[Revi]

There is Peak Moment TV, which is a media site that is on Youtube and creates videos about peak oil and the solutions. It is pretty popular on Youtube. I think a peak oil magazine could work too. I think it would have to focus on the solution as much as the problem. Go with the community solution stuff, and light on the doom. Here's peak moment TV:

http://www.peakmoment.tv/

[steam_cannon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MattSavinar', 't')hreadbar,

You just described LATOC, sans the spiritual crapola. Back off my turf buster.

[Ferretlover]

How about:

"After Peak" That could cover everything! lol

Will there be an IPO? lol

[MattSavinar]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Revi', 'T')here is Peak Moment TV, which is a media site that is on Youtube and creates videos about peak oil and the solutions. It is pretty popular on Youtube. I think a peak oil magazine could work too. I think it would have to focus on the solution as much as the problem. Go with the community solution stuff, and light on the doom. Here's peak moment TV:

http://www.peakmoment.tv/

[MattSavinar]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('steam_cannon', '
')
Sorry but Heineken is right. With the right people and timing, your personal accomplishments as impressive as they are could be surpassed, which is what you're really worried about.

[steam_cannon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MattSavinar', 'W')ell I think that tells us pretty much all we need to know about you.

[MattSavinar]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('steam_cannon', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MattSavinar', 'W')ell I think that tells us pretty much all we need to know about you.

[roccman]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MattSavinar', '
')I suspect the real reason you're upset with me because deep down you know my main point is accurate: the general public is so deeply defeated and dumbed down that the PO meme is never going to enjoy any significant degree of penetration into the public consciousness, no matter what happens in the physical world.

[steam_cannon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MattSavinar', 'D')ude, chill.

[catbox]

I already pay to be online.... and everything I need news-wise is here on the net, including the latest PO stuff. So I doubt I would pay for a magazine subscription. I do get Mother Jones...only because my in-laws set it up as a gift a few years back...but I just don't buy mags or the paper anymore.

cb

[MattSavinar]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('steam_cannon', '
')
I'm not upset with you, I'm just pointing out what I see.

[steam_cannon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MattSavinar', 'I') think you're projecting stuff onto me. Maybe if you were in my shoes (proprietor of a PO site) you'd be afraid of other people starting their own endeavors and succeeding. So you're projecting your fears onto me.

[Bas]

Don't 9 out of 10 new magazine titles fail in the first couple of years? Doesn't mean it shouldn't be tried, sure it may look like small chance that it will ever reach many people, but who knows? Within a year or two oil will likely dominate the newspapers and newscasts so there might be alot more interest in such a thing by that time. Anyway, if you don't try you will never succeed and it looks like there are some people who would work at it very enthousiasticly, and that on itself gives it intrinsic worth doing it.

[Concerned]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MattSavinar', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Shannymara', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MattSavinar', 'A')ssuming you're okay with losing money you put in and you can find a staff to work for free you can probably pull it off . . .

[Concerned]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('roccman', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MattSavinar', '
')I suspect the real reason you're upset with me because deep down you know my main point is accurate: the general public is so deeply defeated and dumbed down that the PO meme is never going to enjoy any significant degree of penetration into the public consciousness, no matter what happens in the physical world.

[Concerned]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Bas', 'D')on't 9 out of 10 new magazine titles fail in the first couple of years? Doesn't mean it shouldn't be tried, sure it may look like small chance that it will ever reach many people, but who knows? Within a year or two oil will likely dominate the newspapers and newscasts so there might be alot more interest in such a thing by that time. Anyway, if you don't try you will never succeed and it looks like there are some people who would work at it very enthousiasticly, and that on itself gives it intrinsic worth doing it.

[Revi]

I think a magazine that is just doom won't sell, unless it's a one time thing. We do need some kind of a Life special thing about peak oil with glossy pics, but as a regular magazine it would only appeal to the subset already in the bunker with some money to burn.

It needs to be a magazine with alternatives that work. Like Peak Moment, which has a weekly program on community access TV. Check out their shows, they have segments on gardening in your backyard. It would be best as a get ready for peak oil kind of a magazine. One month you could focus on what we can do about peak oil in our own neighborhoods. Farmer's markets, backyard chickens, Bug out bags, shotguns and hunting, best places to be post peak, conferences, alternative energy, predictions, letters to the editor.

Keep it fun, but keep the peak oil focus. I'd sign up.

[gg3]

I wouldn't subscribe personally, only because I far prefer getting information online than in paper form. Our community would probably subscribe in order to have hard copy for archival and library use.

On the other hand....

(I'll partially contradict myself by saying I'd gladly go to work for such a publication on the writing side, if the pay was reasonable and the editorial policies were agreeable.)

A print magazine could be an incredibly powerful outreach tool if it was able to get into over-the-counter distribution, even to selective niche venues such as natural food stores and bookstores and so on.

