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# When The Magazine nearly died
- URL: https://onemanandhisblog.com/2014/06/magazine-ipad-marco-nearly-closed/
- Published: 2014-06-24T15:05:29.000Z
- Updated: 2015-04-08T16:17:53.000Z
- Author: Adam Tinworth
- Tags: editors, iPad, magazine publishing, subcompact, The Magazine

![The Magazine](https://i2.wp.com/www.onemanandhisblog.com/content/images/2014/06/source-v65.png.jpeg?resize=400%2C533)

Interesting [insight into *The Magazine*](http://www.marco.org/2014/06/23/elephant?ref=onemanandhisblog.com) and its (previously unknown, I believe) near-death experience:

> Having a “built-in audience” from a 5by5 show, Tumblr, Instapaper, and Marco.org didn’t sustain The Magazine. I sold it because it was cratering under my ownership and losing subscribers alarmingly quickly. I was about to shut it down, but Glenn wanted to try running it, so I sold it to him for much less than you’d probably assume.

It’s often cited by people – myself included – as an interesting experiment with a subcompact magazine format on the iPad. The fact that, after a successful start, it nearly failed is eye-opening. The reason? Marco makes it pretty plain:

> The Magazine under my leadership was subjectless, unfocused, and irrelevant to most of my audience.

Under [Glenn Fleishman](http://glog.glennf.com/?ref=onemanandhisblog.com), it seems to have prospered. No matter how good the tech, you still need a skilled editor…

**\[Update\]**: A response from *The Magazine* suggests that the situation was more nuanced that perhaps Marco’s post suggested (to me, at least):

> [@adders](https://twitter.com/adders?ref=onemanandhisblog.com) Correction: Marco was going to shut it down because he didn’t find it a success; it wasn’t about to fail, however.— The Magazine (@TheMagazineApp) [June 24, 2014](https://twitter.com/TheMagazineApp/statuses/481471877370507264?ref=onemanandhisblog.com)

Re-reading Marco’s post with that correction in mind suggests that he was considering closing it because subscriptions were falling (which he considered a failure), not because it was about to become unprofitable. That’s a distinct difference.