While mass market magazines have become old and wilted, new independent publishers creating high-end ‘photo rich’ publications, with little support from advertisers, are proving print isn’t dead.
Andy Summons, editor of Paper Sea Quarterly, an Australian surf, photography and travel magazine, told ProCounter his team works closely with photographers to present their work to readers.

The new wave of high quality magazines like Paper Sea  feel and look like a photo book, using thick and heavy matte pages, with quality photography and art splashed each page.

‘We’ve been lucky to run work from the world’s best photographers and artists and it’s been a really easy process,’ Summons said. ‘When we contact them, they check out what we do and see how we handle imagery.

‘After seeing his feature in Paper Sea, Australian surf photography royalty John Witzig, told us he was impressed with how respectful we were to his photographs; he added he didn’t even treat his own images with such care – it was really great feedback.’

Photo by US photographer, Paul Greene. Source: Paper Sea Quarterly.

Paper Sea lets the photography do the talking – its simple design doesn’t flood the 224-page magazine with noise. The photos are typically accompanied with a brief caption and a credit. And, emerging or established, all contributors are remunerated!

Within five years, it has grown to print 20,000 copies a year and begun distribution throughout Europe, Asia, and America – so circulation is set to expand.

It’s still far behind glossy monthly surf mag, Tracks, ‘the surfer’s bible’, which was founded in the ’70s and prints 32,000 copies a month. But the golden years for Tracks, like other old school magazines, have passed.

‘When we started Paper Sea the first thing we did was find a printer and start testing paper stock. We spent a lot of time making sure the look and feel of the magazine was spot on. Glossy, coated paper is the worst,’ Summons said. ‘Sure it makes colours pop, but it’s the paper equivalent of nails down a chalk board – matte paper offers a much better experience. The first thing people comment on when they pick up a copy is how great the thick, uncoated matte art paper feels, and how good it smells.

He said readers describe it as a ‘collectible, coffee table book’ – not bad feedback for a $18 quarterly magazine. Summons said there’s a real appreciation for the care put into production quality, from both readers and contributors.

DJ Struntz, one of the few staff photographer at Surfing Magazine, is a regular contributor to Paper Sea. He captured this shot. Source: Paper Sea.

There’s also deliberately limited advertisements. There are a handful, but they appear more like ‘sponsors’ and the control is clearly in the hands of the publishers.

‘We’re very careful when selecting brand partnerships. Everyone who advertises in Paper Sea aligns really well with our brand, so when it comes to their ads in our pages they fit really nicely too,’ he said. ‘Our partners are advertising with us for a reason – aside from our audience, they love our product so they don’t want to negatively affect that with a garish ad.

‘If they ever need some guidance we work with them. Our revenue comes through advertising, subscriptions and national and international sales.’

The approach at Paper Sea was preceded in 2004 by Frankie Magazine; an award-winning Australian bi-monthly art, photography and fashion magazine.

It’s founders, Louise Bannister and Lara Burke, created the magazine after they found newsagent shelves stacked with lacklustre glossy offerings which left them uninspired.
Perhaps this was due to mainstream magazines feeling unstoppable at the time, pulling in so many advertising dollars that a commitment to quality content fell by the wayside.

James Manning, editor of media trade journal Mediaweek, said that it in 2008 ad revenue for print peaked, with newspapers close to $4 billion and magazines around $1 billion. This year magazines are around $300 million, he told 774 ABC radio. This is partly why traditional magazines now have lower day rates and pay smaller licensing fees, as well as issuing meaner contracts.

Like Paper Sea, Frankie’s pages are printed on thick matte art paper. There’s more advertising, but it fits to the magazine’s aesthetic.

Two advertisements in Frankie: the first is a Cindy Sherman exhibition, the second a dog accessory advert which runs eight pages. The Puppy Love advert also showcases pet portraits taken by Natalie McComas, an Australia commercial photographer. Source: Frankie Magazine

Frankie’s circulation increased over 10 consecutive print runs. It was twice named Magazine of the Year at the Australian Magazine Awards, and has over 53,000 readers both local and international.

Meanwhile other fashion magazines like Cleo and Famous have died.

Frankie is printed by Morrison Media, a ‘unique and progressive’ magazine publisher that also prints White Horses, another trendy surf quarterly magazine launched in 2012.

Other magazines are printed under the Frankie Press banner, including Smith Journal, a 144-page lifestyle quarterly. Yep, it’s on thick matte paper, too.

But Frankie Magazine is, by far, Morrison’s breadwinner.

In 2014 Morrison Media was acquired by Pacific Star Network (PSN) for $10 million. Selling out to a larger media company is a dangerous move for publications dedicated to readers and to quality, but PSN made it clear it wouldn’t touch the formula.

‘Frankie is an industry leader in its market segment in Australia and is growing internationally due to its content, which speaks to a highly-engaged audience,’ said Andrew Moffatt, chairman of PSN. ‘Our focus will be to provide the Morrison Media team with a platform to grow the titles, by continuing to deliver innovative and relevant content to their audiences. Morrison Media will operate as a standalone division of PSN – it will be business as usual.’

Bannister and Burke left Frankie just before the sale to launch We Print Nice Things, an independent publishing house.

Its first magazine is Lunch Lady, a 160-page quarterly publication originating from a family recipe and parenting blog run by Kate Berry, a former advertising photographer.

Once again, only 10 advertisers or ‘sponsors’ appear on Lunch Lady‘s pages – most revenue comes from magazine sales.

‘It is not really about money as such, but the value you can get from these relationships,’ Bannister told ABC. ‘The idea of the shared economy is priceless. Where you can align a foundation sponsor, yes, they give you money for a page in the magazine but their reach and their experience and the fact they might hand over a list with 350 shops on it far outweighs the five, six, seven grand they can give you in cash.’

There are scores more indie magazines out there; Hello May, a wedding magazine launched in 2012 with a strikingly similar style, has a print run of 15,000 and turnover of $500K annually.

This has all been happening while magazines with big reader numbers scrambled to move online and adapt the business model to the digital world. But it’s these niche publications that have tapped into a readership that’s characteristically young and looking for something to read offline.

‘Paper Sea offers something you can’t find online – we’ve deliberately taken a step away from the super fast churn & burn content you find online,’ Summons said. ‘It offers readers time to escape into honest and inspiring stories about surf, travel, art and photography.’

As the print industry changes, so does the photo industry. Traditional media – newspapers and high-but-contracting circulation glossy monthlies – may continue shrinking to find the right fit.

But it’s the niche publications, committed to a small but dedicated readership, with a focus on quality and – importantly for this readership – great photography, which show signs of having a real future.