Crash course: What you must know about X-Ray Magazine, its other media and affiliations
Why is it called X-Ray?
We wanted to stand out. "Which dive magazine are you from again?" Almost every other dive publication on the planet is called something with 'diving', 'diver', 'scuba', 'scuba diving', 'scuba diver ... in various combinations and languages. We wanted to stand out as different because we are different and want to take matters in a different direction.
"Which dive magazine are you from again?"
We also wanted a name that was short and memorable, and visuals that stood out - including a logo that scaled well, didn't have a particular orientation and could be instantly recognised and easily spotted from the opposite end of an exposition hall. X-Ray is both a visual pun (by coupling the fish to the medical image) and signifies that we look deeper into matters at hand.
Also at the time of the magazine's inception X-files was also a very popular TV-series and we wanted to tap into the connotations to signal that our publication was a step into the future and not just yet another stale old-format publication. That we were the cheeky new kid on the block.
Editorial Profile
What do we do differently? We have an all together more comprehensive approach and want to consider our readership generally knowledgeable about world affairs. We include art, science and lifestyle aspects because diving is a life style. We do favour long reads with plenty of useful and relevant information for the discerning reader / consumer. We strive to make an intelligent magazine that doesn't dumb matters down or gloss matters over but tell it as it is - yes, we do not shy avoid from politics and hesitate to rais needed debates either - and to educate and raise awareness about our common environment and safe diving practices.
Who are we?
We are an entirely independent entity not beholden to any parent company, investors or share holders. The company was founded in 2003 as privately owned entity by its co-founder Peter Symes and in 2008 transformed into an ApS (The Danish equivalent of a LLC) which is a much more suitable form of company for our purposes. At that point (in 2003) Peter already had a 10 year tenure behind him as dive industry professional working in both dive magazine publishing and dive travel since 1994.
He holds a M.Sc. in biology (specialised in aquatic ecology) and'Media & Communications'.
From the onset the magazine was able to recruit some of the best contributors and editors many of which we've been so fortunate to keep affiliated with the magazine today and actively contributing ever since.
What is AquaScope Media?
AquaScope Media is the name of the publishing company, formal name and legal entity behind X-Ray Magazine. Both names are registrered with the Danish Business Authority and are thus protected. Under the AquaScope Media brand and umbrella we can do so much more than just X-Ray Magazine
Where are we located?
AquaScope Magazine / X-Ray Magazine is registered and located in Copenhagen Denmark, where we have our main editorial office - often just dubbed 'HQ'. Here we administer and put together the magazine.
Over the years we have built a network of local representatives and editors in the US/Canada and Asia-Pacific some of which act as our satellite offices where we take up residence for a while i.e. in conjunction with major trade event or campaigns. See our directory in the magazine for the specifics.
Why is it free?
Print publications have part of their revenues stemming from copy sales at news agents and from subscriptions. We don't. We don't have the costs associated with print, distribution and administration of subscribers either.
That said, the publication still takes a lot of money to put together and some sort of payment mechanism for readers has been under consideration for a long time. And there seem to be a more widespread acceptance in the community that content is not always free anymore. Many of the big newspapers are now doing it so perhaps can we too. We don't however want to put up an outright payment wall
How to download the magazine
All the issues of the magazine can be downloaded for free and without registering. The whole collection of back issues are listed under https://xray-mag.com/Backissues.
An important recommendation is to download and save the magazine first before reading it.
Reading the magazine from within a browser window is less than optimal for the following reasons
- Some web browsers have a horrible colour rendition.
- Reading the magazine within a web browser keeps it inside a box within a box. It is designed to be read full screen.
- Following one of the clickable links out of the magazine will cause the magazine to reload when returning.
- Once saved to your desktop / hard drive you have the issue safely in hand and can even read it off line.
Where to find past published issue (back issues)
The whole collection of back issues are listed under the 'Magazine' tab in the menu - or go here https://xray-mag.com/Backissues
How to subscribe
Also a menu tab on the top of the website. Or go here: https://xray-mag.com/Subscription
Advertising info, where to find it
The advertising information a.k.a. media kit or rate card is available from the /Advertising page on this website. There is tab in the top right corner, above the masthead.
https://xray-mag.com/Advertising
We offer both display advertising in the magazine, banner ads on our website and in our newsletters as well as content creation, copy writing and a lot of other services.
Rates, file format information,... it is all there
Contributors guidelines
Also posted on our website. https://xray-mag.com/Guidelines
Here we address the most frequently ask questions about word count, image requirements, how to upload and so forth. Including so do's and don't and what we would like to see emphasised in the articles we publish.
One question we do not however address publicly:
Do we pay for contributions?
Normally not. Why not? Are we cheap skates? Of course not. We would very much like to just mail a cheque - it would be so much easier - but the magazine has no revenues from readers and revenues from clients and sponsors continue to be tenuous, fickle and unpredictable.
Bear in mind that both the dive industry and media in general has undergone massive contractions for more than a decade - and we happen to sit right at the cross roads at these two industries each of whose revenues have evaporated like candy to pre-school birthday party. Aren't we gluttons for punishment? No, it is a labour of love. The magazine has not only been able to survive but also expand in the face of adversity only thanks to the many wonderful contributors and volunteer editors.
That said, we strive to provide a lot other value in return.
While fiscal remuneration for contributions are limited to the cases where we take on a client who is either set to procure the services of the writer/photoghapher directly or we are able to include it in some deal (doesn't happen very often), there are a lot of other ways we can compensate contributors:
A select few we provide with comp'ed stays with operators, authors get their publications advertised and promoted through our channels, teachers and guides use the publicity to drive clients to their guided trips, master classes and so on. Most cases are different and figured out on an individual basis.
We also provide quite extensive training and feedback for prospective contributors teaching them the requirements and ropes of becoming a dive photo-journalist and contributor and making it in a very crowded and competitive field. All of the above can be immensely time consuming.
Just take our word for it: It would be so much easier and save us a lot of time, effort and jumping through hoops just to send a cheque in the mail and be done with it!
