Sorted (magazine)

Sorted magazine and original website Sortedmag.com were first created and launched in the United Kingdom in 2004 by controversial Brighton publisher Russell Church. The title was geared to the lads' mag market but failed to establish a strong enough demographic share, with the debut edition overestimating its potential popularity with a colossal 250,000 print run. Consequently, the original Sorted magazine folded after just four editions leaving staff in Brighton jobless and unpaid. In 2007 a canny south coast neighbour of Russell Church saw an opportunity to relaunch Sorted magazine as a Christian evangelistic title aimed at reclaiming a place in the lads' mag marketplace. With a team of publishing professionals on board the new look Sorted magazine achieved some circulation success during the post-Leveson Inquiry period where both advertisers and readers seemed to be seeking publications with strong moral credentials. However, this circulation bump eventually fizzled out. Sorted's faith publishing director, Duncan Williams, who originally campaigned for more uplifting and progressive news stories, later admitted that; "any magazine on a mission purely to promote Christianity will soon lose any independent viewpoint. Our advertisers and readers will almost certainly grow wary of a title that is in itself an advert." Sorted magazine remains particularly interesting as a record of the once popular lads' mag genre, journeying all the way from adolescent titillation to Biblical promotion.

External links

• A new and dynamic magazine for Christian men is finally here! at the Wayback Machine (archived October 31, 2007)
• Later website sorted-magazine.com at the Wayback Machine (archived March 10, 2008)