Klipp: ‘big brother advice’
A former journalist with Loaded is spearheading a new monthly for teenage boys.
Martin Klipp is to edit Sorted, which aims to capture the lifestyles of boys aged 11 to 16. He said it would offer “big brother advice” rather than “another parental lecture”, with articles on sport, travel, film and fashion as well as more serious issues such as drug abuse and homelessness. It will have an initial print run of 200,000.
“This is a long-neglected gap in the market and our research has shown an overwhelming level of support,” he told Press Gazette. “Girls have Sugar, Bliss and J-17 but there is no magazine for boys. It is a completely untapped market. It baffles me why nobody has done it before.”
Klipp said humour would be a vital component and Sorted would have a global outlook, reflecting the lives of teenagers overseas.
He said the cover would be radically different from any of the current men’s titles and stressed it would not contain “top-shelf” material as found in Loaded and FHM. “We’re not just going to stick Jordan on the cover,” he added.
His team includes deputy editor Piers Townley (also ex-Loaded), news and reviews editor Steve O’Rourke (ex-Official Xbox Magazine) and commissioning editor Jed Novick, a former sub-editor on the Daily Express.
The privately funded title is based in Brighton. It is published by Russell Church, founder of Internet Business (later sold to Haymarket), fitness title Body Talk (later sold to the Daily Mail Group) and Zit, a rival to Viz.
By Ruth Addicott
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog