Magazine Opportunity: New Humanist

New Humanist is a historic science and culture magazine, with a focus on the ideas, conflicts and systems which shape our world. It can be a great addition to your range with a broad appeal across magazine buying audiences

DS: Which past feature do you think really exemplifies what New Humanist is about?

DH: I’d like to select an entire edition of the magazine for this, if that’s ok. Spring 2021 leads with the question ‘Can we escape our national myths?’. The issue interrogates the tendency of nations to self-mythologise, and the effects of this. I enjoyed the Humanist approach of evidence based enquiry that was brought to bear on these questions. I thought it was fascinating.

What makes you excited to work on New Humanist?

My favourite part of working for New Humanist is being in the office during press week – it is such a stimulating intellectual environment. Also – I have to admit – I get a huge amount of job satisfaction from improving the efficiency of my spreadsheets. I think Microsoft Excel is maybe one of the greatest achievements of humankind.

What kind of readers does New Humanist appeal to?

Enquiring minds. We put out a fantastic collection of very thought provoking articles four times a year. I can see people browsing the magazine stands at airports or train stations, looking for something to get their teeth into during a long journey. That’s where I think we come in.

Magazine Opportunity: Variety Bumper Puzzles

What are you doing to support your stockists in making the most of New Humanist?

We have always tried to produce a magazine that is good to look at, with arresting covers, designed to reflect the quality of the work that has gone into writing it. I’d like to think it stands out on the magazine shelves. Also, are distributed by InterMedia, I trust them to ensure that we are promoted as well as we can be, with special in-store promotions and the like.

What upcoming features do you have that will get readers excited?

That would be one for the Editorial team! For me, I always look forward to reading our regular columnists and features. Personally I am a sucker for the Culture section. I come from a Cultural Studies background so I’m always keen to see how the magazine will approach whichever aspects of our culture are up for discussion in each issue.

RN has recently relaunched the Just Ask campaign, to encourage magazine readers to ask their local shops to order in magazines for them which wouldn’t otherwise be stocked there by making Point of Sale equipment available to retailers and adverts available to publishers. Is this something you can see being a useful tool for New Humanist?

I can’t see why not! I’d be reluctant to reject an idea out of hand without first examining what it had to offer.

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