Our plan for JPG Magazine
January 4, 2009
In a phrase, “Getting back to basics” will be our mantra for JPG Magazine should we be successful in our bid to take over as caretaker of the JPG community. As a subscriber, user and contributor to JPG over the years I was shocked when I heard the managers of JPG decided to shut the magazine down. Surely there was a way to save the magazine and, more importantly, the JPG community. It took me 20 minutes to decide that I would pick up the JPG torch and ensure that JPG would not die, but instead flourish. On Friday I made a written offer to JPG’s shareholders to acquire the magazine and the publishing company.
By Friday afternoon I had found two other groups similarly interested in joining forces to save JPG using our collective experience, time, resources and capital. The key was to close quickly, over the weekend if possible and by Monday at the latest. After talking to Mitchell Fox Friday afternoon it would seem our simple plan to save JPG was going to get more complex. Mitchell suggested he wanted to delay closing to see if he could get a better deal. Instead of thinking about what was best for the community I immediately suggested that our offer was only good until close of business on Monday. I was excited about the prospect of saving JPG and I didn’t want to lose the opportunity to someone else. On top of that I will be giving the keynote on Wednesday in Holland at an open source conference on Android - pretty hard to close a deal when you are on stage or on an international flight.
Over the weekend I realized it wasn’t important that whether or not I was the one who would save JPG; it was clear JPG would be saved. Preserving the community, preserving the vision; that was what was important. Don’t get me wrong, I still hope that Mitchell and his team agree that we would make the best caretaker for JPG, but I realize that there might be someone better positioned to save the community.
I received more than 900 (yess nine hundred) emails from JPG readers, contributors and subscribers - almost all appreciative and positive about our plan to save JPG. Some of the messages were two or three pages long - detailing how much JPG means to them. After sifting through the emails I am even more convinced JPG MUST survive. To get an idea of the sort of emails I have received just check out the savejpg.com website.
To conclude, I think there is a place for JPG in the publishing world, but I think JPG needs to be small, nimble and efficient. JPGs unorthodox model, its srcappy bootstrap startup roots - planted originally by Derek and Heather will be our future, not our past. Trying to turn JPG into traditional news-stand magazine isn’t the answer. Step one will be to allow the community to elect a small board of trustees to oversee the direction and management of both the community and the magazine. Their mandate will be to help JPG ‘get back to basics - to what makes JPG special’.
If you are interested in helping please email me at amuse@m-ven.com. If you want to encourage JPG’s shareholders to accept our offer email Ron Palmeri at ron@minorventures.com. At the end of the day, it would seem that regardless of whether or not we are successful, JPG will survive (hopefully they don’t sell it to SmugMug as Mike Arrington suggested).
