IMHO: Goodbye, The Writer Magazine and Hello, Creator Economy

Even though I once worked at a magazine and literary journal—and newspaper!—I rarely discuss what’s happening in these industries adjacent to book publishing. It’s all I can do to keep up with the book side.

But I would be remiss if I didn’t say something about the transformation occurring in the news and magazine media industries. Perhaps you’ve heard about the layoffs at the Los Angeles Times, the buyout offers at the Washington Post, the death (once again) of Sports Illustrated, the demise of Pitchfork … and that’s just from January 2024. I could go on for paragraphs if I detailed everything in the last 12 months.

But before I get into an analysis of all this, I want to start with a story I discovered for myself last week.

The Writer magazine, the oldest US-based writing magazine, is no longer publishing. Founded in 1887 by two Boston Globe reporters, the magazine has changed hands a number of times over its history and was sold in 2012 to Madavor Media. Madavor was acquired in February 2023 by BeBop TV, whose primary interest in Madavor was the magazine JazzTimes. If Madavor’s properties had not been acquired, sources tell me the magazines may not have lasted long anyway—the financial picture was grim.

I’ll pause here because this story line is familiar to me but maybe not to you. When F+W Media, publisher of Writer’s Digest, went bankrupt, its magazines were bought up by a range of other enthusiast media companies for little money. (For example, Writer’s Digest sold for $200,000.) Some of these magazines have survived; others haven’t. Big picture, most print magazines still operating today have changed hands at least once in the last decade. It’s not uncommon for magazines to be shuttered shortly after being acquired because they aren’t in fact the acquisition target—something else drove interest. This was the fate of book review outlet Bookforum until The Nation rescued it. On a much bigger scale, Meredith, one of the biggest magazine publishers in the US, was acquired by Dotdash in 2021; before long, a half dozen magazines were no longer being printed, even though the brands continued to operate digital only (which increasingly feels like zombification—death can be more preferable and respectful).

BeBop TV, the new owner of The Writer, focuses on producing TV and film to support “high arts,” such as jazz, theatre, and dance. But BeBop didn’t close The Writer upon acquisition. Instead, it told the staff to pivot from magazines to other media. TJ Murphy, the last editor, wrote last fall about the distressing series of events:

It was in April [2023] we were told to stop working on the magazines (!?!) and start thinking about a streaming TV channel. We found this perplexing (as you might imagine) because we knew we had to fulfill our production and printing commitments, and we didn’t know a thing about TV. More people got laid off. Then we were told to put together a film festival (?). Then the film festival was canceled. Then we were told to take our magazine content and turn the actual pages into the visual content for TV shows—and have the articles read by an artificial intelligence actor. We were asked what we thought of that idea. “I think it sounds painful,” I said.

If you visit The Writer’s website today, you’ll find a live broadcast of something totally unrelated to writing, with a notification that the publication is on hiatus. The last issue of The Writer has a cover date of September 2023.

I started researching all of this after a writer told me they’d paid $25 to submit to a contest run by The Writer that has yet to be judged. And in fact, The Writer made repeated social media posts calling for entries as staff were likely making their exit, as if BeBop were desperate to generate cash. Well, I wouldn’t hold my breath for contest winners to be announced or published, because it turns out BeBop TV is suing the owner of Madavor Media and seeks to terminate the purchase agreement. But that’s not all. BeBop TV is also suing another company that BeBop claims failed to fulfill the terms of a purchase contract for some of the properties BeBop had acquired from Madavor. Is it really feasible to bring two lawsuits, one claiming “We disassociate ourselves from all Madavor properties!” and the other demanding “Pay us for not buying our Madavor properties!”? But this seems par for the course when you look at the state of magazines (and newspapers) today.

Advertising revenue is not what it once was. It’s an old story at this point. Google, Facebook, and Amazon have eaten up many of the ad dollars that once went to newspapers and magazines. The publications that still attract strong ad dollars are typically large-scale operations like the New York Times. (That said, NYT subscription revenue surpassed ad revenue back in 2012). Dotdash Meredith saw revenues decline in 2023 because of reduced traffic; reduced traffic means reduced advertising. Numerous challenges exist in reversing this decline: (1) most expect media site traffic to decline over the long term because of the rise of generative AI and how search engines will produce answers without requiring visits to media sites, (2) new privacy policies (such as no more third-party cookies) affect digital advertising effectiveness, and (3) companies like Meta and X prefer to keep eyeballs on their site and not link out, which has dramatically reduced media traffic over the years. (A great read on the rise and fall of media outlets like Buzzfeed, which have depended on attracting millions of site visitors, is Traffic by Ben Smith.)

