Our fall issue releases this Friday, and, as usual, we’re throwing a free party for our subscribers, including a concert from The UNSOLVED, standup comedy from Nick Ellis, free stickers, t-shirt giveaways, and so much more! Are you coming?

We’ll also be having free beverages for our subscribers, courtesy of Red Rocks Spirits and Ratio Beerworks! Please support people who support local!

If you haven’t subscribed yet, now’s the perfect time to get started and join our community! It’s only $24.99 per year if you subscribe through us directly! And you’ll get access to all of our shows year-round, along with delivered print issues, discounts to local businesses.

Current subscribers can RSVP with a +1 using the link below (only they can see the link). If you sign up now, you can join them! Hope to see you Friday!

Paul French, Editor

It’s time for our fall issue release party! We’ve got an amazing evening planned for our subscribers, including a free concert from The UNSOLVED, standup comedy from Nick Ellis, free stickers, t-shirt giveaways, and so much more!

We’ll also be having free beverages for our subscribers, courtesy of Red Rocks Spirits and Ratio Beerworks! Plea…

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Help us break the tie below!

The winner will receive a custom engraved plaque, along with a permanent spot on our website. See last seasons’s winner here.

Pit Fiend Barbecue

Denver Screen Print & Embroidery

It’s time for our fall issue release party! We’ve got an amazing evening planned for our subscribers, including a free concert from The UNSOLVED, standup comedy from Nick Ellis, t-shirt giveaways, and so much more!

We’ll also be having free beverages for our subscribers, courtesy of Red Rocks Spirits and Ratio Beerworks! Please support peo…

Read more

You can RSVP by clicking here or the picture below. This is a free event for everyone! But stay tuned for our next subscriber-exclusive event. Thanks so much for being part of Denverse!

The winner will receive a $100 cash prize, a LUDICROUS trophy, and, of course, full publicity here on our social media when we announce the results! Who is the best karaoke singer in Denver? Do you think you’ve got the stuff?

It’s free to attend, but if you want to sign up to compete (and you’re not a subscriber), just Venmo the $5 fee to @denversemagazine

If you’re a subscriber, your compete fee is waived! But you still need to sign up. Check your inbox for our last email invite, but we’ll also send another one to our paid subscribers soon.

See you there!

On August 20 at 8pm, we will be hosting the first ever Denver’s Best Karaoke Singer Contest at Mozart’s Denver.

The winner will receive a $100 cash prize, a LUDICROUS trophy, and, of course, full publicity here on our social media when we announce the results! Who is the best karaoke singer in Denver? Do you think you’ve got the stuff?

It’s…

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It pays to support local! A lot of folks know about our exclusive shows and parties for subscribers, but did you know we also offer discounts on local businesses to paying readers all year long?

Denverse Discounts Now Include:

• 15% off at Pit Fiend Barbecue

• 10% off at Corner Beet

• 20% off of 5pack for Rooted Heart

• 20% off Garden Sauna

• 10% off Ba…

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It’s time for our summer release party! Free for you and a +1, as always! And we’ll be having FREE T-SHIRTS (S, M, L) for the first 20 people who show up, thanks to our sponsor Denver Screen Print & Embroidery!

It all goes down tonight at 8pm at the Department of Creative Pursuits! We’re going to have a standup comedy performance by Aaron…

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It’s almost time for our summer release party! Free for you and a +1, as always!

It all goes down this Friday, June 26, at 8pm at the Department of Creative Pursuits! We’re going to have a standup comedy performance by Aaron Spriggs, brought to you by the good folks at Trailhead Comedy Fest. And, of course, a special show by none other t…

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We’ve got such an amazing issue release party planned for you next Friday, June 26, at 8pm at the Department of Creative Pursuits! And guess what? We’re going to have free drinks again, courtesy of Ratio Beerworks and Red Rocks Spirits! Make sure to support all of our incredible sponsors. They make independent journalism and local art pos…

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On Friday, June 26, at 8pm, we’ll be joined by the incredible musicians from Sexy Coyote for a free show exclusively for our subscribers! There will be:

• A Free Show From Sexy Coyote

• Free Drinks

• Standup Comedy

• Swag!

