Quick and Dirty
IN-STORE NOW
FALL/WINTER Magazine
catalog cover
SCENE1425
Fall/Winter 2010 program
features the cream of the crop of musical acts
 
MUSIC: PHOENIX
All over it.
 
Oh SNAP!: The Making of an Independent Mag

SNAP!
Meredith Erickson

With the recent downward plight of many of the magazines we love out there (and some we don't), it was a real treat to come across SNAP! Magazine and it's two extremely likeable founders Hannah Byrne and Shayl Prisk. Born in Australia both women have been living in Montreal for the last couple of years, working days as line cooks and nights as entrepreneurs. Here they give us the scoop on how anyone can start a magazine, how to encourage contributors, and how they can't wait to rid themselves of 'hat hair and salsa splashed arms'.

 

Can you talk a little about the beginnings of SNAP! Magazine in terms of how it started and who was involved?
Hannah: We've been working on SNAP! for two and a half years now and have produced eight issues of the magazine, as of this fall. From the beginning it was just Shayl and I. We're both from Australia although we met here in Montreal. We moved into a loft together and the space doubles as an apartment\office. After we released our second issue we started working with graphic designer Vanda Daftari and the whole thing really came together.

Shayl: Hannah came up with the name one hung over morning. The night before we had been out, talking about what we really wanted to do and joked 'why not start a magazine?' and never looked back. We were chatting at the restaurant where we work (local vegetarian spot Lola Rosa) and Hannah said 'let's call it SNAP!' and the name just stuck.

Your office is in Montreal. Would you consider SNAP! to be a local or national magazine. In other words, how do you reach out to the rest of Canada?
S: The plan was always to make it local with things like street guides, features on artists working here, or cool stuff going on in the city. However we really believe that a good magazine will be eclectic and broad-ranging, so we try to incorporate that into our content as much as possible. Right now we distribute 2000 free copies across the city each issue but we also get lots of views online, at least triple what we print. Our website (www.snapme.ca) is a great way for people to discover us and we hope to start providing subscriptions for readers outside of Montreal very soon. Many of our contributors have friends and family elsewhere and we are getting more and more emails from people in far off places asking us how they can get involved or get their hands on a copy. It's pretty cool!

Since this is Little Burgundy's 'Secret' issue, can you let us in on some secrets on how to run a successful magazine, especially in today's publishing industry?
S:Throw lots of parties! (joking). But seriously we have thrown lots of vernissages for our contributors... when we believe in what someone is doing we're more than happy to have a night for them to show our support. The best lesson we have learned is the value of teamwork.

H: I would say, 'understand your business.' Doing everything ourselves has made us learn what works and what doesn't. The idea behind SNAP! is that we're trying to build a community of artists, so finding people we believe in and then supporting them through our pages is one way to achieve that. Online there is a profile of every artist that has worked with us and a link to their website. If a contributor has an idea, they are welcome to come by and brainstorm with us.

Do artists often submit or are you just always on the lookout for talent.
S: At the beginning it was more of the latter. But now we have a lot of people emailing saying they would love to be involved, sending us portfolios. We want to keep the magazine about emerging talent not about those artists already well known.

What has been your favourite issue of SNAP! so far, and why?
H: Mine was the Vagabonds issue. It is all about traveling- really eclectic photos and some great narratives.

S: I think each issue we're getting stronger and stronger. I love them all for what they are and I could never choose.

If you could have any writer contribute to the magazine, who would it be? How about an artist?
S: Writer- J.D. Salinger. I particularly like the short fiction he did for the New Yorker. Photographer- Nick Knight. He's an artist, and I like that his work is always experimental. I love it when he does Paris VOGUE; those two are a perfect match.

H: Writer- Roald Dahl Photographer- Tomonori Tanaka. He has great street-style shots from around the world.

As a magazine-phile myself, I always like to know: what are some of your favourite magazines?
S: Another Magazine and Another Man, VOGUE International Hommes.

H: Frankie (from Australia), Nylon.