White Horses
"You're the only guy who actually reads the books that get reviewed. Everyone else just makes it up." So said the best-left-unnamed surf journo when we were discussing Swellnet's review section.
I'm not sure how correct his remark is concerning other surf publications but it's true that I read and consider everything reviewed here. Fair and impartial reviews being the lofty goal of The Depth Test.
I tell you this because the review I'm about to give is completely biased and openly partial. The reason? You can find it on Page 52 of White Horses. There at the top, above a tale mixing big wave heroics and the US medical system: "By Stu Nettle". While one page prior is a story by a mate of mine, Lucky Al. Also, the mastermind behind White Horses, Gra Murdoch, was very kind to Lucky Al and I when we started our own publication,Kurungabaa, many years ago.
My hands may be filthy but with that disclaimer disclosed and Media Watch on the kybosh I'll continue...
Published by Morrisson Media White Horses is a very different beast to its surfing stable mate, Australia's Surfing Life. At 144 or so pages and containing just three ads it's a damn good ratio of content to commerce. The tagline is 'The sea has stories' and here again it differs from the photo-driven ASL. There are thirty contributors, some known – Lewis Samuels, Derek Rielly, Nick Carroll – and many lesser known writers in the mix.
Each issue of White Horses will contain a writer's rally in which said writers choose from three topics. In this issue it was: Your worst decision; A grommethood memory; A story you've never told. With three common starting points the stories veer in myriad directions and told with many tones, a mixed array of humour and pathos.
Times may be tough in print but White Horses delivers what the internet struggles to or simply can't: a tactile, well-manufactured print product full of crafted stories. Looks bloody good on the shelf too.
White Horses retails for $19.95 and will be published four times yearly.
Comments
I do enjoy a good yarn or two, but I just love gratuitous surf porn. Something the internet has in abundance
There is nothing better than a 'pro' surf photog taking dramatic pics that never make it to mags but get published in their own genre books. With quality jorno's stories it is all the better flick through/read..surf mags are very borin nowadays with 10 pages of surfbrand ads,then a token indo/mentawai trip. If only you could keep your price relative I would buy a shit load more of your product..i.e surfing world..glorious pics..journalism with a soulful story that takes you in as if you are really there..Pity all the big mags ASL, tracks do it once a year in photo annuals...
why dont they do a quarterly photo edition? they must get that many sick shots!
While we are on this topic, when is the swellnet flyer making a return?
We've got it on the backburner for now, poncholarpez. It was a lot of fun to do, but very time consuming: we can push out the equivalent content on the standard website in a tenth of the time. There's a fine art to producing high quality 'magazine-esque' layouts on the web, and making it cost effective (I don't know of anyone who's doing it, surf-related or otherwise).
agree there Ben. Massive amount of work. worthwhile if you can get the sponsors for it.
Hi Ben, we’ve been producing a high quality surf ‘zine’ for almost 2 years now. Our designers have been in the layout game for over 15 years and work on high-end print mags, plus a bunch of brands like NAB, Mercedes, JEEP, Chrysler, Corona etc. ‘tis true: there are many (many) hours behind each issue. Definitely tough if you’re pumping out quality web content daily like yourselves. For me, I don’t think the Flyer is a necessary extension: like you said, you can produce the same content on your site – I like Swellnet as is – keep up the top job. www.18seconds.com.au
Thanks Andy.
But how do you pay the bills? I don't know how many eyeballs you're getting to your mag (as Zinio doesn't publicly display stats like Issuu does), but using your Facebook numbers as a proxy would suggest they're not huge.
As such I imagine it'd be hard for a gourmet-but-low-traffic web mag to attract much in the way of advertising dollars (already been through that phase with Swellnet years ago).
Even the Australian surf mags have conceded that they can't effectively monetise their digital properties due to low traffic, and that's with a team of sales people.
you said no one is producing a high quality digital magazine that's cost effective. We replied. We are. How? Low overheads, quality content, free. 'nough said.
Well, that's good to hear. I gotta say I'm extremely surprised (and that the term 'cost effective' is open to interpretation), but hey - if you're paying the bills then good onya. I suppose there's a thousand questions that aren't relevant to this discussion about White Horses, so we'll leave that to another time.
What a great magazine!!
just got a copy of white horses,very impressed,keep up the good work
A magazine so good it's a book.
And a good book at that!