Bad Idea
Billing itself as “the magazine of journalism, ideas and opinion for intelligent young Britain”, Bad Idea mixes big name writers with new talent coming up from the broadsheets to cover subjects ranging from European pork farming to the private lives of New York hipsters.
Stylish and thoughtful and brilliantly written, it’s essential reading for anyone in search of a serious alternative.
The Stack interview
Name
Jack Roberts
Job title
Founding Editor
What is BAD IDEA?
BAD IDEA is a magazine of journalism, ideas and opinion for intelligent young Britain. We feature some of the best young journalists from the UK and US broadsheets, as well as new and established novelists, and are best known for our long-form literary journalism. The Observer newspaper has described BAD IDEA as “…a Granta for the MySpace generation.”
What makes it different to the rest?
BAD IDEA focuses on the changing currents of power, money, and fame in Britain and beyond, with a particular emphasis on the lives and machinations of young adults in their 20s and 30s. No other magazine covers this important area.
Whether it’s living the life of an international love spy, going undercover to expose Dubai’s thriving sex trade, or reporting from the frontlines of the credit crunch in Britain, our magazine gives readers the inside track on the seminal new characters, companies and ideas that are changing our lives in this country and across global borders.
The singularity of BAD IDEA’s editorial vision was recognised by Anova Books earlier this year, when they published a paperback anthology of the magazine’s best writing after just five issues – an unprecedented achievement in the magazine world. More books are in the pipeline.
Who makes Bad Idea?
Our team consists of founding editors Jack Roberts and Daniel Stacey, assistant editor Ben Beaumont-Thomas, contributing editors Alyssa McDonald and Jean Hannah Edelstein, roving photography editor Sebastian Meyer, events manager Ben Harrison, and design guru Steve Sawyer. Plus, a small army of ultra-talented young writers, photographers, artists and designers, without whom our magazine wouldn’t exist.
Who reads it?
Smart readers, either gender.
Why do you work in magazines?
Because we love magazines, and because running an independent magazine gives you the freedom to craft something meaningful, or at least attempt to. Lord knows we don’t do it for the money…
Funnily enough, reading about the other mags on the Stack roster is also a reminder of why we first got into the indie-publishing game. Many people in the commercial publishing sphere dismiss independent magazines as “fanzines” or willfully esoteric vanity projects, but that viewpoint is easy to dismiss as simpleminded complacency when you see so many publications that are not only innovative, but also substantial and serious about cultivating a readership.
Some indie-mags are horribly self-indulgent of course, but you get the impression that the commercial publications who aren’t already shamelessly stealing ideas from Little White Lies, Plan B, et al could learn a few things about reinventing the magazine as a relevant pop-cultural item from these titles.
Aside from the print magazine, what else are you involved in?
Over the past year, we’ve completed a number of commissioned projects for clients including the V&A, Channel 4, Lee Jeans, the Latitude festival, and the Mayor of London’s Thames Festival. These have ranged from conceiving and curating events, competitions, film and web projects, advertising and branding work – all kinds of things, really. As an independent publisher in the current market, you have little option but to adapt and diversify if you want to survive.
We’re also lining up some exciting projects for 2009 that we can’t talk too much about just yet, but will be announcing soon.
What would you change about Bad Idea if you could?
We’d love to up our frequency and be even more ambitious in the stories we cover. However, the budgets we work with make this difficult, so if we could change one thing, it would be to give ourselves the editorial budget of a commercial magazine and compete on that level, as we believe we’d be able to achieve something special.
Can you pick a favourite issue of Bad Idea?
Issue three is a personal favourite of mine. There are a few raw elements, but I think we had a strong cover by (illustrated by Neal Fox), great stories – on new rave, Guatemalan gang life, and the explosion of entrepreneurial culture in Britain – and also published comics by leading African artists, which was a UK first. Issue three is something of a collector’s item now, as copies are extremely scarce.
Where do you see Bad Idea in five years?
Downloaded on digi-pods, and then read in the back of flying cars by commuting professionals, as its editors survey incoming stories on RSS touch-screens from a remote office hideaway in the Gobi desert…
Five years is a long time in publishing!
