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LIP magazine
Posted by:
acapps LIP
()
Date: October 26, 2007 07:44PM
Hello,
I came along to the AGM on Thursday and found it very interesting.
I first would like to say a big thank-you to all the committee members for all their excellent work.
I have one idea which I would like put into the mix and this is with regard to the magazine.
After listening to everybody at the AGM there did seem to be a little confusion as to the function of the magazine which I hope can be made clearer to all members. I think the general opinion was for a magazine which is there to present emerging photographers and LIP members and generally raise the profile of photography.
With all this in mind and with the distribution problems due in some way to competition on price and with small sales, would we not be better as an organization to offer the magazine free to the public at a small number of suitable outlets.
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Re: LIP magazine
Posted by:
monty
()
Date: October 27, 2007 12:43AM
I agree. What is the purpose of the magazine? The answer to that difficult question ought to untangle every other knot.
Monty
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2007 12:45AM by monty.
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Re: LIP magazine
Posted by:
GaryAlexander
()
Date: October 30, 2007 05:05AM
I think the purpose of the magazine is to promote the organisation and it's members but that doesn't mean that it should be an inward-looking, 'members only', journal type publication because that would be less interesting to the wider public and therefore tend to defeat the promotional purpose.
I don't understand how small sales, competition and distribution problems means that giving the magazine away free is a good idea. Certainly 'free' doesn't solve the distribution problem. The distribution problem is solved by people volunteering to take the magazine to the shops.
I suspect making the magazine free is a non-starter because a) the membership would ask what they get for their subscription and b) it would be an unsustainable negative drain on the finances, particularly as you would almost certainly need to print more to cover the fact that a lot of the people picking it up would be less likely to become members.
It's hard to prove any of this stuff but I think that the substantial recent growth in the membership is largely due a) the website and b) the magazine moving to colour and broadening it's scope.
I'm not saying everything is perfect but on a more general point, the people who do the work are the ones who make the decisions.
Gary
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Re: LIP magazine
Posted by:
acapps LIP
()
Date: October 30, 2007 03:56PM
Your first point Gary, I'm in full agreement with regard to purpose, although its good that know its being talked about, maybe in the future all the membership can start to feel proud of the magazine.
With regard to your second point, smalls sales could be removed because of an increased takeup, Sales at the moment work out at 125 per year going by figures within the accounts.
Next no longer any direct competition and finaly distribution, Just because the magazine is in more outlets does not necessarily equate to more exposure. if the magazine was presented correctly in a small number of outlets we would have less pressure on distribution.
Lets address point 'a' I think this question has already been asked at the AGM. They do get a nice colour magazine for a cost of approx. £11 per person (please correct me if I'm wrong).
Which brings me to point 'b' I do not see how £500-600 per year can be seen as a unsustainable drain, which is the amount we would need to cover to make the magazine free to the public.
Your second part about requiring an increase in the print run is very spurious why would this be required and why would more people picking it up make them less likely to become members (which is not the only point for the magazine), what is this based on? How many at present do we have left over?
With regard to the last point 'the people who do the work are the ones who make the decisions' I'm not sure what point you are trying to make here.
Adrian
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Re: LIP magazine
Posted by:
louiseforrester
()
Date: November 02, 2007 06:42PM
Hello everyone, I'm Louise, the new designer of the magazine.
It's great to see so much debate around the magazine, fantastic that people are so interested! There was a lot of debate at the AGM too, a brief summary should be sent out to members before long which you may find interesting.
To answer a few points from this discussion:
Submissions guidelines will soon be posted on the website, with details of how and when to send work in for consideration.
Tim Crowe would really appreciate help with distribution if anyone's interested, please get in touch.
Sales of the magazine are much higher than the accounts suggest, Len Salem explained this briefly at the AGM.
The issue of what the magazine can and should be doing is one we all seem to have slightly different thoughts and feelings about. This will likely be discussed further at the next committee meeting, but it is also great to hear members' and readers' thoughts on the issue.
I personally think the magazine's a fantastic vehicle for showing work where the photographs themselves are considered rather than a photographer's reputation or previous publication/exhibition history, and a great way of disseminating work that might not find a place in mainstream magazines.
Finally, please don't hesitate to send in any comments or feedback directly to the magazine publishing team, we'd love to hear your thoughts!
Louise
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Re: LIP magazine
Posted by:
Brig
()
Date: November 08, 2007 03:09PM
The content of the LIP magazine has been causing quite some unease as well as anger not only to myself, but to virtually every member of my satellite group. We feel that most of our membership money goes to a publication which mainly serves "emerging" photographers outside LIP and totally under-represents a sizable membership. LIP has a multitude of highly talented and accomplished photographers whose work would grace any photographic publication, let alone the LIP Magazine, and would not shame LIP as a whole by offering "camera club" collections of snapshots, as so tactfully referred to by Brian Keane at the last AGM.
Nobody wants an inward looking, newsletter style publication, but the present magazine does not have a particular LIP identity, but is just one of several similar publications, with often rather formulaic images. It does not represent the fantastically diverse talent within the LIP membership.
Brigitte
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Re: LIP magazine
Posted by:
louiseforrester
()
Date: November 08, 2007 04:44PM
Thanks for your comments Brigitte.
These points were discussed at the recent committee meeting, look out for information coming soon about how these issues are being addressed.
You might be interested to know that the recent issue of the magazine featured 8 members from a total of 13, a review of a member's book and an exhibition review written by a member - very few members had work rejected who submitted photographs. Submissions guidelines will soon be posted online, which hopefully will encourage more members to send in work, there is indeed a very talented pool of photographers within LIP. Equally, as often happens several of those who weren't originally members have since joined LIP having found out about everything it offers!
It's a real shame that you feel angry about the magazine, it's a labour of love for all involved and we'd love you to be proud of it! Please do send in your thoughts and feedback as ever and we'll do our best to act on them.
Louise
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Re: LIP magazine
Posted by:
louiseforrester
()
Date: November 09, 2007 02:22PM
Quick ammendment - in fact in the last issue there were 11 members out of the 13 featured photographers..
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Re: LIP magazine
Posted by:
Brig
()
Date: November 09, 2007 02:56PM
Louise
thanks for your response which I have forwarded to all our group's members. None of us has received the latest magazine yet - which is yet another gripe. I usually find the magazine in the Photographers' Gallery a long time before receiving the magazine myself. Since most of my subs go towards the publication costs, it would be good to receive it in time too.
Brigitte
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Re: LIP magazine
Posted by:
louiseforrester
()
Date: November 09, 2007 03:38PM
Thanks Brigitte, good to get the communication flowing!
Your copy should reach you very shortly. The distribution process has been recently streamlined so the next issue should run smoothly, with more synchronised postage and bookshop drops.
Louise
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