Bert Magazine launches for iPad

Bert, a new quarterly general interest magazine aimed at men, has launched for iPad. The first issue is over 140 pages with 200+ photographs and over 15 minutes of short films accompanying several of the articles.

The first issue is packed full of the generally interesting, including a trip to bespoke bottier (fancy French word for boot maker) Berluti, a chat with Prince Charles’ tailor at Savile Row firm Anderson & Sheppard, and a rendevouz with George Peckitt – a man who built a pub in his backyard. We also share a beer with one of the self-titled ‘beer smiths’ at craft brewery Young Henrys, profile a chainsaw-wielding furniture maker, and hear about Italian pen maker Montegrappa’s link to Ernest Hemingway and their passionate protection of the disappearing art of handwriting. Plus a whole heap more goodness including a look at the noble art of fly-fishing and Australia’s unlikely victory in the Ashes.

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Says Rob Macdonald, Bert editor and publisher: “Bert is aimed at the kind of guy who works hard but yearns to find the time to slow down and enjoy life a bit more. Life for many guys is too often limited to a bland cubicle where the only hint of natural sunlight is way off in the distance past Barry in accounts. Bert aims to let people dream a little by showing them that there are still people out there doing interesting things. Hopefully it might just encourage a few of them to finish the chicken coop in the backyard that they started in 1997!”

Bert is produced using a third party indesign plug in, MAG+, that does a lot of the heavy-lifting in terms of building the app backend.

Says Macdonald: “Even a few years ago publishing like this would be impossible but with the tools available now I think we’re going to see an explosion of what I like to call ‘micro-publishers’. As long as you can find a voice and have the knowledge and skill-set to pull it off then nothing is really unachievable. In saying that – marketing will become even more important for this new wave. It’s all good and well to produce something great but it is all for nothing if no one knows about it.”

Bert has released a few of the short films included in Issue 1 around the launch including a short film on George Peckitt – a man who built a pub in his back yard from hand-milled timber and over 100 tonnes of stone.

Bert is initially only available for iPad and has a cover price of just $2.99. There are plans to roll it out over other tablet formats over the next few issues. The link for Bert in the app store can be found on the website http://www.bertmagazine.com

For all enquiries contact Rob Macdonald at rob@bertmagazine.com