“Hey, maybe we should start making a print magazine instead of just the online stuff.”
“Yea, good idea. How hard can it be?”
“Right? Oh! And let’s make it really big with super nice paper and come up with some kind of really tedious binding system.”
“Good call. This is gonna be super sustainable.”
*High fives*
This is the first part of an article we published back in January of 2020 called Pulling Back the Curtain: Grit City Magazine Needs Some Help. Obviously it was a setup for explaining how unsustainable our business model actually was. We had a lot of good ideas but only a little more than two years into business (and just before Covid was a thing) we were driven largely by unjaded optimism. Fast forward four years and we’re facing another big change.
I’ll get into more details below but in case you don’t have time to read the whole thing, here’s the gist of it: In the last few months, our inflatable raft of optimism has been poked by the pointy stick of reality. In order to keep this whole thing going, we need to increase the price of our print magazine to $40. This will take effect on September 15th when all of the subscriptions are billed. If this is a financial dealbreaker for you, keep reading.
When the world shut down in spring of 2020, we were preparing for the worst. It seemed like a large format, highly designed magazine would be the first frivolity people would let go of. We were pleasantly surprised, though, to see our subscription base actually go up. Since then, we’ve hit a plateau of around 450 subscriptions. For the last few years we’ve consistently lost as many as we’ve gained.
Also since then, production costs for the magazine have steadily increased and charging $23 for each issue now only just covers the costs of production. When you add up the costs of freelance writers, artists, graphic design, and printing the magazine and posters, each issue costs around $10,000 to produce. And that’s not counting the hours of time our team puts into it.
I was resistant to this idea for a long time. The prospect of losing subscribers was real and definitely played a role in my reluctance. But the main reason was that accessibility has always been an important part of what we do. We never set out to make a fancy exclusive magazine. We just wanted the quality of the thing itself to match the quality of its content. We succeeded in that respect but it came at a price.
It’s always been a conflict in my mind between what I knew the magazine was worth and who in Tacoma would be able to pay that price. So to that end, we’ve decided to start offering a digital version of our magazine. For $10 you’ll get any of our issues, past or present, viewable on whichever device you prefer.
In the last 12ish years that I’ve been working as a photographer and writer I’ve seen a lot of magazines come and go. They aim high, build up a ton of excitement, achieve great things, then burn out and disappear. And if you consider small businesses in general, there are even more examples of this lifecycle. I don’t want that to happen to this magazine. And I’m hoping you don’t either.
I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your support and understanding through all these changes. If you have any questions, comments, gripes, or commiserations, don’t hesitate to reach out.
Some preemptive FAQs:
- Didn’t you just increase the price to $25?
- Yes. Apologies for the mixed messaging. You got an email about that back in July and at the time, I really hoped that would be enough. But when we looked at the numbers, it was clear that a $2 increase wouldn’t make a big enough difference.
- What makes this magazine worth $40?
- Fair question. First, each issue comes with an 11×14 print, custom made by a local artist. Those don’t come cheap no matter where you look. Second, if you pick up any other magazine and open to a random page, you have about a 50/50 chance of getting an actual piece of editorial content. The rest of it is just advertising, and most often boring advertising. We don’t do that. The stuff you see in our magazines is pound-for-pound higher quality than anything else you’ll find on the market—I guarantee it.
- Have you considered printing them somewhere else to save costs?
- Yes, and there are two reasons we’re not doing that. First, our printer is currently the best price for anyone local. Second, while we could probably save money printing them in some other state or even overseas, it’s important to us that we utilize local resources whenever possible. Being able to talk to real people in person and come up with creative solutions to problems as they arise is vital to what we do.
- How is the digital version going to work?
- We’ll be rolling this out through the rest of the year as we go through older issues and get everything properly formatted. It’s not all dialed in yet but the plan is to do it basically like the print version. It’ll be available individually or through a regular subscription. The main difference is that the print will not be included.
- Are there other ways I can support what you’re doing?
- Yes! Aside from subscribing to the magazine, you can sign up for our Patreon, gift someone a year-long subscription, buy stuff from our shop, advertise your business with us, and share our online articles.
- Do you guys need help with anything else?
Yes! If you have time, talents, or both, we’d love to talk. We currently only have one full time employee and we don’t have the resources to do everything we want to. We’re not in a position to hire anyone at this time but if you’d like to learn more about how our magazine works and the editorial industry in general, we can provide hands-on experience. Fill out this form if you’re interested.
