Bad-ass story of the week
INDIE MAG SELLS 700 COPIES IN A WEEK
And people say publishing is boring. No freaking way. The industry is full of exciting, inventive people who take risks, set trends, and create content that leaves the industry buzzing.
And every now and then, a story jumps off my screen that I feel the need to share right away. That’s the case with UPPERCASE Magazine, an independent, print publication led by Janine Vangool.
Read my novel, Boys and Girls Screaming
Janine is known for being super transparent with her subscribers, but her most recent email was so legendary that I had to share.
OK, so here’s the story: On December 22nd, Janine said that she received a message from her fulfillment company that they would be dumping UPPERCASE because it doesn’t meet their increased monthly quotas. Yeah, December 22nd, right before Christmas, and without any prior warning even though she’s been a customer for four years.
Janine called it a very “Scrooge” thing to do.
The fulfillment company (I’m not going to name them, but Janine does in her email) gave UPPERCASE 30 days to find a new home. It also meant Janine had to get rid of the inventory that was being stocked at this company’s facilities, both the Canadian and U.S. locations.
Now, Janine could’ve sulked, which would’ve been a normal reaction. Instead, she pulled a badass move and launched the Scrooge Sale for her customers. And wouldn’t you know it, between December 22 and December 30, her readers placed 700 orders!! [slowly raising middle finger to fulfillment company].
I love this story because there are layers to it. First, when you build a strong community of readers, they always show up when you need them most. This is why so many of my newsletters are centered around community building. Find your community, nurture them, treat them fairly and when you’re ready to say F U to corporations who don’t respect small businesses, your community will be there to support.
Which leads to my next point. UPPERCASE might be a small business, but it’s a mighty one. According to Janine, UPPERCASE has over 7,000 paid subscribers to its quarterly magazine (including myself) and 11,500 orders were placed in 2022 through its online shop. UPPERCASE averages about 125 orders/month through its (former) Canadian printer and over 460 on the U.S. side.
If I started a print magazine and did these numbers, I’d be jumping for joy every single day. But obviously those numbers aren’t respected by fulfillment companies who rather rent their space to large corporations that can do mega numbers. But where does that leave us, the small and mighty businesses that have loyal readers who are eager to support our creations?
It’s sad and angering all at the same time. And my final point is that they never even tried to work with Janine. The first time she was aware of their new quotas was when she got the notice that they’d essentially be kicking UPPERCASE out. Why wouldn’t they try to facilitate something that worked for both parties instead of cancelling her contract and giving her a month to leave? Horrible. Don’t be like them.
Anyway, this is how you turn a bad situation into a valuable one. It’s great to learn from things happening in real-time so we can become better writers and understand the value of the work we do. I’m a super fan of UPPERCASE and have written about them before. Check them out and learn, learn, learn!