dipity tips - Lit Mag Community Reading Mobile Apps: Motif & The Protagonist App

vforrow discusses two community literary magazine mobile apps on her radar and the benefits of using them plus what to take into consideration

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Jan 07, 2024

Note: It may be easier to read this in the Substack app or web browser. Due to the length of this article and screenshots — portions may be cut off in your e-mail.

What’s Up?

Now something else that has caught my attention are some new literary magazine community reading mobile apps. I’m sure there are more out there or under development than these and some of you may be aware of predominantly familiar with magazines having their very own app out in stores such as the Poetry Magazine app, Poetry & Writers app etc.

The two comunity-focused ones I will discuss a bit are Motif by David Reichek and The Protagonist App which has a team behind it I could be wrong but based out of Austin, Texas. Do note there are other apps named Motif in the app store like photo memory ones etc. so look for the one that says specifically Motif - Independent Literature and The Protagonist App actually announced on their Instagram in December 2023 recently last year that they’re in beta testing but their website is not yet updated so I think it’s COMING SOON perhaps this year or when testing is completed. I think I saw a Tweet going back to 2021 on it, its been an ongoing project for quite some time and seems to be nearing its fine-tuning release stages now which is definitely pretty exciting!

Motif - Independent Literature

I think I haven’t logged in a while and recently realized I completely forgot to note my password so will perhaps reach back out to them via email one day if I ever choose to leverage Motif further, but recall I did make or request a Motif Editor account a while back in September 23rd, 2023 and took a quick look at it but things had come up. Things may have changed since then too in the Editor Dashboard as well. I’ll try to take some time to log back into Motif later as an editor when The Protagonist App comes out and will compare them a bit further. For now I’ll share a few screenshots of Motif through the guest login.

So editors and publishers can upload via a web browser-based editor account poetry issues, short stories, translations, interviews and a few other categories are present as shown in my screenshot. It appears to be completely free to read these literary issues on the Motif app, however, while that’s a massive awesome benefit I do wish these apps would integrate a donation button feature of some kind to the magazine or journal or a merch shop link of some kind. I don’t like paywalls either and reading should be accessible to everyone without price tags but unfortunately, if a magazine is printing issues etc., or has other online maintenance expenses having others read it for free would not be ideal especially if they don’t have any significant rounds of funding behind them.

A lot of literary magazines as you know are dependent upon donations, issue purchases, the submission fees to keep it up and running long-term, some editors even take out money from their salary or savings too to pay writers for their work or have paywalls over Substack content or try to leverage the pledges to be able to pay writers or ship out physical contributor copies.

You don’t necessarily have to put full fledged issues, but most prefer to read issues entirely — it appears there’s a Singles section as well which some use for Interviews. I’ll share example screenshots from Tiny Molecules’ Motif profile within the app.

I do really love the Motif apps UI design, def super easy to read and navigate. It would be cool if others could leave comments too. I do believe this app would be beneficial to lit mags for sharing poetry, stories, interviews, and back issues or older ones over time. Or any literary journal or magazine that is online predominantly or are 100% free to read. It is also tricky to juggle multiple places to share rather than just one or two.

There does not appear to be an art or ekphrastic poetry filtering category. I think it’d be neat if we could also hear spoken word in the app or contributors voices read the writing. There is an club-based app I used to record my voice to poets of the past called Poesie (it still exists I believe). I read some of Emily Dickinsons and a few haikus and attempted poems in Japanese for fun, which was kind of relaxing just reading poems and recording my voice to it like on podcasts. I used the free account abilities back then, but they have paid options for more features. Although its not concerning lit mags, def check it out sometime! Another app I mentioned earlier was the widely known Poetry Magazine app which has “Play Audio” features. If Motif incorporates audio one day, I think it’d be stellar for lit mags not just having audio on their websites or podcasts etc. or giving them the option to add audio would create a great experience in general — to be able to hear writers voices.

[ Viewing Author Bios in the Motif - Independent Literature App is possible BTW ]

[Poesie in the Apple Store - Just a Fun Poetry Club App I Mentioned]

At Dipity Literary Magazine as you know we don’t have subscription paywalls over the online publication tank, but digital issues and print aren’t free just discounted for contributors — we have first-time subs free too, and sometimes I have waived fees for subs as well in the past. I personally as stated earlier in the previous Substack post would love to have a mobile app library where others can read the online publications for free and purchase print issues and altogether or centralized app in one place solely.

