Portland Monthly Will Now Publish Only Four Magazines Per Year

Editor-in-chief Marty Patail says the pandemic “accelerated” the decision.

By Shannon Gormley

For almost 20 years, Portland Monthly has released glossy magazines, well, monthly.

But Portland Monthly has now gone quarterly. From now on, the publication will release only a spring, summer, fall and winter issue.

The change isn't a temporary COVID-19 pivot. According to editor-in-chief Marty Patail, the pandemic "accelerated" the decision, but the magazine had been discussing the shift long before lockdown.

"Our print audience is higher than its ever been, but our digital audience is growing," Patail tells WW. "This is a direction we were headed in anyway, and it's allowed us to go all in on digital content in a way that we weren't able to before."

The quarterly issues are roughly twice the size of the magazine's current monthly issues. Patail says Portland Monthly has tripled its digital output and the publication's web traffic is higher than ever, though he declined to give specific figures.

Portland Monthly began reducing its print output over the summer. Its first quarterly issue came out in September, and its winter issue is on stands now.

Related: Three Women Accuse Ambassador Gordon Sondland of Sexual Misconduct, Retaliation, Portland Monthly Reports.

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