By Joey Marshall, Editor of BL!SSS Magazine, issuu Publisher of the Month, July 2017

August 2017 will mark our ten-year anniversary. That’s 120 issues – meaning 120 deadlines, thousands of hours in the office and millions of pages of published works. If you asked me a decade ago, I never could have imagined that I’d be sitting here today, in our headquarters in Newport Beach publishing a free magazine for all to enjoy. And for those of you not familiar with BL!SSS Magazine (and I’m sure there are quite a few), we are a tangible, monthly publication with an emphasis in all that encompasses the world of art, fashion, music, surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding. Our goal is to leave the reader in awe with every turn of the page. BL!SSS has no single definition, no preferred destination and neither neglects nor favors one lifestyle over another. We are an oversized publication at 13.5 by 10.5 inches, but what really makes us easily recognizable is the ever-changing, amazing artists whose work has graced our covers.

Ten years has gone by in a blink of the eye and it’s crazy to look back at our older issues and to see how much the magazine has grown and changed over time. The very first issue of BL!SSS Magazine hit the streets September 1, 2007 —  right after Apple released their first edition iPhone. Even then it was obvious that the digital world was gaining traction, but I don’t think anyone could’ve foreseen how much technology would affect the publishing industry. Even today, I’m still amazed by how many great publications, newspapers, books, magazines … pretty much anything you can imagine, are instantly available at your fingertips. Millions upon millions upon millions of pages on just about anything and everything you could ever want or need. It’s literally mind-blowing, at least from my generation’s point-of-view.

Fairly early on we realized we needed to exist in this digital world as well, but how? Fortunately for us, our creative director at the time, Madsteez (Google him — he’s quite the artist as well), was a bit of a computer whiz and was well versed in Flash. He had already created an embeddable .swf file to simulate a traditional magazine by turning pages with the click of the mouse. Unfortunately, internet speeds weren’t what they are today.  Although our first digital versions of BL!SSS looked pretty, the actual articles weren’t legible as resolution had to be low in order to have quick loading speed. Somewhere along the way he had figured out how to add a zoom option as well, but it wasn’t pretty and it meant we had to upload several versions of the magazine at different resolutions. Looking back it was kind of pathetic and a bit of a hassle, but we were live on www.blisssmag.com and we were ecstatic.

Then along came issuu. I was introduced to this new software/website/platform by a surf photographer who was using it to make a pseudo magazine from surf trips he went on to shop around his work. It was quite clever actually — he’d make basic layouts of his photos from the trip and then present them to potential buyers. I was amazed and instantly hooked. I can’t tell you how much this platform has helped our business. I could literally upload our final .pdf version of the magazine and everything I wanted [and then some] is just a few clicks away. It was more than we ever thought possible — every article was legible, live links could be added or automatically detected, videos embedded, previews of pages, statistics easily accessible, subscriptions, mobile apps … and the more we use it, the more we find.

We recently discovered that issuu works with a third-party printing firm where you can actually order physical copies and have them shipped around the world. This was another substantial accomplishment for our end goal. We have featured countless international artists, athletes, writers, photographers, etc., and have had trouble getting them physical copies of our publication without incurring hefty expenses. But now, we can send them a “purchase” link and with minimal costs they can order and receive physical copies wherever they are in the world, which saves us substantial time and expenses.

I could go on and on about how much issuu has helped our business, but I find it best if you just log on and check it out for yourself. The technology game is constantly evolving and growing and the issuu team seems to be adding and updating features regularly, allowing for more versatility and interactivity in the digital realm. It’s a relationship that we’ve shared with several other publishers and we’re excited to see what they come up with next. We’re looking forward to the next decade of BL!SSS and know that issuu.com will be a substantial part of our future success. Follow BL!SSS on issuu, and check out our new issue: