Alice Audley, Blogosphere
We’ve read a lot of blogs about magazines over the years, but this is the first time we’ve ever read a magazine all about blogs. Blogosphere is a written by bloggers for the blogging and social media community – it compares itself to The Week, but for sites like Tumblr and Wordpress. This morning we catch up with editor and founder Alice Audley as she continues work on issue eight.
Where are you today?
I’m at my flat in Lavender Hill. We’re in the midst of relocating our Blogosphere HQ, so everyone is working remotely. The sitting room has become my temporary office, and the dining room table my desk!
What can you see from the window?
The view was the selling point of this flat. It has six large windows, which stretch across the entire back wall and it’s high-up, so we get a beautiful panoramic of the London skyline. This morning, I can see a train hurtling towards Victoria to my left, the London Eye and the faintest outline of the Shard to my right. And straight ahead I can see a rather rotund seagull perching on a chimney top.
Are you a morning or an evening person?
A bit of both, really. My favourite part of the working day is the morning - switching on the laptop and having that first sip of coffee - knowing you have a whole day ahead to get things done. That said, some of my best ideas seem to happen just as I’m trying to get to sleep. I always make sure to have a pen and paper next to my bed.
I am a big believer in the power of sleep and being well-rested. A sleep-deprived brain is not going to be as useful or creative as its rested counterpart. Yet, we still seem to live in a society where people boast about how little sleep they’ve had, how early they got up, how stressed they are and how tired they are. It’s unhealthy.
Which magazine do you first remember?
The first magazine I vividly remember is Cosmopolitan. At school, we could subscribe to various magazines. I chose Cosmo and would read passages - notably the sex advice columns - to my girlfriends at lunchtime and we’d have a good giggle.
What’s your favourite magazine this morning?
This morning, I am really enjoying Suitcase magazine. It’s a slickly produced independent, which combines travel and fashion. Though its content is great, what really drew me to the publication was its founder and editor Serena Guen. She’s around my age - mid-twenties - and has been running Suitcase since 2012. It’s nice to see another young female editor in the print and digital world.
What’s your favourite blog this morning?
I don’t have a favourite blog this morning - there are too many that I’m loving at the moment to list - but I do have a favourite type of blog post that’s doing the rounds. It’s the anti-bucket list. Rather than making lists of what they want to accomplish and things that they want to improve upon, many bloggers are instead writing reflective posts about what they have achieved over the last year. I’ve particularly enjoyed both Emma Cannon and Blogosphere’s current fashion editor Olivia Purvis’s versions.
Why a printed magazine about blogging and not a website about blogging?
“If there really were no demand for print titles that concerned something that existed in a different medium, most of the country’s biggest-selling titles would cease to exist.” - Peter Robinson.
The idea that just because bloggers create content online they can’t possibly be interested or appreciate print is in itself backward.
Print and online do not have to be mutually exclusive. We’re *finally* coming out of the other side of the “Print is dead” hyperbolic state, and people are recognising that there’s still room - and a desire - for both digital and the tangible product. It’s a two-way conversation.
So really the question shouldn’t be why? It should be why not? Going back to Robinson’s point, why not have a print publication about something that people find interesting just because it exists in a different medium?
What criteria do you have when you’re reviewing a blog?
We have rolling editors for each section - food, fashion, beauty, lifestyle, travel, photography (and in the next issue parenting and arts & crafts) - of Blogosphere. They choose who will be featured within their pages. The only rule is they have to be a blogger!
Are your readers bloggers or blog-readers?
Both. We also have lots of brands and PR companies who buy the magazine - as it’s a useful resource for them to have a snapshot of what’s going on in the blogging community. We have fact boxes throughout the magazine with email addresses and social media handles, so if you like the look of a blogger it’s easy to get in touch.
What are you most looking forward to this week?
Seeing the copy for issue eight of Blogosphere continue to land, and speaking with our designer about layouts. Collating all the information and devising different displays is always really satisfying. I’m also looking forward to being introduced to new blogs by our editors - I always love discovering new blogging gems.
What will you be doing after this chat?
Emailing the owner of a great office space I looked at last week to put a deposit down. And writing some job specs...Blogosphere is hiring!