Beer Today publisher Darren Norbury on a potential new direction for the 22-year-old website.
Go big or go home, they say. So I’ve decided that I want to take Beer Today in a new direction. For some time I’ve had ambitions to add print products to the website offering, namely a magazine and an annual brewery and suppliers directory.
As West Cornwall Media we already publish a magazine, a community publication called St Ives Local, with a print run of 12,000. We have a process in place, and a great backroom team.
Beer Today is more than just a seven-day-a-week news site. It also champions independent brewers and venues through a huge events listing, a bulging business directory (find anything, from brewers to hop merchants, pub companies to writers and podcasters), and a blog which I really should update more often.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll begin planning the magazine in InDesign (industry standard design software). Same size (B5) as our community magazine, with 64 pages and a target print run of 10,000. It will be bi-monthly and available by mail subscription, with other copies bulk-dropped with trusted partners (independent taprooms, pubs, events) around the country. The annual business directory will be a 256-page catalogue-style publication for the trade. Yearly business round-ups, supplier and outlet listings.
So that’s the plan. Daily Beer Today will continue online. The print products will develop in the background. When the subscriber and bulk drop list are big enough, the first print issue can go into production. In the meantime, PDF dummies will be released.
The media pack for the magazine will be available soon, as will subscription rates. If you’re interested in being a part of this, supporting our precious independent brewers and venues, drop me a line at beer.today@outlook.com so I can gauge the direction of travel. If you’re interested in taking bulk copies (outlets will be promoted heavily, of course), likewise, get in touch. If it doesn’t take off, I won’t be able to say I haven’t tried!
In the meantime, please consider becoming a Patreon supporter at patreon.com/beertoday. There will be advertising discounts in the print products for commercial supporters, and cheaper subscriptions for individual supporters. I love writing about and supporting independent brewers and venues. We know from St Ives Local that people like print, and I think there’s an audience for a consumer-targeted beer magazine.
Thanks for reading. Any queries or suggestions, or indeed and event listings, same email address, beer.today@outlook.com. Cheers!
