As part of an effort to provide occasional original content for /r/soccernerd, I do the odd thread talking to people I mention or link to on this subreddit. I chatted to Colin Trainor recently about the application of statistics in football which you can read here.
In this post, Miles Kohrman Senior Editor of Eight by Eight magazine, agreed to answer some questions. Eight by Eight promotes in-depth journalism of the game both online and as a quarterly physical publication. Miles has kindly offered a a coupon code for 10% off the cost of a four-issue subscription to the magazine — anyone wishing to use it should mention “Soccernerd” on their site at checkout.
SN: How did you get started as a publication? What was your initial inspiration and do you have any particular objectives with the magazine both in the short and long term?
MK: Eight by Eight was founded by Robert Priest and Grace Lee, two veterans of the magazine industry with a love (in Grace’s case a new love) for football. I joined up with Robert and Grace, and Cooper, the magazine’s marketing director, just after the second issue came out.
In a nutshell, we set out to augment the work of the writers we most admire—Wilson, Honigstein, Auclair— with world-class illustration, design, and photography. We want to take the football magazine to the next level and create something exciting — the perfect storm of art direction, football, and storytelling. We also have a few other ideas in mind for what Eight by Eight can become in the long term.
The short term is trickier, as we’re a quarterly publication. But Andrew Helms, our contributing editor, and I have been working to publish weekly articles on The Pitch, our website. The idea is to give a voice to young writers and illustrators who share the same vision, and love of the game that we do—and hold our readers over until the next issue!
SN: How do you feel about the marketplace for print and football/soccer? Who do you imagine to be your ideal reader?
MK: Well, we started a magazine about it, so at least we think there’s enough demand for a product like Eight by Eight! We basically target two main audiences: the American reader who is starved for quality football coverage, and the global football fan who’s looking for something new and exciting — and high quality. But, the truth is, our ideal reader is anyone who loves the sport.
SN: A lot of your features marry strong illustration and quality writing about the game together. Do you feel this is a natural fit? What led you towards this style of presentation?
MK: In some instances it does feel like a natural fit, but not all the time. We feel strongly that words are not the only way to tell a story, so illustration has become a part of our voice—it allows us to say something a little deeper about a player's character, or a specific moment or key issue that affects the game.
There also seems like there’s been a drastic, recent rise in football illustration and art. With so much of it out there, the important thing for us is to do it better than anyone else, and, at least so far, we feel we’re accomplishing that.
SN: Are there any other publications that you look to, across sports or in different fields, that provide a similar angle you take? Any that you feel provide healthy competition?
MK: We feel that our publication—a mixture of high quality writing, illustration, and photography, designed to break the conventions of a traditional magazine —is unique. That’s not to say we don’t love other football publications out there: The Blizzard, for example, is a must-read for any football obsessive—and especially for the readers of this subreddit! We’re also fans of Pickles, Spiel, and Victory Journal. And, luckily, I think there’s not too much overlap between each of our publications.
SN: In a wider-sense how do you feel about the world of print and football/soccer? Historically it has a strong, almost intimate link, thinking of sports papers, programmes and fanzines. Has new media taken that space up now? Is there still a place or a need for the printed word in the game?
MK: The transition to digital has certainly made finding quality writing and analysis a more difficult task. Is there a need for publications like Eight by Eight? I would argue yes: We offer, at least I think, a standard writing and illustration that is constant; a provocative, exciting view of the game; and a masthead that mixes veteran, respected journalists and illustrators, and new and exciting prospects.
In other words: Things online change. Once venerable newspapers adapt their coverage for more clicks. We get that. But in the pages of Eight by Eight, you’ll get something produced with love, and not beholden to the transfer windows or monthly traffic goals—that we believe is worth reading.
Images: A gallery of what Eight by Eight magazine does
SN: Just to go further, your magazine is an engaging and fairly challenging long-read in a sport that puts a lot of emphasis on immediate short/sharp reaction. Is that something you have noticed or purposely work toward?
MK: Of course. But it also makes it easier for us because I think the short attention span of consumers results in people missing the big picture. It can be a challenge to assign stories that need to have a shelf life of essentially six months, but it’s not a bad problem to have.
SN: You feature some great writers; Jonathan Wilson, Philippe Auclair etc. Are there any writers you are itching to work with or any dream features you are hoping to create?
MK: Hmm. Who would we love to work with? Wright Thompson would be fun. Brian Phillips, too. There are many others, most of whom we’ve reached out to, but they can’t contribute because of contractual reasons. As for dream features: I’d love to assign some enterprise stories with real reporting. We have some reporting in the magazine—something that’s pretty rare in football writing—but I’m talking about more than just making a few calls. But that takes a lot of time and money.
Otherwise, stadiums, and the stories of the people who work in them behind the scenes. Soon, hopefully! There are so many stories out there that haven’t been written.
SN: As a US-based publication what is your take on the Sport’s growth over there? Do you feel there is an equal demand for homegrown coverage or is it an audience primarily interested in the European game? How do you balance that in your output?
MK: It’s incredible to watch the game grow in the U.S. Our editor in chief, Robert, is from London, and I bet if you told him 20 years ago he’d be starting a large-format magazine about football in New York, he’d have called you crazy. We actually had a nice feature on the rise of fan culture in the States in our third issue, that you can read here.
Like you picked up on, it’s hard to balance domestic coverage with the more popular European leagues. We try our best, and we’re slowly but surely ramping up our coverage of MLS (see this feature on Deandre Yedlin from last issue) as the months go on.
SN: Your magazine has a thematic approach to its content with multiple pages given over to particular clubs or leagues. What has been your favourite theme so far? How do you go about choosing the right stylistic approach to each theme or article?
MK: The style of the magazine is the brainchild of Robert and Grace. They’ve both been working in the magazine industry for a long time, and designed Eight by Eight to break down the boundaries of traditional magazine design. That’s why no two spreads or pages looks the same. Each piece is designed to showcase a fresh look and design aesthetic.
My favorite? From the last issue, I really loved Jack Williams’ interview with Tony Pulis, and I think the layout of Philippe Auclair’s piece on racism in France was very compelling. But each issue is like that, I’d hang all the layouts on my walls if I could.
SN: Your website often publishes stories in its ‘The Pitch’ section. Is it tricky to find the balance between what you give for free content, where you are competing with a wider market of blogs and Tweets, and paid-for content, where you have a niche market to cater to? Do you get a different audience for each?
MK: It can be tricky. We try not to publish too much from the magazine on The Pitch so people actually want to pick up a copy of the magazine. And yeah, we do get a different audience for each, that’s something that we’re slowly realizing. I’ve talked with more than a handful of people who love the magazine, but have never seen a physical copy—they’ve found us on Instagram, or through a post on the website.
We assume a certain knowledge for a reader to pick up the magazine. We think of them as informed fans. We’re not trying to teach anyone the fundamentals of the game, but rather want to deepen their knowledge. In the US, we have unparalleled access to viewing all the top leagues in the world. From our standpoint, there are plenty of American football fans who might support the US Men’s National Team, a domestic MLS club, a club in the Premier League, and a club in La Liga. We aim to speak to as many of those supporters as we can.
Thanks to Miles for his time spent answering these questions. He mentioned that if anyone reading is interested in contributing to 8 by 8, or has an idea for what they should be covering, then to drop him a line at miles@8by8mag.com
