Magazines: Oh Comely Industry case study

Our final concept for Oh Comely magazine is industry.

This is crucial concept because Oh Comely is a small, niche independent magazine - completely different from the global brand that is Men's Health. We need to explore the surprising rise in independent publishing in recent years and why small print magazines seem to be surviving and thriving in the digital age.

Lesson notes

The independent print magazine is characterised as:

“…published without the financial support of a large corporation or institution in which the makers control publication and distribution…“independent” in spirit due to a maverick editor or publisher who leads the magazine in an exploratory, noncommercial direction” (Thomas 2007).

Source: Writer's Edit




Print: the challenge for publishers

Despite the renaissance of print through independent magazines, there are still huge challenges:

• Distribution: finding distributor, risk of unsold stock
• Lack of advertising revenue: meaning high cover price (all over £5, many around £10 or more)
• Audience: finding and targeting a viable audience

Ironically, the internet has proved an unlikely saviour for independent magazines – it facilitates direct sales and subscriptions and allows magazines to find niche communities, crowdfunding and contributors

Iceberg Press: an independent publisher

Iceberg Press is completely different to Hearst UK – the publisher of Men’s Health and subsidiary of global conglomerate Hearst.

It publishes just two magazines: Oh Comely and The Simple Things.

Oh Comely Industries case study - blog tasks

Work through the following tasks to complete your work on the Oh Comely magazine CSP. There are plenty of questions here but you will be given plenty of time to complete it and will find this gives you a brilliant insight into a vital aspect of media - the power of independent institutions.

Iceberg Press

Visit the Iceberg Press website - particularly the Who Are We page and the Why Are We Here page. Read the content and then answer the following questions:

1) Why did the people behind Iceberg Press set it up?

2) What is the Iceberg Press mission statement? (It's on the Why Are We Here page and is a series of statements).

3) What are the two magazines that Iceberg Press publishes?

4) What similarities do you notice between The Simple Things magazine and Oh Comely?

5) What differences can you find between Hearst UK, publisher of Men's Health, and Iceberg Press?


Writer's Edit journal article

Read this excellent Writer's Edit academic journal article on the independent magazine industry and answer the following questions:

1) What is the definition of an independent print magazine?

2) What does Hamilton (2013) suggest about independent magazines in the digital age?

3) What is the aim of Kinfolk magazine and what similarities can you draw with Oh Comely?

4) Why does the article suggest that independent magazines might be succeeding while global magazine publishers such as Bauer are struggling?

5) How do independent magazines launch? Look at the example of Alphabet Family Journal.

6) What does the article suggest about how independent publishers use digital media to target their niche audiences?

7) Why is it significant that independent magazines are owned and created by the same people? How does this change the creative process and direction of the magazine?

8) What does the article suggest regarding the benefits of a 'do-it-yourself' approach to creating independent magazines?

9) The article discusses the audience appeal of print. Why might audiences love the printed form in the digital age?

10) What are the challenges in terms of funding and distributing an independent magazine?


Irish Times feature

Now read this short feature in the Irish Times on the growth of independent magazines and answer the following questions:

1) Why are independent magazines so popular?

2) Why is the magazine publishing industry set up to favour the big global conglomerates?

3) What does the article suggest regarding finding an audience for an independent magazine?

4) What are the challenges for magazine distributors?

5) The article suggests that many independent magazines only make money by diversifying into other products. What examples do they give?


TCO interview with Ruth Jamieson

Finally, read this excellent interview on the TCO London website with Ruth Jamieson, who has written a book on the renaissance of the independent magazine sector. Answer the following questions:

1) Why does Ruth Jamieson suggest there's a renaissance in independent publishing?

2) What are the common themes for successful independent magazines?

3) How many of these aspects can you find in Oh Comely? Make specific reference to the CSP pages where possible.

4) How does Jamieson see the future for the magazine industry?

5) How might this future impact Oh Comely? Do you think Oh Comely will survive the next five years - and why?


There is plenty of work here but this concludes our work on Oh Comely and the Magazines unit. Complete for homework - due next week Friday.