The publishing industry is rapidly changing. But two new North Carolina-based publications are redefining media and setting the pace: The New New South and GERM Magazine. Both take fresh approaches to content and both publish exclusively online.
The New New South (www.newnewsouth.com) offers “true stories from below the Mason-Dixon.” Founded by publisher Andrew Park of Chapel Hill, The New New South is a new digital publisher of longform journalism. Using the innovative technology platform developed by the creators of The Atavist, they release one in-depth and immersive work of nonfiction at a time for reading on tablets, smartphones, e-readers, and the web. Check out their forward-thinking approach to publishing by reading an excerpt here.
Along with great prose and fascinating subjects, stories on The New New South include YouTube video, photographs, music clips, and more. That’s what they mean by “immersive”—you can lose yourself for a lunch break or two just following the threads.
Two stories in, their authors have included Belle Boggs and Barry Yeoman. Boggs’ “For the Public Good” tells the story of the 7,600 victims of forced sterilization in North Carolina during the 20th century and their decade-long fight to be compensated by the state; Yeoman’s “The Gutbucket King” is an intimate and colorful multimedia profile of Little Freddie King, one of the last great country bluesmen in New Orleans. It includes never-before-heard interviews and music.
GERM Magazine (www.germmagazine.com) came out with their first issue yesterday. Focusing on “High school and beyond: Real thoughts, real writing, real life,” GERM is a magazine for girls—high school and beyond—that celebrates beginnings, futures, and all the amazing and agonizing moments in-between. From facts to fiction, beauty to boys, movies to music, how to’s to where to’s, you start here.
GERM has sections for “Lit” (prose, poetry, songs, etc.) and plenty of other offerings—and they’re looking for writers.
Stories in the first issue include “Take a Stand: How I Stopped Bullying” by Elizabeth Meade and “Germ Mix: Ladies Night In” which offers a playlist of exclusively female songwriters. Of course, there are advice columns galore (Ask a Man, Ask a Ninja) and plenty of selfies on the magazine’s active Facebook page.
While print may always have a place in the publishing world, it’s great to see two North Carolina-based publishers pushing the boundaries of what we think of when we think of good literature, and the way we consume it.