[lbo-talk] On the virtues of print

Joanne Landy joanne.landy at igc.org
Thu Sep 23 22:12:07 PDT 2010


Also, it's not necessarily true that only a few independent bookstores will carry you. There may be better distribution possibilities out there. --Joanne

At 06:45 PM 9/23/2010 -0400, you wrote:
>I know we've visited this topic before (PDFs vs. print-outs, Ebook readers
>vs. bounded books), but I'm curious to hear list member's thoughts on the
>importance-- as /opposed/ to the viability --of print magazines.
>
>Right now, in addition to the site, we have a very cheaply printed
>broadsheet circulating around all the DC campuses (well not Catholic U.,
>but who cares about them?) funded by a few local student associations.
>But in the past week I've received a generous subsidy offer from a
>local-ish printer and enough donations to do a glossy quarterly of /Jacobin/.
>
>The logistics of the venture have been poured over, so don't worry about
>that. The design would be stellar, print-quality is super high, and we've
>already put together something nice in Indesign. I wasn't entirely
>pleased with how uneven the first issue was, but things will be better
>going forward.
>
>The question is whether it's worth the investment in time to produce
>content for print. If we've reached thousands of people on the web, is
>there any point to having a pretty magazine in a few indie bookstores on
>the East Coast and in the mailboxes of a hundred or so financially secure
>readers? Is it just a vanity project, pointlessly limiting how much
>content we can include, and unconsciously shaping that content by
>subjecting ourselves to certain market pressures?
>
>
>(Typing this message on Chinatown bus from DC to New York, a good venue
>for bad ideas.)
>
>- Bhaskar
>
>
>
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