Mr. Magazine

“…We aim to help people fall in love with reality and create a lifestyle they appreciate through the highs and lows; the holidays and the everyday.” Molly My, Founder and Editor-In-Chief 

“While we can all appreciate the incredible impact digital has made on our lives, digital content is often placed in front of us, whether we sought it or not. Print content is what we place in front of ourselves by choice.” Molly My

How can I describe the magazine that is the subject of this Mr. Magazine’s™ Interview? Brains meet beauty and a celebration of everyday life, is, in short, the best description I can give to Molly My Mag.  After reading my interview with Molly My, the founder and editor-in-chief of the magazine,  you may add that description to the woman behind the idea of the magazine. Molly My Mag can easily be Molly Your Mag.

Fighting many closed doors, Molly My was determined to launch her magazine idea and open as many doors as possible.  She did not allow the fact that “being young and unknown” in the magazine media business to stop her from finding ways to create her childhood dream: a magazine that speaks to her and her peers.

The story of Molly My Mag is the story of Molly My.  The bi-annual magazine “encourages women to create and seek life’s most beautiful things and moments.” Twice a year, every winter and summer readers have a “date” with the content-rich magazine and a break from the digital blue lights.

A firm believer in the combination of print and digital Molly My presents her audience with a lovely ink on paper magazine to turn the pages one at a time, and a digital website to keep the conversation going among friends.

So without any further delays, here is the Mr. Magazine™ Interview with Molly My, Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Molly My Mag.

Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni:   From a young age, you were approaching media giants with your ideas to do a lifestyle program or show.  It seems with Molly My Mag you’ve achieved your teenage dream. Can you please take me through the journey of creating Molly My Mag and how it transformed from My Magazine to Molly My Mag?

Molly My: It’s been a dream come true, but I’m just getting started! I still have so much I’d like to do that stems from my original vision. Growing up as a millennial, the media played a huge role in my life. As I entered my early teens, I noticed it speaking more to my and my peers’ insecurities rather than our strengths — without many tools to help, other than “buy this!” At the time, there were limited voices targeting our demographic in the right ways. This lit a fire in me that hasn’t burned out since. When I was 13 years old, I started to pitch the big guys a lifestyle series for young women, which would integrate into digital content covering health, wellness, food, style, culture, and more. As you can imagine, being young and unknown in the industry meant that this idea was met with a few closed doors, but I was determined to make a difference with or without the help of others.

Keep in mind, when I was pitching these concepts, this was well before YouTube and lifestyle content went mainstream. I kept the idea close to my heart and as I entered college, Facebook emerged. My first jobs were in marketing, public relations, and advertising, when blogging and Instagram were at the forefront. I saw clearly where this was all going, and picked the pieces of my adolescent dream back up. The internet was saturated with content, and magazines, in my opinion, were due for a fresh comeback. I’ve always been inspired by the road less traveled — and with that, Molly My Mag was born. With more life experience under my belt, including launching a social club to support working women transitioning into adulthood, I felt like I had more tools than ever to continue to self-advocate and help others.

As you know, print is beautiful but expensive, so I first launched the magazine digitally (as My Magazine) before building the traction to crowdfund for our first print run. As the concepts grew, I intertwined my name into the brand to further connect with readers. I wasn’t a media giant with backing — I was just Molly, and it was important to me that our readers knew who was behind the pages; just a girl with a big dream. Plus, many were already calling it Molly My Mag and My Mag, so it made sense to make it more easily identifiable. 

S.H.:  What would you consider was the biggest hurdle that you had to overcome during this journey?

M.M.: Getting comfortable with “no” for an answer, and starting from scratch in publishing. Although I studied journalism in college and had a career and internships prior to the magazine, I didn’t have any print experience — just a love for it. When I decided to expand our distribution, I called every single store directly and that’s how I built our list. I work with some amazing distribution partners now! A lot of people thought I was crazy to embark on this in a digitally-focused era; a lot of brands and companies didn’t believe in me or print — that’s hard, and discouraging. 

I always tell people when they start a business to make sure you’re deeply passionate about it, because whatever it is you’re doing, the passion is the thing that keeps you going. You can’t rely on the good days since those can be few and far between. I didn’t have a road map, which made the journey more challenging, but I wouldn’t have changed one thing because I grew so much with each step. In my opinion, the difficulties have made me more valuable in the space, to my team, and to my readers. It makes the wins much sweeter too! 

S.H.: What was the most pleasant moment?

M.M.: Seeing our first print run come to fruition was definitely a great moment; I was like a kid on Christmas opening those boxes! A close runner up would be getting into Barnes & Noble and Whole Foods, which are two chains I‘ve always had my eyes on. I’m so grateful for the support I’ve received from each and every one of our store partners, and I’ve met the most wonderful people through this process. Reflecting on all of the points of view, work backgrounds, and personalities we’ve brought together in the magazine has been tremendous as well. From our contributors to the hands that put us on shelves, the magazine connects us all — and takes a village! We’re among this great community of people and I just feel really, really lucky to have this opportunity. 

S.H.: Tell me more about celebrating everyday life.  Some folks think magazines are an escape vehicle, yours is bringing people to reality. Why?

