The undeniable allure of print

"There's something almost rebellious about sitting down with a print magazine today."

The first time I held Outside Magazine in my hands, I was at the Fourth of July parade in Mammoth Lakes. I don’t know who and I don’t know why, but someone in the flag-waving, candy-tossing, and horse-trotting brigade handed me a copy of the May 2011 issue. That means it was July 2011: I had just graduated from high school and was days away from turning 18. It’s weird to me now that I coveted that particular issue. Weird because Stephen Colbert was on the cover wearing a furry white hood with snow sprinkled on his eyebrows, holding a red, white, and blue popsicle. I didn’t even know who Stephen Colbert was back then. But I suppose it wasn’t the cover but the content on the inside that tugged at my aspirations as a journalist. Paging through the stories about adventure and the mountains must have resonated with me while I was in a special place that symbolized adventure in my own life.

Twelve years later and lots of adventures in between, I’m editing gear columns for that very magazine. I’ve written countless stories for them, too. Only one of my gear roundups has been printed by the yellow O. There was a time last year when I thought I’d have a 3,000-word feature in the magazine, which would’ve been a dream. But editors changed their minds, changed their editorial vision. Most of the thousands of stories I’ve written are online only anyway, not counting a few magazines and my newspaper days. Those stories all appeared in print but are now likely ash burned in fireplaces, except for the ones I’ve kept in a plastic bin in my closet. I wish I had kept every copy but I threw away all but one stack at some point during my 20s. The remaining stack is yellowing, just like I’d hoped.

I’ve always adored print but I’m finding myself collecting even more lately. The other day, I told someone my house is too tiny for me to collect so many magazines. But it’s not stopping me. I used to bemoan Steve’s collection of books. Every time we moved, those boxes were the heaviest and took up the most space. Couldn’t he let go of some? I only had a few books of my own in those days, mostly Joan Didion, plus my newspapers, when we started dating. But at some point during our 10 years together, I gave in. I started my own collection of books. Magazines too, especially the ones I’d written for or wanted to write for. When my dear friend moved states earlier this year, I urged her not to get rid of her books. I told her she’d regret it, as I had with my newspapers.

Earlier this week, I attended Outdoor Media Summit in Missoula, Montana with my peers in journalism and marketing and content. I spoke on a panel about “How to market yourself as a freelancer,” and I sat in on panels called “What editors look for in freelancers right now” and “Print in 2024 and beyond.” Kaydi Pyette at Paddling Magazine said, “There’s something almost rebellious about sitting down with a print magazine today.” And Kade Krichko at Ori Magazine said, “It’s weird to call print the alternative media,” but that’s what it has become to digital. Between all of us there at the conference, I’m betting we could probably fill a shipping container with our book and magazine collections.

The conference’s opening keynote was given by Colin Kearns, the editor of Field & Stream Magazine, which was revived in print this year. It’s big and beautiful and heavy. On the plane, I read his story on page 78 about his relationship with his father contrasted with his relationship with fishing. Walking through the airport, my shoulder bag was weighed down with the magazines collected from the event. And on the way to the pickup curb, I took a detour in the Portland airport to a store called PiPH where I bought yet another magazine called Eaten that I had been eyeing online (and checked for my editor at Trails Magazine that the latest edition was still stocked; it was).

My shoulder is permanently sore but I am rich in printed materials. I love them for the same reasons you do: the weight of it in my hands, the feel of the pages, the smell of the ink. (The paper for Adventure Journal “is chosen for how it smells,” said editor Justin Housman.) I love how they look sitting on my coffee table and shelves, and my own collection reminds me of the hundreds of yellow National Geographic bindings lined up on a bookshelf, like my grandparents had and Steve’s dad still does. Print is collectible. It’s everlasting. It’s timeless. I can grab an issue, any issue, from several years ago, burrow into my bed, and immerse myself into the pages unlike anything I’d read online. As a reader who is also a writer, print is still sovereign, superior to scrolling on the glowing rectangle.

When I get home, two more magazines are waiting for me in the mail: the latest issue of Architectural Digest, and the first edition of Chase’s new travel magazine. I make note of the latter’s masthead and add them to my stacks.

Up next: I’m working on a survival guide to trade conferences and a list of niche and obscure print magazines I want to pitch for paid subscribers. Next Friday, all subscribers will receive the latest edition of STUDIO VISITS featuring writer

andy nwannem

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XO

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