A few weeks ago, a pal was on holiday and asked me to look out for a copy of Spearhead magazine, which is part of the Warhammer series. It’s published by Hachette Partworks, so every issue contains a few pieces, which builds into a model week by week.
I don’t live anywhere near his local shop, so I instead looked around places near me where I thought it might be. Morrisons is a surprisingly good bet for this, with an extensive collection of publications, easily as good as T G Jones or former W H Smith. However, they didn’t have it there, and neither did Tesco. After searching in a few more places, the hunt was off.
While doing these rounds, however, I noticed a couple more trends.
Firstly, it was very easy to pick up a copy of the recent Dungeons & Dragons novel series, even in places like Green’s with a tiny periodicals section. That’s also published by Hachette, but it must be the more popular franchise.
Secondly, and the trend I’d like to focus on, is how many fan magazines are still being published, not in the corners of specialist shops, but occupying shelf space in large supermarkets.
This genre particularly skews towards musicians. I spotted publications dedicated entirely to one act, such as Harry Styles, Yungblud and Lana Del Rey. Given that their fans tend to be younger and digital-savvy, I’d assumed paper magazines would have disappeared years ago in favour of social media feeds, apps and official websites.
Their proliferation suggests an active market with enough readers to justify regular publication – and I can’t explain why. Perhaps people want stories from a reputable source; perhaps there’s a thirst for physical souvenirs.
If you have any insights into this, I’d be pleased to hear them.
