Independent Mediocrity
There is an inclination to focus on the visual online—most of you will not have read all of the magazines mentioned in this book, but you will more than likely have seen them on blogs, on Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, or Facebook. This reliance on the visual often obscures the actual writing that fills up many independent magazines. And, let's be honest, there is a lot of dull content around.
For every Delayed Gratification, there is a magazine filled with soft-focus photos of cups of coffee and even softer-focus interviews with coffee-shop owners. Many of the indie publishers I spoke to were scathing about the quality of the magazines currently [being] published.
Much of the narrow focus of indie titles comes down to cost. Interviews are cheap, reportage is not, and that's why many indie magazines rely to heavily on interviews for their content. While understandable, it does read to dull prose—does anyone really need to read another interview with a boutique/café/design agency founder?
There is a sense that anyone who publishes an independent magazine deserves respect and congratulations; but, not every indie magazine is very good, in fact many are not good at all.
Conor Purcell, The Magazine Blueprint
We remind ourselves of this passage from Purcell’s The Magazine Blueprint all the time. The Gospel is thrilling and we work hard to implement its unspeakable joy in everything we write.
