The Dubliner Magazine: John Ryan: Barking Mad?

Trevor White on John Ryan and The New York Dog

There is no getting around it. John Ryan may well be barking mad. The publisher of Blogorrah and The New York Dog is also one of the most talented journalists of his generation. Right now, however, it is his wild imagination that is receiving all the attention, and for miserable reasons. Ryan's latest ventures – Blogorrah and the two 'Dogs' – are in trouble, and without a new investor they look likely to close for good.

Hence the vultures are beginning to circle.

This particularly caustic piece on Ryan's troubles is bound to generate headlines in the Irish papers tomorrow. (I have had calls from two journalists who are trying to contact Ryan this morning.) The article, which is posted on a competitor's website, is based on a couple of interviews with disgruntled ex-staffers who spoke on condition of anonymity – in other words, the sort of people one might expect to speak on the record. Instead, they whinge at epic length – and in terms that are venomous – on the problems of the magazine, as if they are entirely the fault of John Ryan.

I have worked for Ryan. He is sometimes a frustrating presence in an office – more concerned, as he is, with big ideas than small print – but let's face it: we all know people like that. And if his crime, as the disgruntled ex-staffers complain, is to have little business acumen, that would hardly make him unique among niche magazine publishers. Indeed, as a journalist who became a publisher, I know precisely how difficult it is to make the transition. Publishing requires a whole new set of skills, and most of them cannot be taught. They are acquired through experience – and some of that is necessarily sour.

There are several other factors that will doubtless go unmentioned in the coverage this weekend.

Firstly, John Ryan was effectively run out of Dublin by his colleagues in the press. Tall, handsome, well-spoken and middle class, the original Monkstown Man was a perfect target for nugatory lemons in the local media. Of course anyone who sticks his or her head above the parapet is fair game here; and if you happen to come from what is perceived as a comfortable background, you are particularly vulnerable. Hence, when Ryan found himself in trouble, the press celebrated his woes and effectively made it impossible for him to consider a future in Dublin. (If you find that hard to believe, you have obviously never read The Phoenix, in which two old men vomit on people like Ryan for the benefit of spiteful biddies. Well avoided!)

So he went to America.

At the time I congratulated Ryan. Like a lot of his friends I said 'You were always too big for Dublin.' And I meant it. New York is a place where ambition and creativity are admired. It is also a city in which individuals who make mistakes are not always derided by people who have never done anything original.

Sadly, however, New York is no pushover. Once again, I know this – because I tried.

In 1998 the magazine publisher Kevin Kelly sent me to launch a publishing venture in New York. That venture, a yellow pages for billionaires, folded within four years. I returned to Dublin a wiser man, with a determination to start a business of my own. That business was The Dubliner.

When I left New York, I was filled with the sort of vision and hope that drives otherwise sane men to start small magazines. When John Ryan went to New York, he had the same determination. And like me, he learned that New York is a very tough market to crack.

But try telling that to the perspicacious bards of the Irish press.

There is another point that needs to be understood by anyone who wants the truth about this miserable situation: PR is part of being a publisher. Without a certain amount of buzz, new magazine ventures often go to the wall (only restaurants are more precarious) and in the early days the duty of any responsible publisher is to court praise. Sometimes that comes back to bite you. So every article about Ryan's current troubles mentions – gleefully – the fact that the magazine was started amid much fanfare. Big deal? No. Not at all. Only a complete moron would launch a magazine called The New York Dog without trying to generate buzz.

But don't expect to see that point made anywhere else this weekend.

“This is unquestionably the worst time of my life,” Ryan wrote in an email yesterday. “Every penny I had was put into Gatsby. … My dream of coming to America and publishing a magazine from New York has become a nightmare. One which seems to have no end in sight.”

John Ryan is in bunker mode this weekend (he posted a comment on the crisis here this morning) but he will bounce back. He is too bright, and too energetic, to sit around doing nothing for long. And yes, he may well be barking mad. Anyone who launches a title in a competitive market without the backing of, say, a Murdoch or an O'Reilly is probably slightly cuckoo. But you know what?

Give me the madness of John Ryan over the poison of his critics any day.

Comments

Typical Irish, kick a man when he's down. John Ryan should be praised for having the balls to go to America and set up shop. So it didn't work out, big deal.

I agree, his best is yet to come and I wish him every success.

Posted by: Wayne | August 15, 2007 at 11:20

So many magazines have ceased publication in the USA this year, I've begun to lose count. Only today, another one has been closed. Most of these didn't even have to deal with a challenge like losing 99% of your advertisers over the pet food recall. Publishing is a brutal business and the it's a real shame this has failed but the people taking pleasure in this sad Dog tale (no pun intended) are woefully misguided. They don't know the full story and John's made every effort to do the right thing. I'd love to see any of these critics try to do something on this scale with little funding and support. Begrudging sods.

Posted by: Susan Towers | August 15, 2007 at 21:51