Mr. Magazine

“We can demonstrate that people who read Take in print really consume the print product and hang onto it. We just did a subscriber survey over the summer and we asked people how long they hung onto their copy of Take, and well over 55 percent of the people in that survey said they never throw their copies away. We’re reaching people who really, not only love our content, but love the magazine as an object that they want to hang onto. And I think that also from a business perspective, translating that and bringing that before advertisers is a really attractive prospect.” Michael Kusek…

“For me, yes, we’re in a digital world. We have access to new information every second and it’s also customized to our tastes. And we get this information, but there’s no real absorption of it because we’re immediately on to the next thing. For me, looking at a magazine is such a different experience, because it’s an active experience. There’s an intentionality to sitting down and reading it. There is an engagement of more than just sight; we hold it; we feel it as we turn the pages; we smell the paper. You’re obviously reading it.” Stacey Kors…

Relaunching a magazine takes real vision and commitment and a significant, underlying reason to do so. Take Magazine has all of that. It has dedication and a strong perception of its future in its publisher and founder, Michael Kusek, and a powerful affection and belief in its existence from its relatively new editor in chief, Stacey Kors. And a valid reason for being: its ever-growing audience.

Stacey Kors came onboard Take about nine months ago and hasn’t looked back since. She is a dynamic force for the magazine and brand with her sheer will and determination that the print component should and would be born back into the marketplace. As a new partner in Take Industries, Stacey, whose publishing career began in Western Massachusetts when she worked as a college intern for the region’s first high-end culture magazine, New England Monthly, has joined efforts with Michael, the magazine’s founder and publisher, to bring the print product back to its loyal readership better and stronger.

I spoke with Michael and Stacey recently and we talked about this Take-2 go-round for the printed magazine. The decision to go digital-only about a year ago was not one that Michael made lightly. His love for the Take brand was strong, but the reality of finances had to be considered. And as with any small, independent title, money is always a behemoth. But with Stacey climbing aboard and offering not only financial support and strength, but a passion for Take as strong as Michael’s, it would appear that the second time around will be the charm for this new duo, who also give much credit to the team behind them that makes everything more stalwartly creative.

So, I hope that you enjoy this interview with two people who share much more than the bottom line, but also a zeal and excitement for all things “Take”-able, the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Michael Kusek, founder & publisher, and Stacey Kors, editor in chief, Take Magazine.

But first the sound-bites:

On the resurrection of Take Magazine (Michael Kusek): We ran out of money. By the end of last July, we had had a fair amount of success at selling advertising for that fall, but came up short in terms of the capital we needed to get ourselves there. We needed a bridge to get from June to the fall when we’d sold some revenue. And I had to make the really tough decision about stopping the print edition and staying digital-only. The switch to just digital-only was really made possible because somebody lent us the money to refurbish our website. In late August, Stacey emailed me out of the blue, expressing interest in helping Take come back into print, and I was pretty surprised about getting that kind of email. (Laughs) We met and had coffee, and the conversation started there, and it lasted a few months, while we envisioned what we would need to be a bit more stable.

On the resurrection of Take Magazine (Stacey Kors): I’m an old print junkie. I cut my teeth in this business; I was actually an intern at New England Monthly, our first successful regional magazine. I have been involved with covering arts and culture for a couple of decades now, and have been previously writing for the Boston Globe. In the spring of last year, they started very heavily cutting their arts coverage and their arts staff, like so many other places, unfortunately. I had an opportunity to be able to participate, and see if I could help Michael return the magazine to print. And as he said, we started talking and we were able to make that happen. It’s been a long road, but a wonderful one.

On why they brought Take Magazine back into print in this digital age (Stacey Kors): I can answer from the editorial side. For me, yes, we’re in a digital world. We have access to new information every second and it’s also customized to our tastes. And we get this information, but there’s no real absorption of it because we’re immediately on to the next thing. For me, looking at a magazine is such a different experience, because it’s an active experience. There’s an intentionality to sitting down and reading it. There is an engagement of more than just sight; we hold it; we feel it as we turn the pages; we smell the paper. You’re obviously reading it.

On why they brought Take Magazine back into print in this digital age (Michael Kusek): When we stopped the print issue, we got a lot of emails from readers who were upset to see it go, and then we announced that we were coming back and we received a lot of response from readers who were very excited to be able to add to their stack of Take Magazine’s on their coffee tables. I think that the loyalty that we’re building with our readers is something that, by being local people producing a local magazine, is something that we can demonstrate to advertisers. And because we do have at least a glowing, robust presence online and a real building loyal readership in print, I think that bodes really well for relationships with advertisers down the road.

