A party plan

Publishing and parties go hand-in-hand. Indeed, the image of the smiling, rosy-cheeked publishing type holding their glass of passable red aloft is such an industry cliche that such images were actually banned for several years from the pages of this journal. While parties lubricate the publishing process, I've not heard of a publisher entirely financed by parties until now. The publisher concerned is avant garde publisher Is Not Magazine, which publishes its quarterly magazine as a giant poster, pasted up in public spaces in Melbourne and Sydney. With no advertising revenue, and no retail price, the publisher generates the vast majority of its income by running extravagant parties. The events are such a hit with the party-going set, editor Penny Modra told a Melbourne Writers Festival session recently, that 'many regular party-goers have absolutely no idea we publish anything at all.'