The key problem with print magazines is that they are expensive as hell to produce, and thus require major advertisers, and thus become susceptible to having their editorial positions compromised. Startup requires serious capital, and the risk of new magazine ventures often ends up having to offer the kinds of deals to investors that can result in losing control of editorial content altogether, or having it turn into the opposite of what was originally intended.

For example, Wired magazine basically took its core concept from Mondo 2000, and then substituted consumerism for psychedelia. The switch was "necessary" in order to attract major corporate advertisers and get the ROE that the investors required; and much was lost along the way, including the willingness to be critical of major interests that were represented among the advertisers. The result was that Wired lost its audience among the top end of cutting edge geekdom, to the point where the magazine became a laughing-stock at least in the years 1999 - 2001 (and possibly up to the present). (I recall many a business meeting in those days when something in Wired was used as a target for merciless mockery, or when "the kind of person who reads Wired" was used as a way of saying "is a dumb-ass with no skillz.")

There are a few counterexamples such as AdBusters, and some magazines that have done quite well with niche adversising, such as Mother Earth News, Home Power, and so on.

The second problem with print magazines is that the pressure to fill the pages every month tends to produce a dumbing-down of the content over time. This can cost you in terms of erosion of the original (smart content oriented) readership.

Third, in a niche such as ours, the conventional formulas for filling pages won't work. Forget about celebrities, sex, scandals, crime, and horse-race politics; doing any of those will be an immediate turn-off to the core readership.

Substitute formulas such news analysis or as do-it-yourself articles are good, but here one must avoid the obvious and go for stuff that will always be seen as interesting. For example, Leanan's recent front-pager about zero-growth economies would be a fantastic analysis piece. Roccman's item about building an underground shelter out of corrugated steel pipe comes immediately to mind: that would make a fantastic how-to article.

In any case, formulas have to avoid being formulaic. Magazines whose cover stories always predictably include certain specific genres of content, lose credibility: the impression is that they are writing by the numbers and following a formula rather than doing something interesting.

Specifically avoid stuff such as "The ten things you need to know about blah-blah..." or "The three laws for successful blah-blah..." and so on. The general version of that formula is "(Definite article "the") + (number, must be from three to ten) + (generic goal such as success, sex, image, performance) + (topic description in a few words)." Also avoid headlines that use the same sentence structure repetitively, for example "Verbing the Noun!" or "The Adjective Noun since Date!" Also avoid Cheesy Teasers, which are an immediate turnoff to anyone with an IQ above room temperature. Varied sentence structure is always good. The use of headline language that suggests the readership think for themselves, is always good. Where appeals to emotion are used, avoid the commonplace such as "afraid" and "angry" and so on; use other terms that suggest something less obvious but no less compelling.

Brand image is absolutely critical because it's the first thing that prospective new readers react to. I'd be glad to communicate with you behind the scenes on this, since it would be proprietary information for the magazine (I have a name in mind that I think would work well, and I could develop a graphical theme for it also).

One thing to absolutely avoid is a high-contrasty over-bright color scheme and any attempt at a "lurid" graphical image: that will come across as a doomer tabloid and miss your intended audience. A typical example of accidentally "getting it wrong" is the graphical banner on the Real Climate site, with its huge red image of the Sun hanging over the Earth like a friggin' B-movie asteroid that's about to obliterate the Earth entirely.

On the other hand, a clean and uncluttered layout & typography are huge pluses in this day & age when people are getting sick of graphic overload. That has been one of the main pluses of this very website: the visual presentation is clean and straightforward, which immediately suggests that this is a place with high-quality content that doesn't need clutter to make it look "interesting."

Anyway, we can discuss further behind the scenes if you're interested.

[Heineken]

Good comments, gg3, but I think we're getting WAY ahead of ourselves here.

I would not start out with a glossy, 4-color magazine format. Much too expensive and risky.

Begin with a newsletter format and stay with that format until clear evidence accumulates that expansion and upgrading are feasible. With some volunteer and nominal-fee help, you can do it for little more than the cost of the paper and mailing.

A newsletter format is as cheap and easy to produce as a magazine format is expensive and difficult. If a backwoods church can do it, so could PO.com.

And do it quarterly, not monthly.

Many of today's successful journals and magazines had similar humble origins.

Then with all that settled you are free to focus on the content, which is after all the most important element, at least from our rather noncapitalistic perspective. A massive circulation need not be the overt goal; wouldn't a small but highly intelligent and potentially influential audience suffice? The opportunity to say something entirely new and worthwhile to those who will listen is its own reward.

[Aaron]

Excellent comments all... much thanks for the advice & criticism.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'D')ude, chill. If Aaron wants to start a PO magazine I can just about guaran-damn-tee you that my opinion means nothing to him.