This month I am looking forward to warmer days. This winter seems to be lasting much longer than normal. The last few months since our spring release, we have been working on some fun projects. The team and I are continuing to build on our Youtube channel and push for stronger content. Whether it is travel related or just inspiring, I am looking to feature some more local Chicago based Youtubers. If you want to grow your channel and cross promote with Halfstack email us a pitch: halfstackmagazine (at) gmail (dot) com.
This year we are focusing on growth and with that growth, some of you may notice some changes as we pull in different types of content, stories and features on our site and in the magazine. I have always believed that the work we do can be impactful, but to do that we need the help of our community. We are just about a month shy from our summer issue. The shoot is underway, our writers are diligently working on articles and we are excited to share this latest issue. As we are growing and evolving, some small changes are taking place with this issue in particular and I wanted to share them with all of you readers. It is because of your support and the creative vision of all the volunteers over the last 5 years that we have been able to push through and release an issue uninterrupted every quarter. Each of these issues has released without a budget and no underwriting and any funds that have been required to grow the publication have come directly from me as Editor in Chief. Working 3 jobs, being a mom and building this brand is tough. Some people may think I am crazy, but I believe in Halfstack and I believe in all of the people who are a part of it.
All of our team volunteers their time to create our beautiful publication and we are at a point in growth that I want us to go beyond a hobby. Many of the designers and writers see Halfstack as a journey and a potential career and I am working hard to bring that vision to fruition. Not just for myself, but also for the hardworking team I am honored to work alongside. With that being said, we have been given an amazing opportunity to work with Issuu.com to bring our publication to the next level. We’ve been selected by issuu to offer the ability to preview and buy Halfstack Magazine to read on issuu. It’s an early version of this digital sales feature, and we're excited to help our fans connect and support the work we do at Halfstack through issuu, the leading digital publishing platform.
While we have created free content over the last 5 years, the reality is that it is not a sustainable vision. In order to grow to the level where we can bring amazing stories that send our writers to different locations and allow our talented digital/video team to utilize visual story telling to share insights on topics you are interested in, we need financial support. So, this is the first step in that.
Our website/blog content will still be here for all to enjoy without a paywall and we will continue to share strong, informative and interesting content on halfstackmag.com as well as share key features from our issue releases on the blog as well, but not the whole publication as we have in the past. That's a promise I aim to keep - giving people the ability to be inspired through the articles on this site are vital to our vision. A portion of our issue archive will still be available for free, but each quarterly released starting this summer will be $4.99. We are not offering subscriptions just yet, but I am hoping that as they build out the platform for this we will be able to do that and offer a bulk yearly rate.
While, I will be honest that this opportunity scared me as I don't want to shut out potential readers, it also opened my eyes to the opportunity we have to better our brand and offer paid opportunities to our volunteers and build a business that is supported by the people we are inspired by. Our motto has always been by the people, for the people. We are hoping that all of you out there will continue to support us not just with your views, but by seeing the value in the content that we create.
If you don't want to buy an issue, but you do want to support the work we do here on the Halfstack blog, our youtube channel and the Podcast - Halfstack Highlights, please consider contributing to our Patreon that we just launched. You can learn more HERE. I hope that you continue along this journey with us. Thank you for your support.
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Jen Lezan
Editor-in-chief
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