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Friday, November 7, 2008
Tree-mendous Second Stanza
Lord of the lad rag, Felix Dennis, left Maxim U.S. behind, but he's planted the seeds fo rspectacular global growth
Ladies and gentlemen… the bad boy of men’s magazines; the cheeky Brit who redefined the .jpg) American Publishing landscape…has left the building. In his place, meet the English gentleman/poet on a quest to refine his art and reforest his homeland. Felix Dennis, the rogue behind Maxim is garnering a ton of attention for his effort to become one of the best (he’s already one of the most popular) poets in the UK, and launched an unparalleled tree-planting effort that has resulted in 1,000 reforested English acres.
But while he’s sold Maxim U.S. to guys who can’t seem to find the formula he created to unparalleled success, he’s making more noise in America with his popular news magazine—The Week—and globally with his ever-expanding media empire. While Maxim UK remains a monument to his laddish legend, Dennis owns more than 50 titles worldwide. We caught up with the oversexed sexagenarian as he prepared for his latest tour to promote his latest collection of poetry, Homeless in My Heart.
What do you miss about being an American publishing kingpin?
There isn’t anything to miss. The Week just passed 500,000 paid. I don’t just mean “paid”…I mean PAID brother. This is all real circ. My question is…how real is it for the other guys.
Sounds like you’ve got something to get off your chest.
If an American publisher wishes to buy circulation he can. The question is just how real is a huge percentage of lists produced by magazines with more than a quarter million subscribers. The Week isn’t like that. We don’t even take phone calls from agents. We charge a fortune for subscriptions and we’re getting it.
The Week is killing trees with its success, what are you doing to pay them back?
I’ve been planting trees in England for 10 years. We’ve just passed 1000 acres planted. We started out at 50 acres a year and now we’re at 300. We’ve put about 660,000 saplings in the ground. They tell us I’m the biggest planter of native trees in England. I’m pretty happy with that. I don’t talk to the British press about it. There’s too much talking and not enough trees. I don’t solicit money, although we’re happy to take it. It is my hope that I will reach 10,000 acres before my death and 20,000 more after I’ve gone.
Do you get the same satisfaction from writing and publishing your poetry?
It’s a totally different thing. I’m at a different stage of my life. It’s impossible to get as excited about launching magazines as it is to become successful in an entirely new field. I love that part of my life. It’s just difficult to sustain the same intensity.
How do you explain your success?
It took a long time to come, but critical reaction has changed over time in huge manner. Maybe it’s because my poetry has changed. I’m getting better and listening more to other writers. I began to realize that the craft is just the decanter. I had been building great decanters and some of the wine wasn’t good enough to serve. I’ve come to a balance where the craft and form is no longer at war with sentiment and ideas. The books have sold very well. They’ve been printed in full color every The only reason a publisher would do that is if they’re selling a lot of copies.
Did you make money from your book How To Get Rich?
You can’t make money doing books. Only a dozen authors like Rowling and Grisham get rich from their writing. I didn’t make money even though it was a best seller in England. I did it because I thought it was fun. Amazingly, 90 percent of the reviews are five-star and there are a shitload of them. It’s almost embarrassing. There is the odd madman who wants his money back. So I guess it was a success, but I shan’t be writing another book. I do things as projects and move on to something else.
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