Mainstream magazines, big names like Vogue and ELLE, have dominated the industry for decades. They monopolized the fashion world, covering runways, high fashion, trends, and culture. They’ve taken women’s beauty and our relationship with our appearance, and twisted them for their benefit. 

Articles promoting the newest anti-aging cream or the latest serum to make your wrinkles disappear. Catalogs detailing expensive outfits from the new spring line. Interviews with people who exist exclusively in a world not including ours. We see models that don’t represent us, women with botox and filler “embracing their true beauty,” and encouraging us to do the same. 

There is nothing wrong at all with choosing to have cosmetic procedures; we all have a right to do what we wish with our bodies. However, it still leaves much to be desired in publications meant to cater to all women, not just a specific class. Readers pick up these lacquered books because they want to see themselves in the writing. They want to see someone who looks like them on the front of Vanity Fair. They want to read a genuine piece that discusses the true plights and joys of being a woman, not an article about what it was like to get ready for the MET Gala. 

We want to open a page and see ourselves. To read something and relate to it. But, unfortunately, we have been let down. We craved that mirror in Harper’s BAZAAR, but it is nowhere to be found. So, we gathered ourselves and our ideas, and we made our own magazines. 

Indie Magazines 

Potentially connected with the resurrection of the magazine industry, indie magazines are bringing the field back to life. 

Mainstream magazines were in decline; nobody was reading them anymore. Meanwhile, more niche and independent publications are rising through the ranks, garnering support from the public. 

An indie magazine is a smaller publication, produced independently from larger publishers and typically hone in on specific topics and genres. They have a dedicated audience and produce content that is targeted towards certain communities; great minds only think alike. 

Unlike mainstream magazines, these do not have any print production, relieving them of significant financial distress. They are easily accessible online, expanding their potential reach to the entire internet. They know what their people want, so they give it to them. While their chosen subjects are not as broad as major magazines, indie magazines do their readers justice. They do it small, but they do it very well. 

Because they are not tied down like their larger counterparts, they have the flexibility to change their style and content design. Their independence affords them the freedom to get creative and discover new layouts and expressions. They can indulge in variety, something missing from the larger magazines. 

Most importantly, someone like them is writing to them. Not down on them; we are equals and friends, reading together.

All for One, One for All 

Indie magazines don’t just shine a light on discussion points that are overwhelmingly neglected by other major productions; they boost their community with them. 

More often than not, indie magazines are formed by one or two people only. Unlike the massive team and several departments that play into a large magazine like Vogue, micro-magazines only have a couple of people to set everything up. So, they often call on their followers to contribute their writing and content to their magazine. 

For rising journalists or writers, breaking into the industry and gaining work experience is notoriously difficult. Bigger publications won’t look at you without any bylines or experience; finding work is hard in a field with so many candidates and so few positions available. Which is why indie magazines serve such a great purpose. They help provide younger writers with the necessary learning experience to grow in their profession. 

Giving them the space to pitch, write, edit, research, and interview for an established publication is not only useful for the magazine itself, as it integrates their readers’ thoughts, but also greatly benefits the writer and improves their portfolio. 

Even better: indie magazines are independent; they do not have the same hard deadlines and publishing requirements that larger ones do. Having to produce a new issue every month surely makes the editions have a few fluff pieces; you cannot fill twelve magazines a year with solid gold in each printing. Indie magazines, however, do not face such a problem. 

Operating on their own timeline, with no outside pressures to bombard them, smaller magazines can ensure that what they produce is meaningful and sincere. That it truly aligns with their message and their identity as a publication. Pouring your soul into something and waiting until it’s perfect to share with the world is worth it, even if you only publish once a year. 

You can’t rush beauty. 

Quick Reality Check 

Unfortunately, there are drawbacks still to this side of the industry. While being an intimate production can be a good thing, it limits just how far they can reach others. Micro-magazines are typically unable to advertise heavily, leaving their exposure in the hands of the algorithm and their followers. Regardless of how passionate and creative they are towards their work, it’s hard to find like-minded people on a platform as dense as social media. 

As well, it can be hard to grow as a smaller magazine in an industry that is already oversaturated. While widening your reach and your horizons can be faced with heavy obstacles and slow growth, it only ensures that your current and new community members are there for your work, and not just your catchy advertisements.

We all want to be seen. To stumble upon something you have been looking for for so long, to open it and see yourself looking back at you. We all need representation; sometimes, we have to step up and be that for ourselves and others. 

There is no blueprint. Make a page, decide on a name, share a post; just create something. Your people will find you. 

Do you have a favorite indie magazine you read? Let us know in the comments below!