Jeremy Leslie celebrates the nitty gritty, unglamourous side of independent publishing

Date
5 October 2015

Mag mogul and all round good guy Jeremy Leslie has long championed the best and most beautiful in magazine design, but he’s as aware as anyone that a slick cover and stunning spreads are the product of a hell of a lot of blood, sweat and tears. It’s not just aesthetics that make a good independent mag, it’s a head for business and a hell of a lot of patience with the nitty gritty of putting a publication together. Jeremy’s new book, Independence, showcases this side of the mag world perfectly, featuring interviews with 12 magazine makers including those behind Cereal, Anorak and our very own Printed Pages.

The interviews took place at this year’s Pick Me Up graphic arts event at Somerset House. “The idea was to talk about the actual process and the business side of making a magazine,” says Jeremy. “People love to hold up magazines and say how beautiful they are but we wanted to make it more about the hard facts. What happens after the launch with the second issue, or the fourth? It’s hard work – we wanted to get under the skin of the projects more than usual.”

The publication uses 12 different covers, each showing an abstracted version of one the mags featured. “It’s very deliberately avoiding portraits of the interviewees or showing lots of spreads, because it’s about the reading and not just the design,” says Jeremy.

“The covers are meant to be a bit of fun, but it’s visually quite striking. But with these sort of magazines people know they want them so they don’t have to sell so hard on the newsstands. Most magazine buyers look at the shelf and only take four seconds to accept or dismiss a cover. We put all this effort in, but how it’s read by a buyer is a blur. We’re stripping that idea right down to its raw basics. You get to the pure essence of what that magazine is about. In the end though, they’re just nice.”

Independence is printed by the good people of Park Communications and launching to coincide with the magCulture Modern Magazine conference on 29 October, and can be preordered here.

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Jeremy Leslie: Wrap Independence cover

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Jeremy Leslie: Riposte Independence cover

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Jeremy Leslie: Riposte Independence cover

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Jeremy Leslie: Gourman Independence cover

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Jeremy Leslie: Anorak Independence cover

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Jeremy Leslie: Anorak Independence cover

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About the Author

Emily Gosling

Emily joined It’s Nice That as Online Editor in the summer of 2014 after four years at Design Week. She is particularly interested in graphic design, branding and music. After working It's Nice That as both Online Editor and Deputy Editor, Emily left the company in 2016.

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