It all works out in the end
What publishing twice in a pandemic has taught me.
Alice & Josh - Akin Magazine - 2019
I kickstarted 2020 as I’m sure many others did, powered full of gusto and passion towards Akin, my magazine.
Things were going great, we had a few pop-up shops dotted around our city, Norwich, future events had been pencilled in and we had a new issue on the way, what could really go wrong? Fast forward just a few months and everything I had planned had been ripped away from us, and rightly so. The same day I took delivery for Issue 03 Boris announced a national lockdown within the UK, little did I know the actual learning journey a global pandemic would take me on.
As an independent magazine we rely on our stockists, readers and supporters to get us through the financial year and fund our next issues. We rarely rely on advertising to fully cover our costs, it’s not really our vibe. But in March I found myself with hundreds of copies of our new magazine, and nowhere to sell it, no physical space where people could pick up and flick through our lovingly crafted pages. Our hands were tied.
Of course we reluctantly joined the Zoom bandwagon, but admittedly we quickly fell off after hosting one event, regardless of what people say it just isn’t the same as sitting in a room with fellow creatives. Instead I focused my time on growing the value within Akin, I listed all of our magazines for sale on our web shop, we stock a great number of other independent magazines from the much loved The Gentlewoman to Sandwich. Yes, a magazine dedicated to sandwiches. I overhauled our editorial content, launched our Journal and poured time into publishing content in a way which was actually accessible…aka online. Slowly but surely our web sales were increasing month on month and our visitors to the site were coming from far and wide to read our content, not just shop with us. Seem’s like the plan is working right…?
A few months had passed and admittedly I was twiddling my thumbs with what could be achieved with Akin. We have such a great independent scene in Norwich and my heart just felt for all of the shops, restaurants and indie businesses which were forced to close. In a bid to combat this I launched our monthly newsletter Nozza News, little did I know how well this would actually go down, in the beginning we were publishing every fortnight showcasing our local indie businesses, movers, makers and shakers. Within the first few months we gained hundreds of readers, filled our ad slots and grew a community who shared the same values as us, they’re quite a dedicated bunch, we often get 80% readership which is unheard of in newsletters. Beyond thankful.
Following on from the success from Nozza News I moved onto our 4th issue of Akin with restored faith, we managed to publish a great issue inspired by Stormzy, in light of recent events regarding Black Lives Matter we wanted to shine a light on all of the incredible BAME creatives within our industry. We also managed to sign to a distribution house which takes care of our international and national stockists. Great, things are looking up! Low and behold the day we published Issue 04 Boris announced another national lockdown. I can’t lie this one really took the wind out of my sails. After a month or so of feeling quite demoralised it suddenly dawned on me, the way the world works has changed. What I want to achieve with Akin has changed, and that’s fine. We can’t just continue like normal anymore, our lives are far from ‘normal’ and it’s totally fine for things to adapt and change alongside it.
Now I can’t thank Covid-19 for much but it has allowed me to take a step back and assess the situation, what I want to achieve and how I can achieve it within the current climate. Looking forward I’m now finally excited about the future of Akin.
I’ve just hit publish on a rebrand and we have lots of exciting editorial content being launched online in the coming months, in our own time. Hopefully one day we’ll be back in the streets and coffee shops holding events, selling our magazines and meeting your lovely faces. On the topic of magazines, we’re changing that too! Our magazine format is being overhauled, we’re focusing on community now more than ever and we’re super excited to have you along for the ride.
About the author
I'm a magazine and book designer working for the likes of Rankin, The Guardian and tonnes of great indie publications. In 2018 I also founded my own magazine Akin, inspired by people.
Akin is a fiercely independent creative platform, magazine and shop highlighting the highs, lows and truths of being a creative. We run regular events, stock indie magazines and publish a monthly newsletter.