M.M.: I think it’s so important that we love our lives. Yes, escapes are nice, but they’re not long term and often unattainable. In Molly My Mag, we aim to help people fall in love with reality and create a lifestyle they appreciate through the highs and lows; the holidays and the everyday. Sounds cheesy, but each moment is a blessing, so it’s necessary we recognize that and celebrate the lives we have or take action to create the lives we want. 

S.H.: Can you identify the role of print in this digital age and how is your print and digital working/not working together?

M.M.: For one, print is a break from blue light! I’ve always loved print for its authenticity, connection, and the way you can intentionally take it with you to the airport, beach, couch — you name it. While we can all appreciate the incredible impact digital has made on our lives, digital content is often placed in front of us, whether we sought it or not. 

Print content is what we place in front of ourselves by choice. I think the manner in which we consume content and information today really hinges on these differences. Print and digital sound like enemies of one another, but I believe they can be used together for greater emphasis. On our Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/mollymymag/

we share contributor “takeovers” to showcase the unique personalities and expertise of authors we feature in the magazine. We also bring similar or follow up topics onto our site (mollymymag.com) and utilize platforms like Amazon and LikeToKnowIt to emphasize the great brands and products found in our issues. Now that we have established ourselves in print, we will continue to look digitally. 

S.H.: What are the next steps for Molly My Mag and anything else you want to add that I failed to ask so far?

M.M.: Expanding our content into areas beyond the lifestyle genre we already cover, and becoming a bigger part of the conversations in culture, business, and more. Our base will always be lifestyle. As the magazine grows, I want to get people thinking harder about more aspects of life, but never forgetting about the importance of the light-hearted stuff too. Life isn’t just a singular topic, and I don’t think magazines need to be either. You should be able to read tips on creating your dream home or wedding while also educating yourself about topics like cryptocurrency or women in Afghanistan. 

This is what Molly My Mag is all about. As a media source, I want to introduce new topics to our readers — especially ones they may not have otherwise sought. That’s how we expand our horizons and start to understand the world around us. It would be difficult for readers to grow from the magazine if we covered only a few related topics, which is why we aim to cover it all and pique curiosities in the way we package everything together. Finally, we’ll further build out our website, mollymymag.com, and use digital to complement what we’re doing in print as well as merchandise and more. Wait and see what’s next — but chances are I’ll be very busy for a while! 
That said, anyone who is reading this and interested in contributing to our pages, reach out! We love discovering and connecting with thought leaders and experts. Email our editorial team at editorialasst@mollymy.com.

S.H.: My typical last question, what keeps Molly My up at night these days?
M.M.: The excitement that I have for Molly My Mag. I have a hard time winding down for bed when I’m kept up by the happenings of the day. There’s a weird sense of avoidance in not wanting the day to end, because they never seem long enough and there’s so much I want to do and accomplish. 

S.H.:  Good luck and thank you.

“Given the divisive and misinformed times in which we live, Bavual just seemed like the right concept for this time.” Earl A. Birkett, Editor & Publisher, Bavual   magazine

“Bavual is a forceful and clear reteller of history from the Afrocentric viewpoint, and explainer of how that heritage interplays with today’s world. My belief is that knowledge is gained through understanding, and understanding is gained through truth.”  E.A.B.

Not too many times do I find myself at a loss of words when I am interviewing an editor or a publisher about his or her magazine.  But after hearing Earl A. Birkett’s story, I was indeed at a loss of words.  His passion to magazines and magazine media is evident in the way he talks about the magazine and on every page of the magazine that will hit the newsstands nationwide shortly.  

Bavual is a powerful forceful magazine with a very lucid focus. The timing can’t be any better, yet the content is timeless. Bavual and the man behind the magazine are both a force to reckon with. This is their story as told in this Mr. Magazine™ Q and A.

Eleven years ago, Mr. Birkett fell critically ill and lost both his legs and kidneys. He told me that he “narrowly survived, thanks to the grace of God and excellent medical treatment. Coming so close to my Maker forced me to re-arrange my priorities and concentrate on leaving a legacy for good. Part of that legacy, I hope, is Bavual.”

And thus the interview is about both Bavual and Mr. Birkett and the legacy that they are creating. So, without any further delay, here is the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Earl A. Birkett, editor and publisher of Bavual.    Enjoy.

Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni: Congratulations on the launch of Bavual.  My first question is, “what Bavual, the magazine, is and what does the name mean?

Earl A. Birkett: “Bavual” is a popular name for a male child in many parts of Africa. The name is Swahili for “power, strength, force.” The fictional character I concocted to stand as the magazine’s muse is Bavual   Adisa, a perpetual 25 year old from Tanzania but who could live anywhere on Earth. His last name is Yoruba for “one who is clear, or lucid.” Those two names adequately describe what Bavual is: a forceful and clear reteller of history from the Afrocentric viewpoint, and explainer of how that heritage interplays with today’s world. My belief is that knowledge is gained through understanding, and understanding is gained through truth.

S.H.:  Tell me a little bit about your background and why did you decide to make the move to print after working for years with Time Warner?

