MEDIA KIT ABOUT
The mission of The Believer magazine is to deliver reports from unexpected outposts in the world of culture, nature, and thought. We champion creators; we invite curiosity and experimentation; we celebrate the oddly absorbing and the absorbingly odd. Against conven- tional judgment, we dare to believe. Founded by three novelists in 2003, The Believer is a five-time National Magazine Award finalist and has had dozens of pieces appear in The Best American series. In 2017, The Believer was acquired by the Beverly Rogers, Carol C. Harter Black Mountain Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, an international literary center with a mission to bring writers and the literary imagination into the heart of public life.
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page 2 ABOUT OUR READERS
Our principal reader is a well educated urban professional with disposable income who is deeply engaged in a wide range of literary and cultural activities.
Over half of our readers have Our readers are professionals completed a graduate or professional with disposable income. degree, and 96% of have some $150,000+ 20% form of higher education. $100,000–$150,000 18% Bachelor’s degree 87% $50,000–$100,000 28% Graduate or professional degree 56%
Currently completing graduate degree 5% Our readers are avid book buyers Our readers 87% of our readers are creators. buy more than Our readers are Rural 9% 5 books a year city dwellers 52% of our readers write 6–10 books 17% Urban Suburban 11–20 books 33% 69% 21% 30% create visual art 21+ books 38%
Our readers are recommenders: 90% of our subscribers said they are very likely to recommend The Believer to a friend.
age Our readers regularly attend a wide range of cultural events: Film 88% 25-34 35-44 Museums/Galleries 83% 24% 26% Concerts 82% 18-24 Theatre 52% 2% Literary Readings 45% 45-54 Lectures 42% 65+ 55-64 Tastings/Food Events 33% 3% 27% 17% Symphony/Opera 30% Ballet/Dance 19%
Our subscribers are cultural consumers and frequent travelers. 96% of our subscribers listed “reading” as a common leisure activity • 64% attend cultural events • 50% are frequent travellers
page 3 JUST A FEW OF OUR MANY CONTRIBUTORS
The Believer has published the original work of 61 Guggenheim Fellowship winners, 45 NEA fellows, 15 MacArthur winners, 8 Pulitzer Prize winners, 6 National Book Award winners, 16 National Book Critics Circle Award winners, and 1 Nobel Prize winner—and counting. The Believer covers art, literature, poetry, film, music, philosophy, sports, and more—we’ve even had a comics page and an advice column by Amy Sedaris. In each 128-page issue, printed on recycled, acid-free paper by friendly Canadians, you might encounter work by:
Daniel Alarcón Geoff Dyer Yusef Komunyakaa Mary Roach Hilton Als Stephen Elliott Chris Kraus Mary Ruefle Judd Apatow Álvaro Enrigue Rachel Kushner Salman Rushdie Rae Armantrout Melissa Febos Ben Lerner Mike Sacks Fred Armisen Emil Ferris Jonathan Lethem Luc Sante John Ashbery Rodrigo Fresán Sam Lipsyte Paul Scheer Jesse Ball Rivka Galchen Gary Lutz Amy Sedaris Mary Jo Bang Zach Galifianakis Guy Maddin Frederick Seidel John Barth Janeane Garofalo Sarah Manguso Leanne Shapton Elif Batuman Tavi Gevinson Javier Marías David Shields Sven Birkerts Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah Ben Marcus Sarah Silverman Eula Biss Francisco Goldman Greil Marcus Tracy K. Smith Tom Bissell Lev Grossman Marc Maron Zadie Smith Michael Ian Black Daniel Handler Tom McCarthy Amanda Stern Roberto Bolaño Robert Hass Tony Millionaire Jillian Tamaki Ray Bradbury Sheila Heti Rick Moody Greg Tate Jericho Brown Bob Hicok Haruki Murakami Michelle Tea Carrie Brownstein Nick Hornby Eileen Myles Paul F. Tompkins Charles Burns Michel Houellebecq Bob Odenkirk Touré Stephanie Burt Hua Hsu Michael Ondaatje Wells Tower David Byrne Leslie Jamison Patton Oswalt William T. Vollmann Anne Carson Margo Jefferson ZZ Packer Sarah Vowell Arthur C. Clarke Tayari Jones Georges Perec Derek Walcott Jemaine Clement Miranda July Per Petterson Ayelet Waldman Henri Cole Mindy Kaling Raymond Pettibon Chris Ware Paul Collins Etgar Keret Aubrey Plaza Lawrence Weschler T Cooper Chip Kidd Martha Plimpton C. D. Wright Simon Critchley Chuck Klosterman Richard Powers Weird Al Yankovic Lena Dunham Wayne Koestenbaum Emily Raboteau Kate Zambreno
page 4 HERE’S WHAT OUR SUBSCRIBERS SAY ABOUT US