On any challenges that they had to overcome when they relaunched in print (Michael Kusek): I think one of our challenges, at least on the business side, has been the idea that we went away once, so are we going to be here this go-round. So, it’s that convincing people, particularly advertisers, that if we’re going to build a relationship with them we are going to be here. We’re working our hardest to stay here. We’re definitely having a better response from advertisers than we did the first time around. And I think that’s one of the challenges, certainly from a business perspective.

On whether that first issue made all of the nine months’ of work and worry worth it (Stacey Kors): The two experiences that I’ve had that made it all seem worth it was going to the printer with the team, our amazing printer, Cummings in New Hampshire, watching the process and seeing that all of those ideas we’d had for so long were made real for everyone; it was just amazing. And the other experience happened recently, where our writers and our subjects started to receive the magazine. And everybody was so excited; everybody talked about how gorgeous it was. They were all so pleased and that we did something right and that was definitely worth it.

On what’s next for Take Magazine (Stacey Kors): From an editorial point of view, we have the train on the track and moving, and we’re working on three issues at a time. And we’re trying to create beautiful, timeless copy, with wonderful profiles of artists and culture-makers here.

On what’s next for Take Magazine (Michael Kusek): One of our challenges is figuring out the best way to do distribution. I have to credit ACT 7 this past spring, in particular, for getting good contacts with specifically independent magazines. Lukas Volger and Steve Viksjo from Jarry magazine have become good friends in the months that followed, because both as small, independent titles, we’re trying to figure out newsstand. And we’re trying to figure out the best way to convert digital followers into print subscribers.

On what he would have tattooed upon his brain that would be there forever and no one could ever forget about him (Michael Kusek): I think work hard and have fun doing it.

On what she would have tattooed upon her brain that would be there forever and no one could ever forget about her (Stacey Kors): Live in the present and be mindful.

On what someone would find her doing if they showed up unexpectedly one evening at her home (Stacey Kors): For me, unwinding is sitting with a glass of wine or a drink and reading the magazine or looking at some magazines and books, taking my eyes off of screens for a while. If the weather is conducive and it’s the right season, I might be in my garden, picking things to cook for dinner, making a beautiful meal ad savoring it fully.

On what someone would find him doing if they showed up unexpectedly one evening at his home (Michael Kusek): For me, probably scrolling social media and watching the Rachel Maddow Show. (Laughs)

What keeps her up at night (Stacey Kors): The state of the world concerns me greatly on a macro level. Otherwise, honestly? Just thinking about the magazine a lot, there are a lot of balls in the air all at once and I’m always thinking about how to not drop one. How to make things better and stronger and successful.

What keep him up at night (Michael Kusek): The amount of unanswered emails that I have. (Laughs) And trying to remember to get back to people on the 10 different platforms that they message me on. That keeps me up at night.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Michael Kusek, publisher, and Stacey Kors, editor in chief, Take Magazine.

Samir Husni: It’s always a sad day when a print magazine goes out of business, but it’s also a joyful day when that magazine comes back. Tell me a little about the story of Take 2.0. (Laughs)

Michael Kusek: (Laughs too) We ran out of money. By the end of last July, we had had a fair amount of success at selling advertising for that fall, but came up short in terms of the capital we needed to get ourselves there. We needed a bridge to get from June to the fall when we’d sold some revenue. And I had to make the really tough decision about stopping the print edition and staying digital-only. And that was about the end of June.

The switch to just digital-only was really made possible because somebody lent us the money to refurbish our website. We spent the better part of July working on the website, and then getting that launched in early August. In late August, Stacey emailed me out of the blue, expressing interest in helping Take come back into print, and I was pretty surprised about getting that kind of email. (Laughs)

We met and had coffee, and the conversation started there, and it lasted a few months, while we envisioned what we would need to be a bit more stable. And what resources we needed that we lacked in our first go-round. And we worked on that through December.

Stacey Kors: I’m an old print junkie. I cut my teeth in this business; I was actually an intern at New England Monthly, our first successful regional magazine. I have been involved with covering arts and culture for a couple of decades now, and have been previously writing for the Boston Globe. In the spring of last year, they started very heavily cutting their arts coverage and their arts staff, like so many other places, unfortunately.