E.A.B.: Actually, my background with Time Warner is limited and long ago. I worked in their cable tv division as a salesman in New York’s Outer Boroughs back in the late 80s and early 90s. It started out as a way to supplement my meager income as a high school social studies teacher and surprisingly grew into a lucrative affair for me. After the stint at Time Warner I continued in the business world, eventually becoming a real estate broker.

I have been in love with the magazine publishing business since I was eight years old; I have been a student of the industry ever since. Until now I never quite found the right moment to jump in as a publisher. Given the divisive and misinformed times in which we live, Bavual just seemed like the right concept for this time.

S.H.:  You seem very passionate about this project, yet we know with passion alone success could not be achieved.  What is your plan for success for this new venture?

E.A.B.: It’s true, I am very passionate about Bavual, it is almost a calling for me. Fortunately for me, I am not alone in this feeling. For whatever reason, divine intervention, luck or what have you, I have been able to assemble an editorial staff of nine very talented and dedicated people to help me in this quest. They come from both genders, several races, from diverse regions of the U.S. – including from some places you would not normally think would be attracted to a magazine like Bavual  – and even one from India.

Due to financial limitations, I cannot grow Bavual ‘s circulation as fast as I would like, so I have opted to build an audience the old-fashioned way: make each issue a masterpiece and put it before the public online, in retail outlets and in mailboxes, and let them vote yay or nay. If you build it they will come, right?

S.H.:  In the midst of hundreds of magazine titles out there, where do you see Bavual  fitting and whom do you view as its competitive set?

Ever since the demise of Ebony and Jet (in print) about a decade ago, Bavual is completely alone in the consumer magazine category that caters to the Afrocentric lifestyle. Essence fits only a portion of this market. As for magazines that focus on African heritage, it has been many more decades since. Its closest editorial descendant is a magazine called Encore that was published in the 70s by Ida Lewis, which covered Afrocentric news. I remember it from my teenage years and was captivated by it. 

Bavual is designed to be a feast for the eyes and the mind, a reminder of what the great picture magazines like Life and Look were like combined with the relevance of, say, The Atlantic or The New Yorker. 

S.H.:  Who is the audience of this feast for the eyes and mind?

E.A.B.: Contrary to its name and focus, Bavual is not a “black” magazine, that is, published by black people for black people. It is inclusive, meaning that it is produced by a multicultural, international staff for ANYONE who wants to know the truth about the world’s past from one point of view, in this case, the Afrocentric one, warts and all, and how it relates to the present.

S.H.:  What has been the most difficult challenge so far and how did you overcome it?  What was the most pleasant surprise so far?

E.A.B.: The most difficult challenge was putting out both a Preview Issue last fall and the Premier Issue this winter. Like I said, we had to work on a shoestring, but you know what? We did it, and I think we did it very well.

The biggest surprise thus far is the broad appeal of Bavual. We have been picked up by retail outlets on the West Coast, the Midwestern heartland and the Southern Bible Belt. The biggest fun is finding out who reads us.

S.H.:  Before I ask you my typical last question, is there anything you’d like to add?

I don’t often like to talk about myself, but I think it important in this instance. There is one other motivating factor for starting Bavual, besides the obvious one of wanting to contribute to the public dialogue on race right now, and that is my health. Eleven years ago I fell critically ill, the victim of an unknown disease that is vaguely traced to complications from diabetes. I narrowly survived, thanks to the grace of God and excellent medical treatment, however it cost me both my legs (amputated below the knee) and my kidneys, which are failing (I am on dialysis), and a reduced energy level. Coming so close to my Maker forced me to re-arrange my priorities and concentrate on leaving a legacy for good. Part of that legacy, I hope, is Bavual. I also want to convey to people that having a disability is not the end of the world. I may not have a great body but I still have a great mind, thank God.

S.H.:  Amen to that.  My typical last question is what keeps you up at night these days?

E.A.B.: I think about the state of the world a lot, particularly the state of the most powerful country in the world, my homeland, the U.S.A. It pains me that a country that has been so good to me in so many ways has decided in many cases to travel down the road of ignorance, intolerance and selfishness. I am constantly reminded that good does not necessarily triumph over evil without constant vigilance.

S.H.:  Thank you and all the best in this new venture.

“We live in a digital led environment so our company slogan is ‘stories matter, especially how they are told,’…” Dylan Howard, Chairman and CEO, Pantheon Media

“That is the biggest challenge, to constantly bear the cutting edge of how best to tell stories whilst also remembering that there is something beautiful about print…” Dylan Howard

If you told me early in 2021 that someone would launch a print magazine with 400 pages and lots of advertising, I would have told you that you are out of your mind. Bringing Grazia to the U.S.A. is not only an act of faith and belief in the way print can be handled successfully, it is an experience unlike any on the market today combining both quality content, gorgeous photography, and above all a touch of class.

A much needed infusion to the world of magazines in general and the fashion magazine sector in particular. It was not a hard decision for me to choose Grazia USA as the most notable launch of 2021 because it rose to the top of the 122 titles launched that year exactly like the foam rises to the top of an excellent espresso.

To learn more about Grazia USA’s launch, I reached out to Dylan Howard, Chairman, CEO of Grazia USA’s parent company Pantheon Media Group and we engaged in a Mr. Magazine™ conversation about the story behind the launch of the magazine and his role in bringing it to the United States.

