“I am full of love for every one. And everything is soft and vague and very sad. It is sad, it is sad. But everything has meaning.” - Virginia Wolf.

I saw this quote just now and it reminded me why I exist.

As I write this on Thursday evening, I am once again taken aback by how inspiring it is to be engulfed by media.

I watched this two-hour video essay by the channel Then & Now on the rise and fall of media, and while it was illuminating, it still left me wondering how we can fall in love with technology again via more loving media.

I started reading The Editor’s Companion by Steve Dunham this week. It’s a timeless, indispensable guide for writers and editors of all media. You should check it out!

I’ve also continued catching up on the Print is Dead podcast. Hearing from founders and editors of magazines has been beyond inspiring and confirms that a lot of us, while all figuring it out day by day, really are on the right track. These women (and some men), veterans in their industry, like Kerry Diamond, founder and editor at Cherry Bombe, hint at print media’s relation to community building. Emma Rosenblum, Chief Content Officer at Bustle, mentions how the NFL tackles sales by going hard one day a week rather than going all out every single time at the printer.

Many of the editors I've listened to are just as happy printing two or four magazines a year as they were working on monthlies. The dedication to a craft is incredibly clear when listening to their stories. If you're a writer, I highly recommend this podcast.

In her episode, Emma says they have a virtual monthly member event for Cherry Bombe subscribers, with over 100 people attending each time. Combining a quarterly magazine, a fully stocked site with recipes and travel tips, multiple podcasts, community, and events, that is the modern media business. Oh, and Cherry Bombe also has a yearly conference called Jubilee for women and creatives in the food industry.

Here’s a look at their subscription model:

And I imagine every single subscriber of Cherry Bombe has no problem paying for the quality experience they get from the support.

So, if this is what it looks like to run a (print) media business in 2024, I wonder what it might be like 5 years from now and how we, as editors, writers, reporters, content creators, and the like, can prepare ourselves for that.

I will try to explore in future weeks.

To do that though, we in digital and print media, we’re eventually going to have to talk about the internet.

Maybe the answer is that we need to fall back in love with the Internet—with ourselves on the Internet—with how we build products for a dynamic Internet.

Maybe it’s embarrassing to talk about this maturing entity and wish, if not so secretly, that it was something it is not. If all we do is try to improve this thing beyond capabilities, attach it to our bodies, abuse it, and drone away at its casinos, what message does that send? Mixed messages, really. If the internet is the heart of an evolving, connected humanity, it seems like we’d want to collectively keep that organism and our use of it healthy.

Media on the internet and access to said media, however, needs a makeover and several years of therapy sessions. Rather than slapping the word capital New in front of the Internet and calling it a day while attempting to put power back in the hands of creators, we must consider the content and those distributing it.

It may also be embarrassing to talk about the internet due to how intimately connected we are to the things, and people, it produces. Being an internet person is a weird kind of relationship, or so I’ve heard. And now we’re all so disillusioned that we've turned a tiny hippo into an overnight celebrity via yet another microtrend.

That's fine and all but do you even remember demure? Ahhh yes, the good ol days of what… two weeks ago. You people will drop the meme as soon as the next one hits your feed. So what, right? Anything for the bit and a few likes.

This is probably why dating, too, has turned into media. Again, everything is content.

Maybe this is why dating apps are crumbling. We’ve fallen out of love with our connection to the internet and the people we find inside it. Maybe we wouldn’t have “gooning” as a new term if we weren’t so lobotomized by the reality TV celebrities and tech henchmen of the day feeding us “news” and entertainment in the form of stoic slop media.

Who are the sane ones here?

Who are the sane ones here?

Maybe the internet you end up falling in love with is better than the one you remember. Maybe it’s permissionless, where creators get a say in what happens with their IP, more programmable, and more useful to those traditionally underserved by an industry built on a foundation of manipulation and harmful propaganda.

Print magazines, on the other hand, are sacred, a moment in time unlike the digital space. There's a different type of creativity and intimacy with print media. As in, a relationship to media chosen so thoughtfully to solidify with ink.

We could, of course, spend an entire day talking about legacy media though I admit I'm no savant at this stuff. All I know is I'm having fun on the internet again and maybe that's all that matters. As for next week and the weeks after that, my focus at EIC is clear: enhancing physical media with onchain creativity and reporting that maximally benefits both writers and readers.

This next wave of media to fall in love with is narrow. It is more thoughtful, energizing rather than draining. Media deserves a little glow up. Maybe we got a little taste of it with this summer’s pop hits. Not looking at you Katy Perry.

Anyway enough of me being a hater. Back to the internet and media.

This love is why I’m so happy to be Editor at EIC Quarterly. It gives me the chance to share with readers a love for Ethereum and its developments in a way I understand.

I have no one's shoes to fill but my own, so that's… comforting.

It's also why I want to reduce the number of advertorials to as few as possible (though please feel welcome to pitch them). We do and see enough shilling on the timelines. In their stead, I want to see feature stories that highlight the world computer of today and tomorrow, what is being created with ETH through an analytical lens, the dreams being brought to life, and ultimately, a shared love for the internet. The vision is clear, the task is massive, but I’ve been here doing this creator thing and bringing Ethereum people together for the past three years without quitting, I think we’ll be just fine.

Previous issues of EIC have held space for 12 and 13 stories, yours could be next!

If that sounds like something you’re into, or you want to sponsor EIC03, send me an email at riley@ethinvestorsclub.com

Closing question for readers: What are your thoughts on Letters to the Editor sections or other magazine mainstays?

Bonus YouTube video for the week on how to publish your own magazine.

And you should see this week’s announcement from the product team at YouTube.