It was a combination of my lamenting that and trying to figure out personally what I was going to do next. And also lamenting the state of the print industry as a whole, just seeing it shrink more and more. I had known about Take from the beginning and had seen many copies of it and really liked it. I happened to come across the last issue, was reminded of it again, and thought that it would be a wonderful place to write and engage, and I was so glad that it existed. And then I looked at the website and I read Michael’s post, that unfortunately they weren’t going to continue. And I was heartbroken. It was such a wonderful and important resource. It was so beautifully put together; the stories were so interesting and timeless.

I had an opportunity to be able to participate, and see if I could help Michael return the magazine to print. And as he said, we started talking and we were able to make that happen. It’s been a long road, but a wonderful one.

Samir Husni: My question for the both of you is why print in this digital age? Besides being romantics about print, including myself, if we talk from the business side, why print? What’s the fascination you and Michael have with print that brought Take Magazine back to life?

Stacey Kors: I can answer from the editorial side. For me, yes, we’re in a digital world. We have access to new information every second and it’s also customized to our tastes. And we get this information, but there’s no real absorption of it because we’re immediately on to the next thing. For me, looking at a magazine is such a different experience, because it’s an active experience. There’s an intentionality to sitting down and reading it. There is an engagement of more than just sight; we hold it; we feel it as we turn the pages; we smell the paper. You’re obviously reading it.

And it’s not about disseminating information the way that we get it now; it’s really about the art of storytelling that involves thoughtfully written articles and gorgeous images. And specifically, for us, I love that across the board and I think it’s important that there’s a place for us to all stop and take the time to read a long-form article and engage in that way.

But for what we do, we cover artists and culture-makers in the region, and they’re all people who take their time to make something special, meaningful and beautiful, be it visual art or a well-crafted cocktail. And I think they deserve to have their stories told with that same intentionality.

Michael Kusek: It’s interesting, our period of time where we were digital-only put us in this position where we really had to think about what we were doing digitally for those six months. Beginning last September, we really put more focus on it and have seen some great results in the last year. We’ve gone from just over 3,000 readers per month on our website to being in the mid-thirties now every month in the last year. And that’s like 20 percent growth per month, which as one of my friends would say, is Facebook numbers. (Laughs) And I’m very happy with that, because we’re reaching an audience.

And it’s very interesting on the digital front to see who reads us. In August, our number two city that reads Take online was New York. And it’s not even in New England. (Laughs) So, the digital side of it certainly allows us to reach readers that aren’t part of our geographic focus for the physical distribution of the magazine.

I still think that print, particularly because we’re tightly, regionally focused, it’s easier for us, certainly not easy, but it’s easier for us to make a real connection with our readers, and it’s through our editorial, but also through who’s working for us. We have freelancers who are located all over the region, who help us create our content. So, as a print piece, people are picking it up and we’re not landing in New England from some far off place. We are a publication that is made by New Englanders for New Englanders. And I think that has been the basis of the success that we’ve had so far in reaching readers.

When we stopped the print issue, we got a lot of emails from readers who were upset to see it go, and then we announced that we were coming back and we received a lot of response from readers who were very excited to be able to add to their stack of Take Magazine’s on their coffee tables. I think that the loyalty that we’re building with our readers is something that, by being local people producing a local magazine, is something that we can demonstrate to advertisers. And because we do have at least a glowing, robust presence online and a real building loyal readership in print, I think that bodes really well for relationships with advertisers down the road.

We can demonstrate that people who read Take in print really consume the print product and hang onto it. We just did a subscriber survey over the summer and we asked people how long they hung onto their copy of Take, and well over 55 percent of the people in that survey said they never throw their copies away. We’re reaching people who really, not only love our content, but love the magazine as an object that they want to hang onto. And I think that also from a business perspective, translating that and bringing that before advertisers is a really attractive prospect.

Samir Husni: Since December, when the partnership took place between you and Stacey and the decision was made to relaunch the print magazine, has it been an easy walk in a rose garden, or were there any stumbling blocks that you both had to overcome? And if there were, how did you overcome them?

Michael Kusek: I think one of our challenges, at least on the business side, has been the idea that we went away once, so are we going to be here this go-round. So, it’s that convincing people, particularly advertisers, that if we’re going to build a relationship with them we are going to be here. We’re working our hardest to stay here. We’re definitely having a better response from advertisers than we did the first time around. And I think that’s one of the challenges, certainly from a business perspective.