PLUS, the photographer behind Humans of Denver will be present, snapping photos of our subscribers t…

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It’s our second annual Podium to Page event, where writers get a chance to read their work onstage with some of the state’s best poets and get a chance at instant publication and a cash prize! Everyo…

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Just a reminder that we have an exclusive event, just for you, coming up on 5/27!

It’s our second annual Podium to Page event, where writers get a chance to read their work onstage with some of the state’s best poets and get a chance at instant publication and a cash prize! Everyone is welcome, of course. Whether you’re a poet or just the…

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If Baudelaire was right and boredom is the root of all evil, I can count myself untempted. My brain is tired and webby. Another issue has been sent to the printer for final checks, and by now I’m used to this cycle of doubt, exhaustion, euphoria, and arrogance. Today I’m at stage II, but a couple of weeks ago as the war reared up and the economy took yet another dip, I found myself once again fretting over the mag.

This is the first business I’ve ever run, but I’d imagine this is how it goes for most people. You grind it out, work yourself half to death, endure mishaps, but then you’ll experience some boon, manna from heaven. And it comes in a similar cycle, feast and famine, you’re hot, then you’re not. You can get bitter about it, but if the fun never stopped, things would get, well, boring.

Last Sunday, I woke up to find that we had gotten 25 new subscribers, all over the course of a few hours that morning. After two relatively dry weeks, they were pouring in. Turns out, we got some pretty powerful press, and in good old print no less. That’s right. Denverse was in the Sunday paper!

“The magazine deserves every member of its fast-growing audience, particularly as news media retreats from arts and culture journalism, and working artists and creatives are priced out of every aspect of their practice,” writes Denver Post journalist John Wenzel, a celebrated pen in the scene who has previously published in Esquire, The Atlantic and Rolling Stone. “With its wry cartoons, poetry and art, it comes off like a Colorado version of The New Yorker,” he later notes.

It’s incredibly high praise, of course–scary at the same time because it’s something we’ll have to keep earning. The New Yorker is a pretty high bar, especially for our ragtag team. All of us, including yours truly, still have full-time day jobs, but that’s always been our advantage. This endeavor is entirely self-funded, and none of us are rich, which, as it turns out, is a great asset. If you have no benefactors, funders, etc., you can be independent. And if you’re not rich, the business has to basically work from the get-go. You don’t have much latitude for working in the red, so you have to design something that won’t put you there.

I’m happy to report that we’re still breaking even two years in, which is extremely rare for a bootstrap business, much less independent media these days, and our audience continues to grow rapidly (thank you!). Of course, it’ll be from peak to valley, but I know the ride well enough now, and I enjoy it! It’s a great privilege to do something that will always challenge you. How many of us have worked jobs that turn us into vegetables after just six months? There’s certainly no danger of that in Denverse, let me tell you.

Keep up the good fight, everybody. Do your own thing and love it. And thanks to all of our readers for your support! Read your local paper and the independent press. It’s more important than ever to know who’s writing what you’re reading. Oh, and we’ve got a new issue coming out next Friday, I should say! We hope you enjoy it. Come party with us, subscribers! :)

Till next time,

Paul M. French, Editor

See the brackets below and help us vote for this season’s winner! Voting will end on Dec. 23. From there, we will announce the finalists.

The winner will receive a custom engraved plaque, along with a permanent place on our website!

Bracket #1

RPM Agency

Central Denver Eye Care

UCCS Galleries of Contemporary Art

Petals & Pages

NKollectiv

Art From Ashes

Bracket #2

Simple Steps, Better Air

Denver Screen Print & Embroidery

Sie Film Center

Colfax Ave

Bracket #3

The Roots Collective

Family Dentistry at City Park

The Future Lies

Native Roots

Nocturne Jazz

Denver Art Museum

Lighthouse Writers

Exposed Storytelling

We’re giving away a $75 gift card and some cool sticky notes from Boulder Bookstore to the first subscriber who responds with BOOKS to this email.

Thanks for reading! And stay tuned for our next exclusive event!

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Attendees will not only get the chance to make their…

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Just a reminder that our release party is tonight! If you haven’t already RSVP’d, just click here or the picture below. See you there!

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