“THE NEW YORKER’S “ALWAYS CATCHES ME COOL COUSIN” OFFGUARD WITH TOPICS I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW “I am always banging on about it to friends. The articles always seem to coincide with work I am doing I WAS INTERESTED IN” (I make theatre) in a strange and helpful way…” “An eye-catching publication that gets my friends and coworkers talking” “RELEVANT AND DELICIOUSLY WEIRD” “THE BELIEVER IS
“It feels like we’re stepping into a second JUST SO DAMN HIP.” Golden Age for the Believer.” “Kind of like the New Yorker, but you don’t need to wear shoes to read it” “A LITERARY OASIS IN A DESERT OF BANALITY” “A FRIENDLY LITERARY
“Eclectic; off the beaten path; MAGAZINE THAT MAKES full of stuff I didn’t know I wanted to know” YOU THINK AND FEEL” “THE BEST LITERARY “Has me wanting to be more creative” POP-CULTURE MAGAZINE EVER EXECUTED” “ORIGINAL. TIMELESS.” “Imagine the Fonz never jumped the shark. “Never goes unread” That’s the Believer.” “LIKE NOTHING “THE BEST.” ELSE OUT THERE” “Indispensable.” “Literally the best part of my reading month.”
page 5 OUR AUDIENCE
By supporting The Believer you will gain access to our growing audience.
Monthly Newsletter Subscribers 33,000 Unique website visitors 35,000 per month Twitter followers 62,000 Facebook page likes 49,000 Instagram followers 8,000 The Believer subscribers 5,000
page 6 UNFORGETTABLE LIVE EXPERIENCES
The Believer magazine is at the center of Black Mountain Institute’s live events in Las Vegas, anchored by the annual Believer Festival. The inaugural Believer Festival in 2017 featured actors, musicians, indepen- dent filmmakers, and literary luminaries, including Carrie Brownstein, Miranda July, Jim James, Dave Eggers, Heidi Julavits, Luis Alberto Urrea, and an all-star cast of literary talent. In 2017, “The Believer presents” event series began in Las Vegas with Chris Kraus, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Paul Beatty. Believer events take place in locations ranging from the open Mojave desert to the oldest operating casino-hotel in historic downtown Las Vegas. Future events are planned for Los Angeles and New York. Let our next event involve your community. Contact [email protected] for partnership and sponsorship opportunities.
page 7 OUR PLACE IN THE CULTURE
The Believer now finds its home in Las Vegas, an oasis of culture, spurred by an openness to wild experiments backed by hard investments by philanthro- pists and entrepreneurs. The Beverly Rogers, Carol C. Harter Black Mountain Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, established itself through innovative live events and ground- breaking publishing projects. BMI is the first North American City of Asylum for writers at risk of censor- ship or worse in their home countries. Live events have featured Nobel laureates, Pulitzer-prize winners, MacArthur geniuses, alongside figures from pop-culture. It’s long-running a writers-in-residence program whose recent fellows include Tayari Jones, David Ulin, and Walter Kirn. BMI backed the translation of Karl Ove Knaussgard’s My Struggle with Archipelago Books.
“[The Believer] puts out a welcome mat for pluralism and wide-eyed curiosity.” —New York Times “Without a doubt, this Believer is heaven-sent.” “The Believer is the ultimate anti-institution. Believe!” —Washington Post —Namwali Serpell “Some magazines are comfort reads. We turn to them “[The Believer has] people talking in because we can almost predict, issue to issue, what the lofty reaches of the book world, and even whom will appear in them. But others, like . . . The Believer, are challenge reads. They’re feverishly and—with its high-low mix of literary inventive, discomfortingly surprising, and therefore and pop-culture commentary and among the best reminders that we are actually alive.” McSweeney’s pedigree—it’s a magnet for —John D’Agata younger readers.” —San Francisco Chronicle “Focusing on the art, not the business, of writing, The Believer is smart, jaded “A highly praised and proudly off-beat literary and a bit self-indulgent, just like a good magazine” -Associated Press literary magazine should be.” —Chicago Tribune “The Believer seemed to arrive in my “The conversations to be had at Black Mountain will make mailbox … like a creature beamed down you better and wiser at whatever the hell you think you’re from another planet. I’m glad it’s back, doing.” — Katherine Boo this time with an expanded comics section.” —The Paris Review
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