INTERVIEW
BECKY PALFREY (COLOURS MAY VARY)
What makes a good independent magazine?
Style and Content. Reliable standards, exclusive content. We often have beautiful magazines submitted with poor content and likewise, great content in ill designed publications. For us the balance has to be right.
How do you select the magazines you stock in your store?
We decide together (Andy and I). The title has to do something different or better than titles already in stock and has to cover all the points raised above!
Do you think people buy independent magazines based on their design alone if not why else do you think people buy independent magazines?
I would like to think that like us most people buy according to both design and content. Some titles are meant to be looked at more than read and in this case of course. The titles we stock are very different from those available on the high street and this is what people that buy them expect from us.
Do you think digital magazine apps are affecting stores that stack independent magazines?
I don't really know to be honest! I have no benchmark, we have only been open 2 years, I do know that there are a lot more printed publications available in this sector than when we opened and this leads us to believe that print is not dead.
Had we been in the business of selling Independent titles for 10 years I would be able to answer the question more fully.
I think some titles rely on a physical interaction with the reader, some are purely content and this can be replicated digitally of course but the vast majority of the titles we stock we do because we believe they are best enjoyed in that format.
Do you think Digital magazines will replace printed magazines making them become redundant?
No, I really don't. I think the more technology becomes part of our lives the stronger the urge will be to escape it.
Our relationship to books and journals is very different to our relationship with on screen information, we absorb it in a very different and I would say more contemplative way. It enables focus. There is a huge growth in self publishing and whilst e books are growing and may eventually outstrip printed sales I cannot see print becoming redundant. I think the publications that do well in our market are the ones that pay attention to the book or magazine as a physical object, they make it something to treasure. It's like the difference between a letter and an email. A letter is something to treasure, it might have a scent, be written on something with an emotional connection. We engage with it in a different way, It becomes something valuable and therefore, to my mind a sustainable and precious medium.
Style and Content. Reliable standards, exclusive content. We often have beautiful magazines submitted with poor content and likewise, great content in ill designed publications. For us the balance has to be right.
How do you select the magazines you stock in your store?
We decide together (Andy and I). The title has to do something different or better than titles already in stock and has to cover all the points raised above!
Do you think people buy independent magazines based on their design alone if not why else do you think people buy independent magazines?
I would like to think that like us most people buy according to both design and content. Some titles are meant to be looked at more than read and in this case of course. The titles we stock are very different from those available on the high street and this is what people that buy them expect from us.
Do you think digital magazine apps are affecting stores that stack independent magazines?
I don't really know to be honest! I have no benchmark, we have only been open 2 years, I do know that there are a lot more printed publications available in this sector than when we opened and this leads us to believe that print is not dead.
Had we been in the business of selling Independent titles for 10 years I would be able to answer the question more fully.
I think some titles rely on a physical interaction with the reader, some are purely content and this can be replicated digitally of course but the vast majority of the titles we stock we do because we believe they are best enjoyed in that format.
Do you think Digital magazines will replace printed magazines making them become redundant?
No, I really don't. I think the more technology becomes part of our lives the stronger the urge will be to escape it.
Our relationship to books and journals is very different to our relationship with on screen information, we absorb it in a very different and I would say more contemplative way. It enables focus. There is a huge growth in self publishing and whilst e books are growing and may eventually outstrip printed sales I cannot see print becoming redundant. I think the publications that do well in our market are the ones that pay attention to the book or magazine as a physical object, they make it something to treasure. It's like the difference between a letter and an email. A letter is something to treasure, it might have a scent, be written on something with an emotional connection. We engage with it in a different way, It becomes something valuable and therefore, to my mind a sustainable and precious medium.
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