Martin Robinson spent a lifetime at the cutting edge of print publishing before launching ‘The Book of Man’, a digital magazine that has become a leading voice in men’s media.
And now, after writing an acclaimed book called, ‘You are not the man you are supposed to be: Into the Chaos of Modern Masculinity’, Robinson is going back to where it all started and is spinning a print product out of the online success.
Robinson acknowledges that tough times for digital magazines has prompted the move into print. “I think that the way that people are now looking to have an audience and keep an audience is generally around membership and value in membership,” he says.
“And therefore, it sort of develops into: what do we give people for this? And some of that is exclusive. I think people are seeing the value if you can actually present them with a physical copy.
“This is a reaction to our heavily digital culture where it’s just relentless. Obviously, people are worried about their well-being within that. And so, people are reverting to physical things that take a bit more time, take a bit more attention.
“It’s the same thing as with vinyl, really. There’s a little bit of a throwback element to something that’s a little bit retro, a little bit slower, but it’s a nice little alternative. So, in other words, the change is not wholesale scrap digital, going to print. It becomes part of the whole thing of what you’re doing. So, that’s kind of what we’re doing.”
Robinson, now a trendy 46-year-old, certainly has the chops to pull off a publishing success. After starting out on Maxim — remember all that Hot 100 and readers’ girlfriends style titillation? — he went to NME as deputy editor before serving five years as editor of ShortList, the ‘trailblazing freemium weekly print title’ that everyone picked up with their Evening Standard (rip).
Now he is keen to go back to his first love. “I’m kind of from a print background and I really love print. And, you know, this is a small business. I’m an entrepreneur and in some ways, you kind of have to have your passion. That’s a huge part of it for me. I like it.”
Robinson hopes that by prioritising memberships and giving a lot of value, he can safeguard the future for his small business. “It’s an interesting time for smaller publishers. There are a lot of interesting developments going on, but a lot of big companies are kind of eating it all up.
“So, you’ve got to kind of hang onto your niche and make it as valuable as you possibly can. There’s no point in, for instance, just trying to go for traffic. I just don’t have the team to measure myself against the metrics of everyone else.
“I can’t do a Reach Publishing thing and have 25 people doing eight stories a day. It’s not that model, but we can replicate some of the more interesting things that are going on at titles like the Independent or New York Times.
“And so, for us, it becomes much more about having really good journalism, having a really good solid message at the heart of it, have podcasts, have events, have a print issue and have memberships and just try and tie it all together into something that while it’s going to be a smaller audience, it’s going to be a good, valuable one.”
While he feels a tilt at the newsstand would be “fantastic” he also realises that would be “just crazy”. Using his experience as editor of ShortList (circulation 500,000 in its heyday) he has seen a model that took off but says that cost-wise, it just wouldn’t work.
Fresh & exclusive
Robinson wants to bring in fresh content for the magazine rather than repurposing material from the website which speaks to his commitment for exclusivity.
“You don’t want to be just replicating what we’re doing online in there. I don’t think there’s too much value in it. You want to give people a reason to come back.
“We want to do something that you’re not going to get anywhere else. And part of the appeal of that is just having great photography and being able to show that off in a way that you can’t online. So, that’s going to be a big part of it. But, also, there’s going to be specific features that you’re just going to have in there.”
Cover price for the members-only magazine is likely to be around £20. “It’s a luxury magazine. It’s going to be sizeable and on good paper stock. I’m also conscious that our audience has probably not got huge amounts of money so there’s a £10 digital issue that people can also have.”
With his small rather ad-hoc team, the Book of Man is working to sign up some big brand names for major partnerships as well as launching a newsletter and podcasts and putting together the print magazine.
It all sounds a lot of work so what keeps him going?
“I still have the addictive buzz of first seeing my name in print. From doing my first album review in 2002, seeing my name in print is incredible to me. I still get excited and nervous. It still makes me nervous to put stuff out. How are people going to react and all that?
