The old model of print publishing is well-established: an ink-stained wretch, hunched over his typewriter or terminal, fueled into the late hours by coffee and nicotine. In the online age, this vision seems anachronistic, and overly deferential to media gatekeepers sitting on high. Almost in response to this dated model and the innovations of the real-time web, a group of online media mavens are resurrecting the all-hours crunch of print publishing, while re-imagining the process for a shareable digital age.
48 Hour Magazine is the brainchild of a number of online publishers, including Derek Powazek, publisher of excellent Bay Area web- and print-publication Fray and "Chief of Awesome" at the print-on-demand magazine service MagCloud. The publishers aim to "write, photograph, illustrate, design, edit, and ship a magazine in two days", crowdsourcing contributions and production from their online community.
Their statement of purpose is simple and direct:
Here's how it works: Issue Zero begins May 7th. We'll unveil a theme and you'll have 24 hours to produce and submit your work. We'll take the next 24 to snip, mash and gild it. The end results will be a shiny website and a beautiful glossy paper magazine, delivered right to your old-fashioned mailbox. We promise it will be insane. Better yet, it might even work. Writers and artists from some of your favorite publications like Rolling Stone, Wired, Dwell, Gizmodo, GOOD, Lapham's Quarterly, HiLoBrow, Fray, Paleofuture, and The Rumpus have already signed up. Mainly because we promise that this thing will be fun. No long commitments. No pitches. No grinding editing process. You make good stuff fast; we publish it with other good stuff.
While there are a number of high-profile writers and editors working on the magazine, writing and photography submissions are open to anyone who can turn around work in 24 hours that is up to snuff. The editing and production process will no doubt be grueling, and contributors and rubberneckers alike will be able to watch the production process as it streams online. Transparency and openness is the name of the game for the 48 Hour Magazine folks--they vow that all money that goes in and out will be documented online.
It's a refreshing, and revolutionary experiment: to create a genuinely crowdsourced, real-time print publication. It's difficulty to say whether this points to a new media model or if it's just a very cool gimmick, but regardless, it's an exciting experiment in real-time online collaboration to create a physical product. Sign up and learn more at 48hrmag.com.
Comments
Jeremy Adam Smith wrote on 05.01.10, 6:59am:
To me, this just highlights the degree to which new print ventures have become novelty items. Which is fine; life needs novelty, creativity, fun. But there will never be another Time, Vanity Fair, Harpers. Only mags like this one, flaring and out of existence.
Jeremy Adam Smith
www.jeremyadamsmith.com
Neal Gorenflo wrote on 05.01.10, 1:58pm:
It may be true that there will be no more big magazines like Time. However, I think there could be more GOOD or PopUp magazines where there's a skillful interplay between online and offline. And which have a chance to endure.
Might be some lessons from the music business. Perhaps events and new forms of engagement (Pepsi Refresh comes to mind) become the model for support rather than subscriptions, and the magazine itself serves as a catalyst that brings people together rather than as the ultimate revenue source.
In any case, the experiment is in the early stages. A new model may be just over the horizon. I'm looking for it. That's why 48hrmag caught my eye.
Paul M. Davis wrote on 05.01.10, 5:34pm:
While I think it's true there will never be large magazines like Time or Vanity Fair again, and that many of these publications end up being mere novelty or vanity projects, I believe that there is a space for what I'd consider "artisanal publications"--having modest print runs, perhaps, and a higher cover price than in the past, but with a lot more freedom to experiment with the print publication form, catering to a niche who still feel passionately about the magazine. Similar to what has happened with the music industry and the vinyl revival, there is a niche that is willing to pay a premium for a higher-quality, physical product.
The precedent that Powazek has established with his other print/web magazine, Fray, gives me hope that this project will transcend mere gimmickry. Fray is precisely the sort of artisanal publication I speak of: great writing, beautiful design, produced in quarterly small-run batches for people who feel passionate about the potential of magazine format, even in the current media climate.
Sarah Noack wrote on 05.05.10, 5:05pm:
I'd LOVE to be a part of this! I'm a writer AND graphic designer, and yes, I was around when print was still the main thing, so I can actually relate to this "sleeping-at-your-desk-at-5am crunch nostalgia."
I'm also always looking for ways to merge the conceptual thinking of design with the thought-content of writing. Count me in!
You can read some of my writing on www.desire-lines.net. Thanks!
"This city transcends not only borders and nations, but space and time. When I walk through its streets, I experience all my life—past, present, future—at once in my mind. Memories overlap and become real."
– Sarah Noack, from City of Dreams
SWEET I'm in!!! No matter what the overall theme I'm going to write a great piece that incorporates something about Permaculture. I was wondering when the heck you brilliant Shareable folks were going to catch on and take advantage of what Mag Cloud has to offer, this is freakin' fantastic! I'm super excited and will help share the message!
I write at www.punkrockpermaculture.com
twitter: @ gaiapunk