Should magazine editions have special launch do's?

The third issue of queer/race forum magazine Race Revolt came out last month. It's a very fine thing and I commend it to any readers I may have here, but what I wanted to note here about it is that there was a launch party for it. Indeed there were two - one in London-upon-Thames and one here in civilised parts. A few titles seem to do that: Canadian bi mag The Fence has launch parties for each edition, even the prim and proper Journal of Bisexuality is having some kind of a launch event for their next edition which is a double issue marking 60 years since the Kinsey report into human sexuality came out. And a few LGBT titles seem to do the same too.

We never make a big song and dance about a new issue of BCN, partly because after 93 issues it no longer feels like a great surprise that we're publishing. Further, we produce 6 or 7 issues a year rather than two or three, and there are only so many launch receptions you can get people along to. But perhaps we should. Or perhaps we* could work harder on the 'BCN Annual' and make more of it as a collection of the best bi journalism of the year, and hold a launch reception for that at BiCon each summer. I'd like that.



* and in practical terms that would probably be "me" not "we", I know...

Because they say these things come in threes...

This month I've learned that both Bi Tribune and North Bi North West have folded. This is quite downheartening, since there are only a small smattering of regular printed bi magazines and journals and to lose two of them means we've lost maybe a fifth of the titles that are out there. North Bi North West had been running for something like twenty years, and though Bi Tribune was a relative newcomer it did have a great mix of material and was more colourful and interactive than some bi magazines. I hope that despite losing it, we can learn from its example.

But for the record, having lost two of our cousins and for all that it's not as frequent as we might like it to be, BCN is still going!