“A year of madness” for the scientific magazine Epsiloon

After years spent at Science & Life and faced with the arrival of a new shareholder, a dozen journalists had decided to leave the centenary title. It was in winter 2020-2021. In a few weeks, they set up a new science news magazine, called Epsiloonthe first issue of which was released on June 25, 2021 after a record crowdfunding campaign on the Ulule platform.

One year and 12 issues later, it is time for a first assessment for the team, of which Mathilde Fontez is one of the editors-in-chief: “It’s been a crazy year. With lots and lots of success. We got off to a great start with this campaign which had managed to collect 24,000 subscribers without them being able to see anything of what we were producing like articles. We had a little pressure in the face of this expectation, we hoped not to disappoint.

“We succeeded, I think, in establishing a relationship with readers, who were not necessarily customers of the scientific press. Subscriptions continued to grow, we are at 42,000 subscribers and we have received five prizes.”

Mathilde Fontez, editor-in-chief Epsiloon

at franceinfo

Subscribers added to the 20,000 newsstand sales on average each month is a success, but it remains insufficient to achieve profitability. Especially sinceEpsiloonlike all press titles, suffered the brunt of the soaring price of paper: “It takes another 10% this month! In one year, we have gone from 600 euros to 1,400 euros per ton. We hoped to be profitable by mid-year and we will not be able to be yet. It all depends a little of this price of paper.” While waiting for the release of the anniversary issue ofEpsiloon in a few days, the editorial staff continues to work on other projects, in particular podcasts.

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