“So, I just really enjoy it and I enjoy having people together. And I like the way it’s a group effort as well. Once you work on it properly, putting pictures and words together and delivering a nice package to people, it just feels like this is sort of a very fulfilling thing.
“And I’ve never lost the thrill of doing that. Never feels like a job, does it?”
Inside The Book of Man
Online content at thebookofman.com is not for the faint-hearted. Launched just before Christmas was a weekly podcast — Sex Confidential — hosted by Sophie Cohen exploring the new sexual revolution.
The site promises that Cohen will be speaking to artists, sex workers, experts, and entrepreneurs who are breaking open the boundaries of sexuality, gender and behaviour and seeking new forms of expression, empowerment and fulfilment.
The site is packed with Culture, Emotion, Fatherhood, Masculinity as well as DIY, Drink, Food and Shopping. Maybe a piece headlined, ‘Should men receive BJs for doing the housework?’ would not find a mainstream home.
Writing online to launch the idea of a magazine, Robinson said: “The Book of Man magazine will open up a whole new avenue for exploring what it means to be a man in a changing world. A must for men of all ages, this will not be a magazine obsessed with £100,000 watches and James Bond fantasies, but deal with emotions, creativity, friendship, relationships, work and society (you know, our actual lives!). It will look inside the heads of men today instead of just measuring their biceps.
“The issue will be chockfull of expert advice and interviews with inspiring male heroes. It will celebrate the freeing up of old restrictions around what a man should be, and encourage men to show their true selves, without shame. It’s about vulnerability of course, but it will go beyond that: empowering men to achieve success on their own terms.”
The celebrated company: NME, VICE, The Onion and Playboy
The road from digital back into print is paved with some household names, especially from the more alternative end of the market.
Duncan Cooper heralded the return of a VICE print magazine, five years after it suspended publication. “The whole VICE Magazine is coming back, in all its sprawling and salacious glory,” he wrote on the website. “We’re launching a brand new subscription to deliver four magazines a year, anywhere in the world. The subscription will also give you access to a bunch of online exclusives — like extended films that are too risqué for social media.”
That first issue was The Photo Issue 2024.
Another writer, Kevin Lee Kharas, maintains that the return of the printed magazine is reconnecting VICE to what, at heart, it has really always been: a loose community of people with a shared love of wild stories, arguments, and stupid jokes.
“It will be full of pictures that you will want to show your friends, stories you will steal and present to your friends as your own, and acidic social commentary, written by a gang of charlatans, losers, and freaks redeemed only by the occasional burst of clarity,” he wrote.
The NME stopped publication in print after 66 years in 2018 but returned five years later with a big, bold print magazine currently retailing at £14. The November/December 2024 issue of NME Magazine was the seventh issue since restarting and had the ‘sold out’ sign up within days of publishing.
“Print has always been a cornerstone of the NME brand, and we are thrilled to announce the return of an icon,” said chief operating and commercial officer of NME Networks, Holly Bishop. “Our new global magazine will curate the very best of NME; championing emerging artists and bands and serving as the definitive voice in pop culture.”
In the US, The Onion — tagged America’s Finest News Source — returned to print after going digital only in 2013. It is offering 12 monthly issues for $99 and will send to the UK for readers keen to get its distinctive brand of satire, placing it somewhere in the outer reaches of Private Eye.
“While America’s finest membership offers various additive benefits, the Onion website will remain freely available to every calloused reader who refuses to surrender their credit card information,” the company’s subscription page reads.
Jordan LaFlure, The Onion’s executive editor told the New York Times: “I think for the same reason that 18-year-old kids are buying Taylor Swift on vinyl, we can introduce those same kids to the notion that a print publication is a much richer way to consume media.”
Also planning a rebirth for 2025 after a five-year hiatus is top shelf favourite Playboy. Watch this space...
This article was first published in InPublishing magazine. If you would like to be added to the free mailing list to receive the magazine, please register here.
