere has become just like electricity and oxygen, just a utility”, he explains.
I was curious if any one type of magazine was selling particularly well in the magCulture shop. While Jeremy says they have some bestsellers, most of the magazines he stocks sell.
“We are selective about what we sell. But, you know, I don’t think we’ve got some magic touch. Most things will sell if you make something of a sufficient quality. If it’s good enough, it’ll sell. If it’s interesting enough, it’ll sell.” Jeremy still sees a tendency for independent magazines to be big, with thick matte paper, perfect bound, almost books.
But recently he’s noticed a trend towards smaller things. “Magazines like Cereal and Kinfolk, that were big and bookish, were a response to what the mainstream had become. Now we’re seeing more of a realistic attitude – that things can be smaller, more slight, but still just as valuable.”
"If it’s good enough, it’ll sell. If it’s interesting enough, it’ll sell.”
He doesn’t see trends in subject matter and says that, for him, the more interesting question is about the gaps in the market that people find to fill. One title that took him by surprise is a magazine about juggling. “But, of course, there is a world of juggling,” he says “There’s a series of juggling festivals across the globe and people who are obsessed with juggling who visit these festivals. And there are lots of other people who are learning. So of course – there’s a community and that equals a magazine.”