Mr. Howard was quick to point out that the launch of Grazia USA was a team effort led by media and business folks he assembled from leading media entities including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Condé Nast, Tatler Asia, WWD, Reuters, Men’s Journal, Meredith, IAC, Cheddar, News Corp., Refinery29, and a360 Media.

So, here’s my lightly edited casual conversation with Dylan Howard, Chairman & CEO, Pantheon Media Group publisher of Grazia USA:

Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni: As the publisher of Grazia USA, the most notable launch of 2021, can you please tell me how you were able to bring into the market in this day and age, an almost 400 page magazine, loaded with advertising among other things…

Dylan Howard: Samir, when COVID hit America, I had a lot to consider about what my next step was going to be, and I decided that I wanted to start another media company and I wasn’t content with it being an independent small player. I wanted to bring to America brands that have flourished internationally but have not reached these shores. And in putting together on the back of an envelope, some brands, one of the first brands that came to mind was Grazia, because close to 20 years ago, I actually wrote for Grazia when it was a weekly magazine in Australia, which is where I am from. So I opened discussions with Mondadori Media in Italy, and it had been Mondadori’s dream to launch a United States version of their flagship fashion and luxury property and just never found the right partner. In me fortuitously, they saw someone who was prepared to actually back it, someone who has an entrepreneurial flair, someone who has gladly no fashion sense, I leave that to the editors, and someone who was prepared to innovate on the brand. 

That innovation has meant more to digital covers, so we launched Kim Kardashian in October of 2020 as our first digital cover in the United States, then in February for New York Fashion Week we did three more digital covers which featured Elizabeth Olsen, Keke Palmer, and supermodel Kate Bosworth, and then in between that and the launch of our September issue, we published seven Grazia Gazettes, which is a first of its kind newspaper/luxury magazine-type publication- five here in the Hamptons, one in Art Basel in Miami, and one for New York Fashion Week, and that allowed us to create a sense of establishment in the industry. Next will be the Rodeo Drive edition in January. People immediately recognized the Grazia name, and they saw that we were doing things differently, and that led obviously up to our September issue, our fall issue, which as you said is almost 400 pages. I personally believe it is one of the best products in the marketplace, in the category. I believe that its editorial is stronger than its competitive set, and that is a tribute to the editor in chief David Thielebeule and Casey Brennan the executive editor, and many others (In fact Mr. Howard mentioned almost everyone who worked on the launch of the magazine), and I think that there is some hype around it. Again you mentioned almost 400 pages, loaded with advertising, content in my view, best in class, and three print runs. We had three separate covers. So this is a commitment to fashion, a commitment to luxury. This is not me saying I want to get back in the industry. This is charting a new course and establishing Grazia for the future because our audience is younger than everyone else. 50 percent of our readers are age 18-34 and you don’t find that anywhere in publishing today. 

SH: The publishing model, you are distributing some as a control circulation, you have the newsstand, you have subscriptions, Grazia is known as a weekly, tell me more about your business model.

D.H.: So Grazia is just one of the tenets in my business, we have near on twenty brands now. We have the digital version of OK magazine, Radar. We did three start up brands. Front Page Detectives which actually picks up on the 1920s pulp magazines- so we relaunched that as a digital website. We have a Royals website. We have a female inspiration website. This year we will announce, we have How it Works, History of War, All About Space, and we are going to announce another 4 or 5 print productions that will launch in 2022. But for Grazia, it is our flagship, we will do four issues per year. We will continue with The Grazia Gazette newspaper which I refer to as the traveling newspaper. We go where people are, much attended events, is where you will find The Grazia Gazette like Art Basel in Miami. We will continue to do our digital covers, but we have a commitment to print. Grazia worldwide is in various shapes and forms, as you pointed out, it is a weekly in some countries. In other countries, it is a monthly. In Australia and here in the United States, it is a quarterly, which allows us the time and resources required to put out a publication that is best in class. Instead of flooding the market with more of the same, we can take a considered approach to what it is we are publishing. Likewise, that enables us to work closely with our advertisers to ensure that we are capturing what it is that they want to market and when they want to market. I think we would all agree that the industry is flooded with product and it is not necessarily the highest quality product because of the frequency in which they print. 

S.H.: Did anyone tell you when you came up with the idea that you are going to launch Grazia in the U.S., are you losing it? Are you out of your mind?

D. H.: I’ll tell you about The Grazia Gazette, I mean, I’ve never published a newspaper. I’ve worked at newspapers before. I was sitting on a couch one night and I said what if we were to create a 56 page luxury newspaper and distribute it to 40k households in the Hamptons in 2021 and I called my Chief Operating Officer, Melissa Cronin, who joined me from A360 Media, and she said, this is a brilliant idea, and within days, we were in production. So, I’m sure people like to say behind my back, he’s crazy. They don’t necessarily say it to my face, but I tell you what there is a sense of pride and accomplishment when my editorial staff and my business staff are able to put together a publication like this and for me as a CEO to be able to see that my investment in hiring the best of the best has paid off. So for example, our Global Brands Officer is Brendan Monaghan, who has a strong lineage across the media industry from The New York Times to Vogueand GQ, Tanya Amini who comes from Conde Nast, W Magazine, our CFO Andrew Lee is a 22 year veteran of Conde Nast. Melissa Cronin who is the ying to my yang, a brilliant, insightful smart strategist, she is the COO and president of the company. Also, Casey Brennan who has worked with me for ten years and as I mentioned our editor in chief David Thielebeule who joined us from The Wall Street Journal, and many others. We also had Kevin Sessums as an editor at large. He was the former executive editor of Interview magazine and a host of other contributing editors. It’s interesting before I was a very hands-on content guy in my past role. With this I’m not, I’ve had to take a back seat which is a little different and a little discomforting at times, but when we put out the three issues and we see that a market is reacting the way it has, I could not be more proud of my staff.

