June 16, 2011

Once Upon an iPad: Summer Reading List

Once magazine.

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“Take time to stare,” beckons the tagline for Once, a new-media paean to old-school photojournalism. Cocreated by ex-MoJo intern Taylor Wiles, Once is the first tablet-only magazine devoted exclusively to narrative photo essays. (Sign up on the Once website to get the first issue later this summer.) Below, four more Pad-tastic innovations not funded by Richard Branson or Rupert Murdoch:

The Atavist: The “boutique publishing house” commissions original nonfiction, formats it especially for digital devices, and sells it a la carte.

Byliner: Best known (so far) for Jon Krakauer’s “Three Cups of Deceit,” this startup offers “Byliner Originals” that fall somewhere in length between magazine stories and books. The writer gets half the proceeds.

Instapaper: A commuter favorite originally designed for the iPhone, this do-it-yourself reader allows you to clip and save articles into an elegant instant newspaper.

Palimpsest: Think of it as a bespoke aggregator based on your own reading habits. Each day, curators from sites dedicated to the long form handpick articles from The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, GQ, and other mags. The selections are then customized to taste.

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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