Tearaway Magazine

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Tearaway Magazine was founded in 1986 by John and Vicki Francis, and is a free youth magazine aimed at teenagers and young adults in New Zealand.

Tearaway is ‘The Voice of New Zealand Youth' and is 'Speaking to the Head and the Heart, not just the Hormones' ©.

1 General
2 History
- 2.1 Why the name, Tearaway?
3 External links

[edit] General

This modern youth lifestyle magazine is targeted at primarily 13 to 19 year olds but can reach up to age of 24 and no wonder with design that speaks to the reader with own their visual language keeping ‘Tearaway’ ahead of the play, the magazine also prides itself on taking youth seriously by covering entertainment, social and global issues and careers, connecting at a very personal level while having a sense of fun, it celebrates life, and prides itself on being KIWI – which means it's all about living in New Zealand.

With this free magazine the reader can be informed, enriched, enthused and empowered. Encouraging them to live full, productive, enjoyable lives, with respect and care for themselves, and others.

Published in Wanganui, New Zealand Tearaway has a per issue circulation of between 45,000 and 55,000 nationally and is the longest-running, largest-distribution publication aimed at the youth market. Tearaway’s main distribution is through high schools to create a special relationship as the magazine contains relevant material on the ‘real-life’ which can be helpful in the classroom as well as the other publication “Teacher Resource” for the teachers. But it is also available through selected street outlets such as video stores and public libraries.

John Francis remains the managing director and executive editor (2005).

Tearaway is written almost entirely by young people. Anyone can submit an article to create a forum on their issues. The magazine has informal language keeping the staff from being too try-hard or cheesy, so our staff writers keep it simple and straight. Student writers are encouraged to let their own personalities and quirky styles come through, especially if it involves a sense of humour! There is also a core editorial team, known as YETI (Youth Editorial Team Incorporated). Each year Tearaway invites applications from students from around New Zealand, to join the YETI crew giving them the chance to help themselves giving them a voice. And any advice or guidance is from a level playing field, not from ‘adult to kid’, but as from an ‘older sibling’

Tearaway is enjoyed by young teens, people in their 20's, teachers and parents and they continually receive letters from people in their 20s and even 30s, who remember fondly their 'Tearaway' years.

The design of ‘Tearaway’ is constantly evolving; our cover is our ‘front window’ and if people don’t find it attractive and welcoming, they won’t come in and wander around inside. Creating a fun, appealing, energetic, but not confusing and simulates in tune with or ahead of the current styles.

We evaluate all aspects of Tearaway after every issue, and make big or small changes with the next issue. Recently the ‘Tearaway’ has had a make over with the change of size and stock to a lightweight gloss, which is completely different from the past 19 years for the newsprint tabloid publication.

[edit] History

If you’re starting a new publication, you need a market niche.

Back in 1986, I was working as a newspaper journalist at the Wanganui Chronicle. I saw that there was no magazine in New Zealand – in fact, really no popular medium at all – that took young people seriously. There were fashion mags, music mags – but nothing that catered for ‘hearts as well as minds’.

So, the idea was born, to create a publication that could be fun to read, and with more depth to it than just consumer stuff. These were the first stages:

A pilot edition was created. It was black and white (mono) only. Most of the material was just mocked-up (not ‘real’ stories), but it gave a sense of the magazine’s intended style and subject matter.
I took the pilot to a handful of schools, gave copies to classes of students, and asked for their feedback. I did the same thing with advertising agencies. The word? Yes, there was a real need for something like this.
I kept doing the rounds of the advertising agencies until I’d sold enough advertising to print the first edition, just 16 pages. (I’d been given good advice from a more experienced publisher: “Don’t publish ‘til you’ve got the money to pay for it”).
A copy of the pilot, with a covering letter, was sent to all secondary schools in New Zealand, explaining that free copies of the new magazine would be coming their way soon.
As a result of this feedback, modifications were made to the first proper edition. The biggest change was to. The pilot was called Newsbusters (because this was around the time when the film Ghostbusters came out.) Students laughed at the name, it was too cheesy. It had to go. So the name Tearaway was born.
For the first year the magazine was mono with one extra ‘spot’ colour on some pages. (A spot colour might be green, or red, or blue, and would just be used here and there to add interest).
The magazine was an instant hit with students and schools. However getting the advertising needed to pay for it was not so easy! In fact, the fourth issue had to be cancelled due to lack of ad revenue.

[edit] Why the name, Tearaway?

The title of a book or the name of a magazine often has a number of meanings. So it is with Tearaway. I chose it because:

In New Zealand slang a ‘tearaway’ is a bit of a rebel. I figured, well, that would describe most of my magazine’s readers, one way or another. They’re discovering their own path in life and often coming smack-bang against the rules of parents, teachers and society!
I wanted the magazine to ‘tear away’ from the style and attitude that most other publications had towards teenagers – to find new ways of presenting the stories of young people.

Of course, all this doesn’t matter any more. Tearaway has become a brand. If you think of other brands, from Coca-Cola to Tip Top icecream, you realise that brand names don’t have to ‘mean’ anything at all. In the case of Tearaway the name has become synonymous with youth culture in New Zealand.