S.H.: If you are going to look back at those one and a half years, what do you consider, the most pleasurable, the AHA moment, the I’ve made it…

D.H.: I don’t subscribe to the notion that you’ve ever made it. You are only as good as the last issue and the challenge is on us to produce an issue for March that will again set us apart from the competitive set. This is not a sprint, this is a marathon for our business. While those other publications will age out of the category in my opinion, I hope and I believe, and Mondadori also believes that Grazia will be the last one standing. In order for that to occur, we need to continue to invest in fashion and luxury and we need to continue to invest in the product. So whilst 2021 was great and we had enormous success and we are all very proud of what we are able to put out, 2022 is only a few days away and we are looking at a very strong line up already of products that we will distribute to the marketplace whether it be a quarterly, the newspaper, or other news formats to tell stories. We are just really excited about it. To be able to bring a brand that is 83 years young to the United States, with a legacy that it has from Italy to London to France to Germany and now in 21 other countries, is truly passing on the baton to us and we have to do our founding editors proud and I think we did with the launch of the first issue.

S.H.: I remember when Didier Guerin came from France trying to launch Elle magazine in the U.S., the naysayers said this will never work…

D.H.: I think it was the great Theodore Roosevelt who said something that has just sat with me about publishing. Theodore Roosevelt in his speech, The Man in the Arena, he said, “It is not the critique who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better, the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deeds, who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spins himself in a worthy cause, the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”  And that hangs in my office here (in the Hamptons)  and hangs in my office in Manhattan as well.

S.H.: You are the man in the arena. What’s the biggest challenge that’s facing you? 

The biggest challenge is continually innovating. We live in a digital led environment so our company slogan is “stories matter, especially how they are told” It is constantly innovating, looking for the next method or model in which to be able to showcase content, be it through the intersection of QR codes in a magazine pointing back to video, creating premium podcasts that can traverse the United States into Europe and other areas. That is the biggest challenge, to constantly bear the cutting edge of how best to tell stories whilst also remembering that there is something beautiful about print. I think our model of doing a quarterly with a brand offshoot as The Grazia Gazette is not only industry leading, it’s a sign of what should happen moving forward for the industry to sustain itself. 

S.H.: I have to ask you since you were an editorial person, a reporter, a writer, you name it, is there part of your brain that misses that now that you are a CEO and you have to deal with the business side and ensure the business is working and the money is coming in…

D.H.: I am far too busy focused on what is next than I am meddling in what others are achieving with their work, and the premiere issue is tantamount to that. I wasn’t involved in the issue. Our COO and President Melissa Cronin, who I mentioned, was. From a business side, she and Brendan Monaghan lead it. I’m far too busy looking for what the next move for the company is and we have some big things lined up ready to announce in 2022.

S.H.: Before I ask my typical last question, is there anything else I failed to ask you, anything else you’d like to add?

D.H.: No, just that I’ve always viewed myself as a historian and I think I told you this previously of media, I always like to understand the masthead, its history, the people involved, and I think that those that believe the industry is at the crossroads need to sit back and analyze how to continue to operate in this climate. I believe the future lies in topic specific or knowledge based journalism. In order to do that, instead of cutting costs, maybe we need to be a little bit less frugal about that in order to create a product to introduce to customer so that we can convert them into ongoing customers and repeat customers. I would implore others in the industry to do that because the industry cannot survive with few, it has to survive with many. 

S.H.: My typical last question, what keeps you up at night these days?

D.H.: The next deal keeps me up at night.

S.H.: Thank you…

Editor’s Note: To read Tony Silber’s interview with me, for MediaPost’s Publishers Daily, about the magazine launches of 2021 including the launch of the year, the relaunch of the year, and the reinvention of the year please click here.

“Print is very welcoming. For a while, people were reading magazines online, but I have since heard a lot of people have gotten bored with that. A lot of people are working from home now and they’re on their computers all day. When they want to relax they don’t want to sit in front of a screen again and read. They want to go sit in their backyard in their favorite chair with a print copy, their favorite beverage alongside them, and enjoy a magazine, To have something tangible in their hands.” Richard Lentinello…

A Mr. Magazine™ Launch Story…

With his 22-year history at Hemmings Motor News, Richard Lentinello has been living and working in the automotive media world robustly and then some. After leaving Hemmings, Richard decided he wasn’t exactly pleased with the way American car magazines were handling their content and missing some of the most engaging car stories out there by not writing about them, so he decided to launch his own high quality automotive print magazine.

And Crankshaft was born. Crankshaft is a quarterly with 144 pages of non-stop automotive collector-car history. It’s well-designed, well-written, and a really refreshing addition to the automotive club of magazines.

I spoke with Richard recently and we talked about this new venture of his and his goal for the magazine. According to Richard, Crankshaft offers engaging content, thoughtfully crafted by established writers and photographers, along with his own artful input. The magazine will inform, entertain and captivate readers in a way that he believes no other magazine has done before.

So I hope that you enjoy this delightful Mr. Magazine™ interview with a man who is a true car connoisseur, Richard Lentinello, owner, publisher, editor in chief, Crankshaft.

But first the sound-bites:

On why he chose to do an automotive magazine at this moment in time: I was at Hemmings Motor News for 22 years and I left there July 31. I was sitting in my backyard thinking about what I was going to do after that. I thought the time was right for me to try something new. I knew people were stuck at home with the pandemic and people want to read when they can’t go out, so I thought it could be a good time or it could be a bad time; let’s give it a shot. (Laughs) People were telling me, it’s a pandemic, what are you doing? And I said, well, they’re stuck at home, people want to read.  

On how he came up with the name Crankshaft: The magazine is about classic cars and I didn’t want to go down the same road as classic, vintage, antique, all those names, because I figured, how are we going to attract a younger audience with those old-fashioned type names? So, I wanted to come up with something different, something that had a ring to it. I sent some of the guys that I used to work with an email and asked them to put their thinking caps on and some of them came up with Crankshaft. And I thought it was a great name.

On whether any of his friends or colleagues thought he was out of his mind for starting a print magazine during this digital age: No, no one said that to my face. (Laughs) Only one person online, when I posted it on Facebook, said that I was crazy. But you can’t listen to people like that. When I explained what I wanted to do and the focus of the magazine to everyone, they all said yes, we need this.  

On the business model he’s implementing: The business model is gut instinct. (Laughs) It may not be the best business model, that remains to be seen. I spend a lot of time at newsstands, Barnes & Noble and such, and I see so many magazines that are $14, $15, up to $20, these limited-type magazines. But a lot of them are only 112 pages or 128 pages, so we went 144 pages of good quality stock, $12.95. If you look at some of the regular car magazines out there, they’re $7 or $8, 72 pages and half of it is advertising. So how much editorial are you really getting, 30 pages?

On his favorite role: author, editor, car owner: I think it’s a little bit of all of that. I didn’t go to school to write, I went to school for interior design, interior architecture. But that’s how I look at creating magazines. You start with a foundation, then you put the interior walls in, you decorate it with photographs; so I use that same concept that I learned to create a car magazine.

On what he thinks the role of the printed magazine is today: Print is very welcoming. For a while, people were reading magazines online, but I have since heard a lot of people have gotten bored with that. A lot of people are working from home now and they’re on their computers all day. When they want to relax they don’t want to sit in front of a screen again and read. They want to go sit in their backyard in their favorite chair with a print copy, their favorite beverage alongside them, and enjoy a magazine, To have something tangible in their hands.

On whether he thinks the type of quality content of Crankshaft will be the wave of the future for American car magazines: I think it is, I really do. And it’s true about the British magazines, the quality throughout is excellent. I’ve been reading British car magazines since 1975 when I used to go to the newsstand at the Pan Am building in Manhattan.

On his reaction when the first issue of Crankshaft rolled off the presses: It is nerve-wracking. When the truck pulled up to my house with three pallets of magazines that I stuck in my garage, for a while I didn’t want to open them. (Laughs) I told myself, okay, I’m going to find all the mistakes; I’m going to find something that I don’t like. So I stood there and I opened them and it was just like when I did one of my coffee table books, you want to look at it, but you also don’t, because you don’t want to see all the mistakes. (Laughs again) But once you go through it, it’s very satisfying and rewarding. But the best part is hearing other people tell you how much they love it.

On what he hopes to accomplish with Crankshaft in one year: I hope I’m still around a year from now and can keep this magazine going, because it is an expensive proposition. Hopefully by then we’ll have some advertisers onboard to help support and fund it. And by next year I hope to have a good amount of subscribers that will help us keep it going.

On anything he’d like to add: The magazine is a very serious type of publication. We don’t use any slang; we don’t go into politics or anything like that. We focus on automotive history. That’s what it’s all about. And we try and stay focused on quality photography. Some of the writers who write for Crankshaft are some of the best in the industry.

On what makes him tick and click: Besides my three rescue dogs? (Laughs) I’ve been creating magazines since 1987 and it’s what I love. To me, it’s not a job. I’m one of the fortunate people who turned his hobby into a career. I just love the whole process of going out there and interviewing people, photographing cars, writing stories, and putting it all together in a really interesting and engaging, well-designed package. And then hearing the reader say, wow, that’s a great magazine, I love it. That’s what makes me get out of bed in the morning.

On how he unwinds in the evening: What I do sometimes is I go into my garage and work on my cars; I’m restoring some old cars. I read other magazines, mostly the British car magazines. And sometimes I write at 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. in the evening. But I really unwind by sitting down with a paper and pen and planning out the next two or three issues. I think of all the cars I’ve seen at the different shows and how I want to include them in the next issue or the issue after that.