YUMPU & issuu

I will take a moment to bring up YUMPU and issuu then go back to Motif. When Dipity Literary Magazine started I had contemplated whether to still use YUMPU which you could consider a competitor of issuu and they have a newspapaper reader mobile app I believe. However, it was a matter of cost with YUMPU I recall so then put digital issues in the online shop back then Sellfy and now Fourthwall. Most still order just the print issues of dipity, but it’s always a good idea to offer more than one format of a publication because print issues can be really crazy in initial pricing until online bookstores apply deep discounts.

The problem with a lot of these online reader platforms is the moment you stop paying for additional storage etc. then you lose premium features etc. but some do certainly keep the publications online after you stop paying premium feature access, not all though so you have to be careful which one you choose long-term.

The really attractive thing about YUMPU is that you can purchase their iOS Android app kiosk plan but it’s a couple hundred dollars to get your store app, I think about $200-300 USD for unlimited uploads and a web kiosk only no app is about $85 a month — it’s kinda steep ya. YUMPU def has a massive reader user base though and I have considered giving it a go one day a mobile app or version of dipity long-term if funding ever pulls through, but I don’t think anytime soon as the next phase I’m focusing on are chapbooks. I’m not sure exactly how much it would cost a developer to create a custom flipbook app library for dipity vs YUMPU but it's been on my mind guys so just sharing. Obviously, it would be cool if all lit mags around the world had a single dedicated mobile app space rather than trying multiple.

I’ve used issuu before for some school projects in the past, but preferred YUMPU.

Note: The above is the first official one with a few hiccups not the issue no. 1 reboot though — if you’re interested in purchasing issue no. 1’s cleaned up reboot — it’s the blue moon runner cover from back then.

[ Motif - Independent Literature App - Genres Menu ]

The Motif Community Library Thus Far

So how many lit mags or journals are onboard with Motif - Independent Literature as of January 6th, 2024? Well, I counted about 40-50, but I’ll list some of them out for you here, sorry if any were missed:

Archetype: A Literary Journal
Superpresent
Raw Lit
Resurrection Magazine
Black Stone / White Stone
Anthropocene
And Gallons
MANNEQUIN HAUS
Abandon Journal
Raleigh Review
Tiny Molecules
Hearth & Coffin Literary Journal
Chestnut Review
orangepeel
Vestal Review
Spare Parta Literature
Spillover Magazine
Socrate on the Beach
The New Verse News
The Q&A Queer Zine
Arboreal Literary Magazine
Literary Mama
Full Mood Mag
Propagule
Soft Star Magazine
Spellbinder
Chincilla Lit
miniMAG
Tangled Web Magazine
SeaGlass Literary
Write or Die Magazine
Call Me [Brackets]
The Maul
Hot Knife
Worm Moon Archive
Spiritus Mundi Review
Griffit Review
The Dreadful Point
The Lunar Journal
Deathcap and Hemlock
Consequence
Heimat Review
Witchcraft
Stone Circle Review
Paddler Press

[Example View When Going Into All Magazines on iPhone]

Considering what I’ve seen thus far, I’d give the Motif app 4.5 out 5 if I had to put a rating on it as a reader or end-user of it. You can follow Motif on Twitter (X) @ motifdotink and I believe the location pin said New York — didn’t find an IG account. Give a follow and download the app to check it out further if you have an iPhone!

The Protagonist App

So I don’t have much info on The Protagonist app since it’s not available in app stores right now but heard about it. They’re in beta testing phases right now, but the preview looks and sounds very cool. I can’t recall if I signed up for an editors or publisher account to be notified about their launch, but I think I did.

If you’re interested in being a reader or app user of it, then you can sign up on their site to get an e-mail when they’ve launched / get a heads up. They can be followed on Instagram @ protagonist.app and Twitter (unaware if IG is just more active right now for updates) — screenshot below is a preview reel from their Instagram account of the Featured Reads design layout.

Final Thoughts

I don’t think I’ll be using Motif at this time yet to share issues and haven’t fully tried it all the way of course to test others interest in reading publications also on iPhone devices, but who knows maybe one day our issues or poetry short story acceptances will go mobile somehow too. It does take more time to upload for mobile, publishing online and then also tackling print which would be three different places to continuously update or maintain. Of course, just mobile and web could be focused on, but a lot of writers and readers again enjoy physical print copies till today.

