Interview: Nadia Saccardo, co-founder of Pallet magazine
We caught up with the co-founder of US magazine Pallet to talk indie magazines, craft beer and the future of publishing.
Could you start by telling me about Pallet? What’s the main idea behind it?
Pallet is a magazine that takes craft beer as a jumping off point to all sorts of great things in life: interesting conversations, travel, adventure, science, alchemy, history. We say it is for people who like to think and drink. It started because both the co-founder (Rick Bannister) and I worked in publishing for a long time. He also worked as a brewer and when we left our last magazine which was called Smith Journal, we were looking for a new project. We started talking about the fact that craft beer drinkers are types of people who love good beer but who are also very curious. We were looking at what kind of publications existed for them and we couldn’t find any. In that sense, the premise of Pallet is that it reflects the multifaceted interest of craft beer drinkers.
Do you see any similarities between the worlds of indie magazines and craft beer?
Oh there are so many similarities.
Craft beer in America and all over the world has really grown as a reaction to the establishment of big beer and its industrialisation. You have these amazing indie brewers who have been working as a grassroots movement for twenty, thirty years to make exciting and tasty beer that does not conform to the standard definition of what beer should be. They have also rallied as a community to support each other and continue to do to so by collaborating together in all sorts of ways.
The indie publishing scene in that sense is also very supportive and has grown to create publications (books, magazines, websites — whatever they might be) that change the face of general media. When we look at indie publications, they refuse to tick boxes. They don’t just have a section for design, travel, fashion. They go in all sorts of directions to reflect the interests of readers and to create content that is meaningful. There definitely is that parallel between craft beer and indie publishing.
We are talking about indie publishing and craft beer and both have undergone such a boom recently. I am interested to know what you understand by the word “indie”? Sometimes the frontier between what’s independent and what’s not is really tiny…
That is such a good question, I think about this a lot. Pallet is comprised of only two people. Craft breweries on the other hand can be really big but still independent in spirit. I guess it comes down to putting the interests of the readers or consumers before the commercial interests. Of course, you have to take the commercial interest into account but I still believe both interests can happily sit side by side. That’s what constitutes independent anything and that’s how we try to work every single day.
Are there any breweries you would recommend?
There are so many great ones. I’ll just talk about a couple.
In issue four, we collaborated with Beavertown. They are based in the UK and their beers look really cool. I am sucker for nice design so when something is tasty and well designed, that’s very exciting to me.
Over here in the States, there is one in Denver, Colorado called Our Mutual Friend. A. they are super nice and B. they make great beers.
Colorado in general is a massive beer hub. If you are at a pub and you are not sure what to order, beers from Fort Collins are a pretty safe bet.
Another one I love is from upstate NY and it’s called Ommegang. They collaborated with HBO to do those Game of Thrones beers. They are super fun.
Surprisingly, I don’t know that much about beer but the industry doesn’t take itself too seriously and anyone can access it.
Many indie titles in their early stages are often only side projects as they are not self-sustainable. Where does Pallet stand?
Actually Pallet is different to a lot of other indie publication. It’s not a side project. Rick and I independently raised the money to start the publication so that we could work full time on it. Pallet is one year old and it has been able to support us through advertising, subscribers and copy sales. However I would be lying if I said that it was easy to make it work. We do struggle a lot to create a publication that is printed on thick paper, that pays every single contributor, that pays a designer and a sales manager. We do all the social media ourselves. We trade where we can so that we can be present at events and participate. The business of indie publishing is such a hard thing. I don’t think we necessarily have it right but we are trying the best we can.
How do you find the people you are collaborating with?
We are working with three key collaborators: Sam Calagione, the founder of a brewery called Dogfish Head, Kevin Hicks, our sales manager who works with the advertisers and Marta Roca, our designer.
Why did you bring Sam on board?
We approached him because we knew him as a world famous craft brewer who was interested in so much more than just beer. He is an English Major, he used to play in a band, he has built hotels. He loves all those different things. That’s why we pitched him on the idea of being involved with Pallet, to help us grow it, connect it with the craft beer community. He has been an amazing collaborator; so helpful, generous and passionate. Sam definitely is very important but he does it out of a love of beer and publishing.
What about content? Are there ideas you get from submissions?
A little bit… Rick is behind the development of the ideas. We usually develop content conversationally, talking over Skype as he is based in Byron Bay, Australia and I am in NY. When he comes up with an idea, I guess my skill is to transform it into a story through the photographers, the writers, the collaborators. I would say that most of our editorials start internally although we sometimes do use pitches.
For example in issue 2, Stacy Kranitz who is an incredible photographer pitched us on the idea of moonshine culture in the Smoky Mountain’s region in America. It has gone from outlaws making bootleg moonshine in the mountains to this crazy commercial industry which is now worth a lot of money. Her idea was to go and do a photo essay, speak to the bootleggers, speak to the people in the industry, take photos of the mountain’s national parks but also of the commercial main street in Gatlinburg where all the distilleries are. We liked the pitch so we worked on the story together.
Another example is the Rise and Win story in issue 3. Pitched by Ruby J. Murray, it’s about a tiny village in remote Japan that’s zero waste and it’s one of my favorite stories. It’s what Pallet is all about. It starts with beer but there is so much more. It’s about the environment, building up a community, people caring about each other and creating all those great things.
You must be proud to release your fourth issues. What’s next? How is the magazine going to evolve?
We are trying to work that out at the moment. Pallet can go in so many ways. Right now, it is a pretty wild adventure and I am thankful to be working in indie publishing because it allows that continuous exploration of content, great storytelling and connection to readers.
Looking back at the past year, if you could share ONE TIP with anyone considering starting a magazine, what would that be?
Oh my god, I have a thousand tips. I have learned so much this past year.
Only one tip? It really depends on the scale….
I guess it would be about establishing a model around your publication that means it is self-supporting. I would be thinking about growing subscribers; not necessarily selling copies on a newsstand. Subscribers and subscription-based models are a lifeblood. If you can build your publication in that way, then the chances of creating a long-term publication are increased.
You are joining Readbug now. We often hear things about the dichotomy between digital and print. What do you consider to be the main difference between reading online and reading a paper magazine?
We are excited to join Readbug because we have not digitalised our magazine at all. We find the experience to be very different. We design our stories to be read in print and that takes a lot of time and consideration. It’s funny how words read when you put them on a page as opposed to when you look at them on the screen. The reason we like Readbug is because there is an attention to design and experience aimed at cultivating the reading environment. We think that’s really important.
For me personally, I prefer to read long form in print and get my news online but the great thing about apps and tablets is that it does make the digital experience so much more comfortable and convenient. You can read anything, anywhere.
Issues 2, 3 and 4 of Pallet are now available on Readbug.