On what keeps him up at night: All the things that float around in my head, such as is the magazine going to take off? Am I really going to be able to get advertisers to help pay the print bill? Can I keep it going? Those things keep me up at night.

And now the lightly edited Mr. Magazine™ interview with Richard Lentinello, owner, publisher, editor in chief, Crankshaft magazine.

Samir Husni: Give me the genesis of Crankshaft and on what made you decide at this moment in time to be the owner, publisher, editor in chief of a new automotive magazine.

Richard Lentinello: I was at Hemmings Motor News for 22 years and I left there July 31. I was sitting in my backyard thinking about what I was going to do after that. I looked at all the magazines that we were doing under the new leadership, how the quality was going down and how they’re pandering to advertisers. Not just Hemmings, but a lot of publishers do that. They create content for the advertisers. And I feel that’s wrong. You should create content for the readers. Those are the ones who are buying the magazine. 

Between that and the lack of quality content in the automotive industry for American-made magazines, I thought the time was right for me to try something new. I knew people were stuck at home with the pandemic and people want to read when they can’t go out, so I thought it could be a good time or it could be a bad time; let’s give it a shot. (Laughs) People were telling me, it’s a pandemic, what are you doing? And I said, well, they’re stuck at home, people want to read. 

A lot of car magazines have gone out of business in the last 10 years. I think a lot of them went out of business not because of the lack of interest from the readers, but from poor quality content. Again, pandering to advertisers, creating content that is fluffy, not hardcore, not serious. And I just felt, being a hardcore car guy… I was looking around and thinking there was no magazine that I really wanted to read. There were British car magazines, and I get them all. And they’re so well done. The British put a lot of effort in their car magazines. Quality writing, quality photography. 

And I just asked myself why doesn’t someone here in America do a quality car magazine without treating the reader like an idiot? Because all too often people think if he’s a car guy there isn’t much intelligence there, he just likes cars. And that’s not true. Car guys run the whole gamut, from plumbers  to doctors, a brain surgeon in Philadelphia, anybody and everybody can be a car guy, it doesn’t matter who they are.

We treat the readers with respect. We give them hardcore information. And that’s why I decided to launch my own magazine. 

Samir Husni: How did you come up with the name Crankshaft?

Richard Lentinello: The magazine is about classic cars and I didn’t want to go down the same road as classic, vintage, antique, all those names, because I figured, how are we going to attract a younger audience with those old-fashioned type names? So, I wanted to come up with something different, something that had a ring to it. I sent some of the guys that I used to work with an email and asked them to put their thinking caps on and some of them came up with Crankshaft. And I thought it was a great name.

The more I sat at my desk and thought about it, the more I liked it. And Joe Pep, who did the illustration for the first cover, worked in Manhattan for 22 years for DC Comics and he was a font expert. I told him that we were going to call it Crankshaft and asked him what he thought. And within one day he came up with the logo. And I think it’s attractive. A lot of young people that I showed it to love it. So we think it has legs.

Samir Husni: Besides starting a new magazine during a pandemic, did any of your friends or colleagues think you were out of your mind for launching a print publication in this digital age?

Richard Lentinello: No, no one said that to my face. (Laughs) Only one person online, when I posted it on Facebook, said that I was crazy. But you can’t listen to people like that. When I explained what I wanted to do and the focus of the magazine to everyone, they all said yes, we need this.  

Once the first issue came out and everybody started getting it, the reviews from all the readers were 100 percent positive. I didn’t receive one negative email or Facebook post at all. Everyone just absolutely loved the magazine. 

Samir Husni: You’re publishing the magazine as a quarterly with a very high cover price, $12.95, and a very high subscription price of almost $60. Since you’re targeting the magazine more toward the readers and the audience rather than the advertisers, what is the business model that you’re implementing?

Richard Lentinello: The business model is gut instinct. (Laughs) It may not be the best business model, that remains to be seen. I spend a lot of time at newsstands, Barnes & Noble and such, and I see so many magazines that are $14, $15, up to $20, these limited-type magazines. But a lot of them are only 112 pages or 128 pages, so we went 144 pages of good quality stock, $12.95. If you look at some of the regular car magazines out there, they’re $7 or $8, 72 pages and half of it is advertising. So how much editorial are you really getting, 30 pages?

In Crankshaft, you’re getting 144 pages of editorial. Once people saw the value and got the magazine in their hands, they felt it was worth the price and started subscribing or bought a single copy if they didn’t want to spend the $59.95 to subscribe. But I really think we’re on to something.

Samir Husni: You’re an author, an editor and a car lover, all combined; which role is your favorite?

Richard Lentinello: I think it’s a little bit of all of that. I didn’t go to school to write, I went to school for interior design, interior architecture. But that’s how I look at creating magazines. You start with a foundation, then you put the interior walls in, you decorate it with photographs; so I use that same concept that I learned to create a car magazine. 

But what I like best is creating content that people love to read. I go to a lot of car shows every year and I meet all these wonderful people and car owners and there are so many great stories out there that are so interesting and engaging. But they’re being lost because no one is writing about them. And I know if I find it interesting about this car owner whose 1914 Buick was bought by his great-grandfather brand new, how could you not want to read about that? How did the family keep for over 100 years? So that’s what I enjoy most, finding content, creating it, and watching readers enjoy it.

