Outside’s Go EIC: ‘When You Start a Magazine, You’re Absolutely Humiliated By Every Issue’

When we first heard Outside was launching a luxury travel spinoff for dudes called Outside’s Go, we thought it was going to be thinly-veiled attempt to lure high-end advertisers under the auspices of a legit pub. Imagine our surprise when the first issue hit stands and included actual articles with inteligent, thoughtful prose (alongside ludicrously expensive trips). Future issues continued the trend, highlighted by June-July’s in-depth feature on the Mongolian grasslands, which straddles the line between travel journalism and, dare we say, activism.

Yesterday, we caught up with EIC Kent Black, in town to give “some speech,” and publisher Walker Mason near Grand Central Station to talk about the future of the fledgling mag, their “polite” relationship with Outside and the advantages of having a cover subject who “nobody knows.”

“This issue is our semi-celebrity issue,” Black said of the June-July book. “Nobody knows who [Alessandro] Benetton is.” [He's air to the fortune from the clothing company that shares his last name, as well as a visionary leading one mirco lending effort in Africa. We had to read the article to find this out.]

After previous covers featured Dennis Quaid and Andre Agassi, Black wanted a subject who embodied the Go spirit. “Travel philanthropy is the most important travel subject,” Black explained. “This is an important trend for us to be involved in.”

Black touched upon the difficulties of building a publication from the ground up. “When you start a magazine, you’re absolutely humiliated by every issue you’ve done,” he said. “You’re constantly asking yourself how can you get to the next step.” Black and Mason see the Mongolian story as the intersection of editorial and business goals because it combines a sophisticated story with a brand-strengthening travel angle.

In a difficult ad climate, “every issue has been better than the previous one [in terms of ad pages],” Mason said, although he admitted “a lot of [advertisers] are taking a wait and see attitude.”

Black, jokingly, called the relationship with Outside “polite” before saying that “we’re talking about the same guy, [the Go reader's] just older and richer.” He and Outside‘s EIC discuss stories to make sure the two pubs aren’t doubling up on content. You heard it here first: Outside, avoiding Mongolia.

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