Printed Pages joins Stack

Wander into most specialist magazine shops and you’ll find the shelves groaning under the weight of big, heavy, expensive magazines. That’s partly because people like making something special – it’s exciting to experiment with what’s possible in print, and if you asked most magazine publishers what they’d do with a bit more cash in the bank, they’d reply with something along the lines of more pages, thicker paper, fifth colours, etc.

It’s also because magazine shops like expensive magazines. It makes sense really – if you’re a shop owner and you’re going to take 20% on whatever you sell, you’d probably rather give your shelf space over to expensive magazines than cheap ones. After all, who wouldn’t rather have 20% of £20 than 20% of £5?

But that can be dangerous. One of the great things about magazines is that they’re disposable. Yes, we love to keep favourite magazines on the shelf for ever and ever, but there’s also a great joy in taking a punt on a magazine you’ve never seen before, because if you don’t like it you’ve only spent a few quid on it. That’s how I first started enjoying magazines way back when my pocket money used to go on the likes of Total Game Boy, and I still get a tight-fisted thrill when I find a reasonably priced and interesting magazine.

So imagine my excitement when I heard that It’s Nice That magazine was being retired and replaced by a smaller, leaner, more focused title. Don’t get me wrong – I loved It’s Nice That, but the idea of a boiled down, quarterly version seemed like a fantastic idea.

The result, Printed Pages, is being printed right now, and from the bits and pieces I’ve seen so far, it’s going to be a raging success. I’d love to think this could be the start in a resurgence of cheaper, smaller, more focused, more economical magazines, and I’m very pleased to announce that Printed Pages is joining the Stack ranks. Subscribers won’t have long to wait for their first copies, so please do let me know what you think when you read it. I’m really looking forward to seeing how it goes.