Samir Husni: What do you think is the role of the printed magazine today?

Richard Lentinello: Print is very welcoming. For a while, people were reading magazines online, but I have since heard a lot of people have gotten bored with that. A lot of people are working from home now and they’re on their computers all day. When they want to relax they don’t want to sit in front of a screen again and read. They want to go sit in their backyard in their favorite chair with a print copy, their favorite beverage alongside them, and enjoy a magazine, To have something tangible in their hands. 

I think print may make a resurgence. I think a lot of younger readers are starting to come around to the benefits of having a tangible product in their hands as opposed to just reading it from a screen. Where that will go, no one really knows, but until then we want to keep publishing and see what happens. 

Samir Husni: Do you think that Crankshaft is the way of the future for automotive magazines here in America? You mentioned earlier the quality of the British car magazines and how you see Crankshaft as along those lines and geared more toward the reader and quality content; is this a glimpse into the future?

Richard Lentinello: I think it is, I really do. And it’s true about the British magazines, the quality throughout is excellent. I’ve been reading British car magazines since 1975 when I used to go to the newsstand at the Pan Am building in Manhattan. 

I saw this British magazine called “Thoroughbred & Classic Cars” and I took it home on the subway back to Brooklyn and I couldn’t believe the quality. I wondered why American magazines weren’t like that. And they’ve just been getting better and better while the American magazines have been going downhill for a long time. 

I think it’s the way they treat people, but I do think that more magazines will come out. I hear of others in the process of being created now, along the same lines as Crankshaft. Bimonthly or quarterly, higher quality, higher-priced; it remains to be seen where that goes.

Samir Husni: What was your reaction when that first issue of Crankshaft rolled off the presses?

Richard Lentinello: It is nerve-wracking. When the truck pulled up to my house with three pallets of magazines that I stuck in my garage, for a while I didn’t want to open them. (Laughs) I told myself, okay, I’m going to find all the mistakes; I’m going to find something that I don’t like. So I stood there and I opened them and it was just like when I did one of my coffee table books, you want to look at it, but you also don’t, because you don’t want to see all the mistakes. (Laughs again)

But once you go through it, it’s very satisfying and rewarding. But the best part is hearing other people tell you how much they love it. That’s what I really like about it. Every time I open it, I see something I don’t like or I should have changed, maybe a font here or there should have been a little larger, this picture should have been a little bigger, little things that no one else would notice. It’s like the artist who sees a mistake in his painting. Only he or she sees it. But the satisfaction I get is from readers enjoying it. That’s what it’s all about for me.

Samir Husni: If you and I are having this conversation one year from now, what would you hope to tell me you’ve accomplished with Crankshaft?

Richard Lentinello: I hope I’m still around a year from now and can keep this magazine going, because it is an expensive proposition. Hopefully by then we’ll have some advertisers onboard to help support and fund it. And by next year I hope to have a good amount of subscribers that will help us keep it going. 

There is interest from some other people who want to invest in it. I’m holding off for now; I want them to see two or three issues to show them what we can do. I’m not interested in taking money from investors unless I know I have an honest, viable product that has the beginnings of a solid foundation. We’ll see what happens next year, but that’s what my goal is. To make sure that we’re still in business and subscriptions are still coming in and advertising dollars are starting to come in. 

Samir Husni: Is there anything you’d like to add?

Richard Lentinello: The magazine is a very serious type of publication. We don’t use any slang; we don’t go into politics or anything like that. We focus on automotive history. That’s what it’s all about. And we try and stay focused on quality photography. Some of the writers who write for Crankshaft are some of the best in the industry. And we’re very careful about what words are chosen; we never write down to the readers or over their heads or anything like that. We try and write as though it were a friendly conversation we’re having with the reader. And that’s where we want to stay. A magazine that everybody likes. 

Whether you like American or foreign cars, pre-war or post-war, whatever you like, you’ll find something in every issue of Crankshaft that you will enjoy. 

Samir Husni: What makes you tick and click and motivates you to get out of bed in the morning?

Richard Lentinello: Besides my three rescue dogs? (Laughs) I’ve been creating magazines since 1987 and it’s what I love. To me, it’s not a job. I’m one of the fortunate people who turned his hobby into a career. I just love the whole process of going out there and interviewing people, photographing cars, writing stories, and putting it all together in a really interesting and engaging, well-designed package. And then hearing the reader say, wow, that’s a great magazine, I love it. That’s what makes me get out of bed in the morning. 

Samir Husni: How do you unwind in the evening?

Richard Lentinello: What I do sometimes is I go into my garage and work on my cars; I’m restoring some old cars. I read other magazines, mostly the British car magazines. And sometimes I write at 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. in the evening. But I really unwind by sitting down with a paper and pen and planning out the next two or three issues. I think of all the cars I’ve seen at the different shows and how I want to include them in the next issue or the issue after that. 

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

Richard Lentinello: All the things that float around in my head, such as is the magazine going to take off? Am I really going to be able to get advertisers to help pay the print bill? Can I keep it going? Those things keep me up at night.

Samir Husni: Thank you.