John Shuttleworth, Founder of Mother Earth News, Interview Part I
(Page 15 of 17)
January/February 1975
By John Shuttleworth
Well, that seemed reasonable enough, so we hitched up our galluses and we set out to change the world completely. And that, to finally answer the first question asked in this interview, is how we came to found Mother Earth News .
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PLOWBOY: Whew. I didn't realize what I was asking.
SHUTTLEWORTH: I know, and I'm sorry if I've bored you. But so many spaced-out freaks have called or written or stopped by to say, "Hey man, I've got this great idea for a magazine and I want you to help me get it published." So many people, you know, seem to think that we just dreamed up Mother Earth News one day and went into business the next that, for once, I thought it worthwhile to tell everyone the real story behind the magazine.
PLOWBOY: As George Gobel has said, "I've worked 30 years to become an overnight success."
SHUTTLEWORTH: Exactly. Mother Earth News' roots go back a long, long way. And I made many twists and turns before I even began to seriously think about founding the publication. It was a very iffy thing right down to the end, you know. I doubt if there'd ever have been a magazine if I hadn't had that other editorship forced on me. Or if I hadn't married Jane. Ana it you don't understand that, read some of Napoleon Hill's books!
PLOWBOY: Well, much to many people's satisfaction, you did launch Mother Earth News.
SHUTTLEWORTH: Yes, on about $1,500 and a kitchen table. That only shows you how incredibly naive I was. You just don't start magazines like that anymore. It just isn't done.
PLOWBOY: But you did it.
SHUTTLEWORTH: Yes, we did it, but it was a tough damn job. Few people realize it but, up until no more than six months ago, there was absolutely no way that Mother Earth News could continue to publish one issue after another.
PLOWBOY: But you did publish!
SHUTTLEWORTH: We published all right, but we were defying the law of gravity all the way.
I'm not going to mention any names, but let me tell you a story: Eight months after we began publishing, another magazine entered the alternative life-ecology field with a total backing of $1,300,000. It had a Big Name editor. It had guaranteed circulation through a very large national distributor. It had advertising contracts signed before it ever printed the first page.
That magazine was a guaranteed success, right? Wrong! It blew the whole one-million-three and went out of business two years ago.
I could tell you a lot of stories like that: That publication blew $40,000,. this one went out owing its printer 80 grand. There have been hundreds — not tens, but hundreds — of alternative life and environmental periodicals come and go since we started.
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