As we launch our first ever glimpse of Silver Magazine, founder Sam looks at how it’s all come together, and how we couldn’t do it without you…

When I look back over the past two or three years, it seems odd now that this has taken so long. I’ve spent years as an editor and journalist – so why did it take so long to create Silver as an actual magazine?

Well, the answer is simply that things take as long as they need to.

And Silver has happened at the right time. We have spent a long time ensuring that we hit the right tone for this magazine, and that it’s everything we wanted it to be. It’s about time there was a magazine that reflected the REAL interests of the 50+ reader.

By that I mean does it have the right kind of articles? Does it have integrity? Is the design exciting? And most of all, is it what our readers want? So we asked you.

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SO WHO ARE YOU LOT?!

If I’d been asked what kind of people I’d like to be our ‘Silvers’ at the outset, I couldn’t have chosen better

For the record, you’re a nice bunch. Positive articles and posts outperform disasters by miles, and you love humour. Serious issues are taken seriously – we have found that posts that hit tough subjects engage smaller groups – but they REALLY get engaged. We see intelligent and well-thought-out responses and discourse.

You’re supportive of each other, and kind, even when you don’t agree with each other. And you have good values. You also have good manners, most of you (!) And you’re an honest and fearless lot.

If I’d been asked what kind of people I’d like to be our ‘Silvers’ at the outset, I couldn’t have chosen better. You lot warm my heart. You deserve a magazine that doesn’t treat you like old duffers, or dimwits who can’t work a mobile phone.

READ THE MAGAZINE – get a sneak preview of the magazine itself

WHY TAKE SO LONG TO CREATE THIS?

‘Build it, and they will come’ is a reasonable shout. But with SO MUCH CONTENT everywhere, when you’re talking about a magazine, that’s not necessarily the case. We could have created something amazing, but unless we have an audience already engaged, we could drift past you unnoticed. Just one thing in a sea of things we don’t recognise, that we scroll by.

Every. Single. Day.

So we spent time building a merry band of followers, many of whom we’ve grown to know and love, particularly some of the characters on our Facebook page – where we now reach over 3.3million people!

We’ve used the website to run articles and test exactly what you like to read. And we know from our posts on social media what you relate to. It’s helped us shape the magazine enormously.

WE HOPE YOU LIKE THIS

So here is the sample issue of the magazine. As we’ve said already, this is only a snapshot – probably about half a magazine. But a chance for everyone to see it, and get a feel for what we’re about. I really hope you enjoy it – it’s been shaped, in no small way, by you!

Please support this – subscribe if you want to read the print mags. We’re doing a year’s subscription for a tenner at the moment, so I’d grab that if I were you.

If you’re seeing this and thinking wow, I should advertise! Well done – step this way.

Most of all, I hope you enjoy reading this. It’s been created with love.