Oh Comely-Industries

 1) The reason they set up Iceberg Press is to do things differently. To usher in a new age for magazines and media brands.

2) Iceberg Press's mission statement is:

• Its all about the audience
• Chase the work not the money
• compromise isn't our friend
• We will always make time for ideas 
• We are stronger when we work with others.
• We want good people to work in a good place
• Every year we will help a cause that matters
• We believe in a thing called Print.

3) Iceberg press publishes two magazines and these are Oh Comely and The Simple Things.

4) Some of the similarities that i can see between Oh Comely and The simple things are its minimalist design. They both have a lack of cover lines when compared to conventional magazines. They both have an unconventional cover image with Oh Comely having a female who seems to go against the usual stereotypical display of women in magazines while in The Simple Things have a person who doesn't show they're face and instead focuses on the product itself.

5) Some of the differences between Iceberg press and Hearst UK is the abundance of magazines that Hearst owns in comparison to Iceberg who simply only has two. Iceberg press seems have a more alternative take on magazines in general while Hearst seems to try to be more conventional with its magazines they're design.

Writers Edit Journal article

1) Independent magazines are categorised as "published without the support of a large corporation or institution in which the makers control publication and distribution.

2) Hamilton suggests that independent magazines in the digital age are thriving even as the global newspaper book industry falter.

3) Kinfolk's aim for they're magazine is to find new ways for readers to simplify they're lives, cultivate community and spend more time with their family and friends. The similarities i can find between Kinfolk and Oh comely is its way of facilitating the lives of its audience. 

4) One of the reasons that independent publishers are succeeding is because of its more personal and unique approach to the consumption of media from magazines. Independent magazines seem to have a unique outlook when it comes to creating magazines.

5) Independent magazines tend to usually launch through crowd funding and advertising. Independent magazines try to take full advantage of the internet. The first Alphabet magazine relied solely on crowdfunding as its way to launch.

6) The article believes that Independent publishers use digital media to target niche audiences by bringing together participants of minority sports, crafts, hobbies and activities through they're magazines. These people each have common beliefs and interests and contribute to the information inside the magazines.

7) Its significant that independent magazines are owned and created by the same people as it allows them to be far more consistent with there creative vision in general. Monthly and weekly magazines are directed by deadlines and thus the demands of the owner or publisher whereas independent magazines are dictated by the pursuit of original content.

8) The benefit of the "Do it yourself" approach that the independent magazines seem to take up is that this attitude emphasises semiotic self determinism.

9) I believe the appeal of print magazines is how personal and inspired some of them seem to be. Most independent magazines have a specific message they intend to spread to other people.

10) Some of the challenges that independent magazines seem to find are its funding and distribution. Independent magazines need to find someone who is willing to a distributor that agrees with your cause and wants to help progress it.

Irish Times feature

1) Independent magazines are popular due to how they're subject matter is as diverse as they're production techniques. 

2) The reason that the magazine publishing industry is set up to favour the big conglomerates as those with multiple titles, large sales teams find it far easier to survive the landscape. They also have a relatively cheap cover price and are filled with adverts.

3) This article states that independent magazines might find it challenging to find an audience as if they make they're subject to broad then you might get lost in the crowd, make it to narrow then and your audience might be too small the only way is to get it just right and then you have a chance.

4) One of the challenges that magazine distributors might face is competition from free sources due to the internet.

5) Many magazines only make money by diversifying into other products. For an example t-shirts, hosting events, podcasts etc. 

TCO interview

1) Ruth Jamieson suggests that there's a renaissance in independent publishing magazines as its never been easier to make your own magazine. The fierce competition between titles has been pushing up production values and the quality of writing and art direction.

2) The common theme for successful independent magazines is that in some way its game changing to the entire landscape. This can be done through its core idea, its art direction and a focus on the reader rather than the advertiser.

3) Oh Comely definitely has some of the attributes that make a successful independent magazine. It focuses far more on the interests of the reader than the advertiser (They barely have any adverts inside the magazine.), its idea has been done before but the direction and the way they've taken it is completely new and different to other magazines.

4) Jamieson believes that in the future magazines will come and go but its standard will continue to rise and be refined with the landscape becoming far more competitive.

5) I believe that Oh Comely will survive the next 5 years due to it probably being the leading of high quality independent magazines currently. It will most likely have more competitors in the future however but I don't believe it would completely write them out of the scene.