MagCloud & Bella Morte magazine

Whereas I'm a big fan of all the smut great photography available online, I guess I'm a little old-fashioned since I still love the tactile sensation of flicking through racy material in printed form. And having recently mentioned print-on-demand books from Blurb, I figured MagCloud was also worth a mention - it's very much the same concept, whereby publishers can set up their own magazine, and it's printed on demand and delivered when sold.

My favourite find on there so far is Bella Morte magazine. Now in it's 4th issue, it's a gothic-tinged showcase of alt/fetish/pinup creators; including both well-known and new models, photographers, tattoo artists and latex couture. For example, #2 held an interview with the lovely Mosh, and pictures by the equally (well, very nearly) as lovely Redrum collaboration; but I also discovered the wonderful UK model Fae Raven. Then in #3 I was grabbed by model Carly Zu and photographer Jade Noir. Content is relatively tame, with no nudity, but all the models look so good in latex, corsets and lingerie, that's almost (almost!) a positive. And they even feature a strapping male model in each issue.

Technically, the magazine could probably look a bit neater, layout and typography-wise (old habits... I was a designer/artworker in a previous life) - but that's a minor quibble since the content is good. It's also a little expensive at $15 per issue, each about 60 pages; but that's understandable for something relatively niche. And the print quality is far better than I'd expected from print-on-demand; not quite the standard of a traditionally printed magazine like Retro Lovely; but still good quality paper and great - if perhaps a little too saturated - colour printing.

On one hand, POD services like this need to be taken with a pinch of salt - I work in publishing and a great quote I heard recently springs to mind: 'the best thing about self-publishing is that anyone can do it; the worst thing about self-publishing is that anyone can do it'. But on the other, anything that makes it more accessible for creative people to create and disseminate racy material can only be a good thing. I like Bella Morte, and will be keeping my eyes open for more racy things on MagCloud.