Analog Smells Better? Matador Announces Launch of BETA Magazine

Who says print is dead? In the travel writing world, it would be easy to claim such a thing after several print travel magazines folded in recent years, most notably National Geographic Adventure. But also in the past year, we have seen the launch of Afar Magazine, a bi-monthly that runs several insightful travel narratives per issue. And a few days ago, the Matador Travel Network announced that the first issue of its quarterly print magazine Beta will ship in march 2011.

I certainly have no quarrel with electronic media. I’m currently seeing healthy sales of my award-winning Is There a Hole in the Boat? Tales of Travel in Panama without a Car on iPad, Kindle, and Nook. The Matador network of online travel websites has published some of my favorite travel articles, ranging from a piece on Quebecois Poutine to a Beginner’s Guide to Nigerian Pidgin English. And in August, Matador Nights published my piece Four Delectable Rodents and the Wines that Go With Them.

Matador editor David Miller listed several reasons why they are launching a print travel magazine in addition to their online network, including the following:

Your magazine is not going to die on a 30-hour bus ride down the Ruta 40…Your magazine doesn’t need wireless networks, batteries, or alternating current. Nor is it going to short circuit as a result of a beverage spill.

And

We don’t have an office or rent due in some midtown NYC office building, but live all over the world, each of us on the team driven and committed to travel as a way of life.

Sorry, but I won’t join the print versus e-media sparring, since I see a place for both. Each offers its own experience, its own convenience. To me, going without one of them would be like saying that I can no longer eat any food that starts with a letter from N-Z.

For the travel writers out there, take note that the deadline for the first issue is Jan 3rd. Check out their writers’ guidelines here.