Some media analysts believe the business will bifurcate into the big legacy players (e.g., the New York Times) and leaders in niche media. And that’s where we see the growing role and opportunity of the creator or influencer: the person with the newsletter, for example, who reaches a loyal/niche audience who trusts them (and hopefully pays them), or who runs a social media account that is unaffected by changes in search engine behavior. Maybe these creators/influencers are interested in advertising or sponsorships, maybe not. Either way, the services that creators use have been ramping up tools and services to help them monetize. Time will tell how well this works out.

Media analyst Brian Morrissey recently wrote, “You could argue what’s happening now is just the final phase of a decline set in motion with the advent of the commercial internet. Maybe it was just a matter of when, not if. What will emerge the day after will be a different industry, leaner and diminished, often serving as a front operation to other businesses. More legacy brands will be sent off to the SEO glue factory. The middle of the market will be eviscerated. The brands that remain will be more tightly focused, in good and bad ways, and often operate thanks to subsidies from related business lines.”

What’s sad is that The Writer, a niche publication, might have been better positioned to survive than most. But it would’ve needed those “subsidies from related business lines,” just as Writer’s Digest possesses in the form of online education, events, and contests. Writer’s Digest today would not survive if it relied on print advertising revenue alone—try counting the number of ads if you flip through it. Meanwhile, my free newsletter, presumably reaching fewer people, sells out its sponsorship slots every year. I don’t say this to speak to my business prowess; rather, it’s indicative of a broader shift observable across all categories, and I’m benefiting from it.

A longtime magazine industry vet wrote, “Whether the print magazine will be relegated to the role of brand extension, coffee table brag book, freestanding profit center, the one thing that could be definitively said is that its role in mass media has been diminished, and I don’t see it returning.” Yes.

So what happens to the writers who work full-time or freelance for such outlets? Per-word rates have not increased in many years or kept up with inflation; meaningful opportunities dwindle year after year. Obviously all kinds of professional journalists and critics have gone off to start their own paid subscription newsletters and websites with varying levels of success (and sometimes moving back into traditional employment due to burnout). I don’t think the answer for every journalist or freelancer is “start a Substack,” nor do readers have unlimited funds to subscribe to every niche newsletter out there. Some have suggested there will be writer collectives, but I doubt it. The 1,000 True Fans model, while perhaps a useful idea once upon a time, won’t work for thousands of out-of-work journalists. I do frequently hear about news deserts, though, so maybe there is a way for journalists to start serving in those deserts and finding a way to make money while doing so through a combination of subscriptions and local advertising. That’s all I’ve got. Who wants to play matchmaker?

This affects book authors too. Industry vet Kathleen Schmidt pointed out last week that the loss of big media outlets makes it harder to publicize a book and harder to get a book sold into retailers. How can anyone keep tabs on the million little outlets or influencer accounts that can in fact move the needle better than the New York Times? Maybe AI can help us with that? (For those unaware, the people who work at the New York Times have said a cover review doesn’t necessarily sell books.)

Bottom line: I’ll leave you with the words of Morrissey, because his observations leave me optimistic we may ultimately end up in a better place than we’ve experienced this last decade or more. He writes, “The culture of publishing has rarely been audience-focused. Most publishing companies are advertising companies; their customers are advertisers, not the audience. Combine that with declining ad yield and you get the car crash that is the user experience on many publishing sites. I’ve long said that no industry can have a bright future that chooses to treat its customers like shit. I understand the pressures that lead publishers to turn … ‘ad density’ up to 11. And yet, common sense dictates that people will eventually stop using those products if there is no lock in. … The media industry itself is not in collapse; certain parts of it are, typically those focused on consumer advertising that requires sizable audiences. There are thriving areas that just happen to be smaller, ‘boring,’ and profitable.”