I used to be on my mobile more due to the Spotify podcasts but you can also upload episodes through their web version. I definitely enjoy reading on my mobile sometimes but don’t like being on my mobile phone heavily and reading more on my Microsoft Surface GO web browsers nowadays. I’m going to look out for The Protagonist App’s release date and check it out though. Again, I don’t think I’ll be putting issues or publications into a mobile app platform quite yet, but I think it would be cool to do so in the distant future to have Dipity Lit Mag on both iOS and Android devices whether that be its own too in a kiosk app, or through a space such as Motif or via The Protagonist App, I’m not sure…

It can be tough reading long PDF issues in a file rather than via web flipbook design through something like YUMPU and issuu, so it would def be a tad easier to read poems, stories etc. on click n’ scroll-based apps like Motif or The Protagonist App (unaware on the reading design if its scroll or arrows etc).

Our mobile view through our website at Dipity Literary Magazine isn’t entirely friendly too but I tried to improve it from the first website layout from before, so a mobile app would be def useful, however, it’s on the editors / lit mag team who use these platforms too to ensure the recent publications or a steady current stream of them are available for their reading community both mobile and elsewhere, website etc. For example on the Motif app, I found some literary journals or one that added one poetry issue from 2021 and nothing in 2023 etc, after that, but some are regularly using it though not all at this time.

I do think it’s better when readers can access books, and magazines on the go or on more than one device, through another format not just one to choose from. I’m unaware if The Protagonist App will be free to download too, but I believe so which is nice. Overall Motif and The Protagonist App are both super awesome though and it’ll be interesting to see how many literary magazines or journals use them over time and making literature easily accessible for all on a global level is so important. I’m not sure when the Motif literature app came out, could be fairly recently within the last couple of years but you won’t find all lit mags you read currently on there of course because it depends if an editor has signed up to manually upload out issues or various single publications to it. As I’m typing this I actually saw a few more new publications on the Motif mobile app appear and I’m logged in under the guest access account option.

If you’re a fellow editor reading this, I’d say it doesn’t hurt to to do a test run with Motif or The Protagonist App one day out and see how others respond to it, of course, not everyone has an iOS device. It’s another great way for others to discover your lit mag, connect with more readers, and fellow writers, creatives, poets etc. I’m unaware if The Protagonist app will be in both iOS (Apple) and Android Google Play mobile app stores or just iPhone-based. I myself use an iPhone only currently.

It can also if you submit to lit mags be beneficial to see more examples of past publications and if you like reading on your mobile perhaps try and see how these apps work out one day for you.

Again, I’m just not ready to maintain mobile app reads until a few other things for Dipity Lit Mag are set up such as chapbook submissions. I love ultimately what both these reader + publisher community apps aim to do — helping foster community and organization and getting more literature, poetry, etc. in front of others via mobile devices. I’m looking forward to seeing The Protagonist App and will dive into the Motif again when I have more time to see if we’ll be using one or both someday! App projects like these only stick around if they have an active user population, and ongoing growth so I highly encourage you to at least try and see if you like Motif as a reader or publisher and also take a look at The Protagonist App when it is officially released! You certainly could use both too!

CONSIDER PLEDGING OR DONATING TO SUPPORT

I’ve decided to keep dipity’s Substack tips aka VFORROW desk diary, and a few other sections free to read because as well all know freaking paywalls make us really really sad, so if you enjoy these bonus articles, learned something new or would like to support all community projects further consider pledging support to this Substack or visiting the bottom of the dipitylitmag website to donate one-time or monthly recurring any amount into GiveButter. You can also check out the gift shop too or if you pick up issues in online bookstores!

Previously I shared over 15 ways to market or share your poetry collections and art further so if you missed it give it a read and I went back and cleaned up a few typos on Substack when typing with just my right. I’ll try to keep the future ones brief and some with more audio later on and less text. I know a few others based on a poll wanted to read about design tools or software I use and could cover that sometime on Substack too.

Movies I Watched Recently

Mortal (2020) on Amazon Prime: My VFORROW Rating 3.2 out of 5.

Mr. MONK’s: The Last Case (2023) on Peacock: My VFORROW Rating 3.7 out of 5.

LOVE AND MONSTERS Trailer (2020): My VFORROW Rating 3.8 out of 5.

Comment below if you’d like to (optional). Would you be interested in reading lit mag issues through a mobile app of some kind or do you prefer reading online or print issues? Would you follow Dipity Lit Mag on Motif or if we ever join The Protagonist App? Thanks so much for your support guys! Have awesome days ahead!