Weird N.J.

Written by bookofjoe
Published July 02, 2004

That stands for Weird New Jersey, a magazine created by Mark Sceurman and Mark Moran that chronicles all the weirdness that makes up this strange state.

They only publish two issues a year, but why would they want to work any harder than that, when their last issue, No. 21, sold over 60,000 copies at $4 apiece?

Then there's their book, called - surprise - "Weird N.J.," that came out last September and has sold 100,000 copies.

Their next book, "Weird U.S.," is scheduled to come out in October, and they've shot a pilot episode for a show of the same name for the History Channel.

Sceurman says they only began turning a profit in the last two years, but it looks to me like it's all upside from here on out.

Libby Copeland wrote about the magazine and its founders in a story in Wednesday's Washington Post.

It seems that in the late 80s Sceurman, a New Jersey native and graphic artist for an alternative music magazine he co-owned, began sending out a newsletter to friends, updating them on his life and including a section on strange things he wanted to explore in the state.

A local paper carried a story about his newsletter in 1993, and the newsletter's circulation gradually broadened.

Mark Moran, also a native of New Jersey and graphic artist, began contributing photographs in the mid-90s to what was by then essentially a pamphlet.

Around 1996, the two Marks joined forces, and soon after published issue No. 1 of Weird N.J.

They throw everything into their magazine indiscriminately, giving equal respect to fact and myth.

"If we printed the real story, we wouldn't have a magazine," Sceurman says.

Sceurman and Moran tend to steer clear of their fans. They get a lot of mail from prisoners, for example.

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Weird N.J.
Published: July 02, 2004
Type:
Section: Culture
Writer: bookofjoe
bookofjoe's BC Writer page
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