Another thing, in terms of how we were moving forward from Take-version 1 to Take-version 2, was repairing our relationship with freelancers, who had waited a long time to get paid. And part of this deal was making sure that we made everyone whole that we owed money to. And we were very fortunate that we were in a position that when we restarted the magazine that we were able to start with a clean slate. And the challenge there is that for people who are content creators, they’re happy to work for us, but they also need to know that they’re going to get paid.

And reassuring them of that is a challenge, and certainly in that process, everybody wants to get paid for the work that they do, and some people were very vocally upset about that, some people offered to forego payment, and some folks were just very patient and didn’t say anything one way or another. But that was a really important thing that we needed to do.

Samir Husni: And Stacey, now that the first issue is done and the magazine is back, what was your reaction? Was it worth all of that worry and work for almost nine months, the time is equivalent to an actual birth. (Laughs)

Stacey Kors: (Laughs too) And that’s what it felt like.

Samir Husni: Were the labor pains worth it when the magazine came out? (Laughs)

Stacey Kors: Oh yes, but to continue in that vein, it was a laborious process. We did have some staff who had moved on to other positions. We hired a new art director and a managing editor. So, part of the process was getting our small team together and running smoothly, but of course, the first issue is going to be the most difficult time. To the regrouping and figuring out how we wanted to change things; how we wanted to keep things the same for the magazine, there was a lot of back and forth, we’re a team who shares visions, and there was and is a lot of serious discussion, and certainly a lot of very hard work, assigning and editing and going back and forth on art, and coming up with something that really felt like Take. And even better.

The two experiences that I’ve had that made it all seem worth it was going to the printer with the team, our amazing printer, Cummings in New Hampshire, watching the process and seeing that all of those ideas we’d had for so long were made real for everyone; it was just amazing. And the other experience happened recently, where our writers and our subjects started to receive the magazine. And everybody was so excited; everybody talked about how gorgeous it was. They were all so pleased and that we did something right and that was definitely worth it.

Samir Husni: Now, you’re on top of the mountain, what’s next?

Stacey Kors: (Laughs) The December/January issue.

Samir Husni: (Laughs too).

Stacey Kors: From an editorial point of view, we have the train on the track and moving, and we’re working on three issues at a time. And we’re trying to create beautiful, timeless copy, with wonderful profiles of artists and culture-makers here. From the business point of view, Michael…

Michael Kusek: One of our challenges is figuring out the best way to do distribution. I have to credit ACT 7 this past spring, in particular, for getting good contacts with specifically independent magazines. Lukas Volger and Steve Viksjo from Jarry magazine have become good friends in the months that followed, because both as small, independent titles, we’re trying to figure out newsstand. And we’re trying to figure out the best way to convert digital followers into print subscribers.

And there are no simple answers for that path forward, because even as a small title we get some of the difficulties that larger legacy titles have at the newsstand. But we don’t have the budget to sort of pay to be there. So, we have to get innovative and creative about our distribution efforts. We’re relying on partnering with cultural organizations around the region, where we can distribute copies of Take so that people get it in their hands and get a sense and a feel for it. So, that’s one of our big challenges. And we have really great help from the folks from Tyson Associates in Connecticut, getting around that. So, that’s a piece of the puzzle that we’re working on, figuring out what’s best for a small magazine.

Samir Husni: If you could have one thing tattooed upon your brain that no one would ever forget about you, what would it be?

Michael Kusek: I think work hard and have fun doing it.

Stacey Kors: Live in the present and be mindful.

Samir Husni: If I showed up unexpectedly at your home one evening after work, what would I find you doing? Having a glass of wine; reading a magazine; cooking; on your iPad; watching TV; or something else?

Stacey Kors: Yes. (Laughs) All of those, though not at the same time. For me, unwinding is sitting with a glass of wine or a drink and reading the magazine or looking at some magazines and books, taking my eyes off of screens for a while. If the weather is conducive and it’s the right season, I might be in my garden, picking things to cook for dinner, making a beautiful meal ad savoring it fully.

Michael Kusek: For me, probably scrolling social media and watching the Rachel Maddow Show. (Laughs)

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you both up at night?

Stacey Kors: The state of the world concerns me greatly on a macro level. Otherwise, honestly? Just thinking about the magazine a lot, there are a lot of balls in the air all at once and I’m always thinking about how to not drop one. How to make things better and stronger and successful.

Michael Kusek: The amount of unanswered emails that I have. (Laughs) And trying to remember to get back to people on the 10 different platforms that they message me on. That keeps me up at night.

Samir Husni: Thank you both.