Stack – the next five years

I’d like to take a moment. Stack started in December 2008 with the vague idea that more people might like to read independent magazines if it was easier to get hold of them. Over the last five years, thousands of subscribers have proven that right, signing up to have a mystery magazine delivered to their door every month.

I’ll be honest – when we started I didn’t really know what I was doing. I stuffed every envelope myself and sent them out by carrying them to the post office and putting stamps on them, much to the annoyance of everybody else in the post office.

But things have changed over the years, and as Stack has grown it’s got better at tracking down the best hard to find independent magazines and delivering them to people’s homes. So, as we approached our fifth anniversary with more subscribers on the books than ever before, it seemed only right to take a long, hard look at the website and come up with something that does an even better job.

Working with the brilliant team at Human After All, we’ve identified the five main benefits of a Stack subscription, and completely rethought every piece of content on the site to improve the experience for all visitors.

It’s now easier for subscribers to see what they’ll get for their money; it’s easier to view the Stack magazines and read their creators’ thoughts on what makes them special; and it’s easier to follow lines of interest through the blog, with one post leading onto the next.

Of course it’s a work in progress – over the coming weeks we’ll finish tagging archive blog posts, eventually bringing all of them into the fold. And we’re expecting a few glitches on the mobile and tablet versions as we iron out problems (please do let me know if you see anything that’s not working as it should).

But this is a solid base to build on in 2014 and beyond. Stack has succeeded so far because there are so many fantastic independent magazines out there, and so many people who want to read them. Everything we do revolves around bringing those magazines into those people’s homes, and that’s only going to continue.

In fact, you could become one of those people for free. Since we’ve been going for five years and there are five reasons to subscribe to Stack, we decided to give away five free subscriptions – one for each day of the week.

Every day we’ll release a new hashtag – just tweet us with the name of your favourite magazine of 2013 and include the hashtag, and you’ll be entered into a draw to win a year’s worth of Stack magazines, delivered to your home, wherever you are in the world. And don’t forget Stack makes for a great Christmas present, so if you do win you’ll have to decide between keeping it for yourself or donating it to somebody else (we’ve got some lovely gift cards we can send your way so you’ve got something to give on Christmas Day).

Today’s hashtag is #freestack – tell us your favourite magazine of 2013 and we’ll notify the winner tomorrow morning. And watch out for the results on Monday 23rd, when we’ll reveal the most popular magazines of the year, as voted for by you.