On two continents, two indie mags turn out issues in 48 hours

Regular Springwise readers may recall our coverage of 24Hour Magazine and its effort to produce an entire issue in a single day. We were reminded of that initiative recently when we learned of not just one, but two like-minded efforts taking place this summer, both at Stack in the UK and at Longshot in New York. Stack, first of all — whose curated subscription service we’ve covered previously — is gearing up to begin an effort later this month to create an issue in two days. Created between 12 August and 14 August, it will be accomplished through an open newsroom set up in London’s Royal Festival Hall, with participation open to all. The work will begin on Friday evening, and by Sunday night a 20-page magazine will have been laid out for printing. One thousand copies will be distributed around the Southbank Centre the following weekend. In New York, meanwhile, Longshot has just concluded what was actually its third effort to produce a magazine issue in two days. After successfully seeking funding on Kickstarter, the crowdsourced project got to work at noon on 29 July and concluded with Longshot Issue Two (the first issue is known as Longshot Zero) on 31 July after thousands of writers, editors, artists, photographers, programmers, videographers and other creatives contributed their best efforts. The finished product is now available on MagCloud. The publishing industry is clearly in transition, but it seems more than coincidence that two separate publishers should undertake such similar efforts on such a similar schedule. Is this a new trend? We’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, two to watch! Contacts: info@stackmagazines.com and editors@longshotmag.com