6 Top Editors Give Advice To Frank Ocean About Starting A Magazine
Be warned: running a publication isn’t easy.
This Spring, Frank Ocean announced a new album and new magazine via his Tumblr. Earlier this month, we spotted a shot of Nabil and Lil B leaving Berkley's East Bay Vivarium. Naturally, we assumed something incredible had just happened, we couldn't have known how right we were: Nabil happily informed us that he'd shot Lil B for a feature interview in Frank's upcoming mag, Boys Don't Cry, slated to debut with his upcoming album. Fellow OF alum Tyler, the Creator has teased a print component to his Golf Media app as well, and every day it seems like another smart kid is putting his or her brain on paper in ways that keep us inspired.
We asked a few of our friends in the field to offer words of wisdom to Frank, Tyler, and any other ambitious young people diving into publishing—and took a bunch of notes ourselves along the way.
4. Be a team player
Alex Frank, freelance writer
Learn how to collaborate. I always thought that the group project of making an album was kind of similar to an editorial team coming together to create a magazine. With magazines, as a writer or an editor, it might be your idea that fills a page, but you got to work with an art director, a photographer, a stylist, whoever, to make it a beautiful reality. Letting go is hard, but it's an important kind of hard. Someone else's idea can be better than yours—don't forget that. Know when that is true, accept it, don't let it make you feel ashamed. And use fucking oxford commas.
Follow Alex Frank.