A Note From Founder, 2025 for Nomad Magazine + Gift

Lera is here, the founder of Nomad Magazine. Are you still reading emails this week?

If you're still here, this is a classic end-of-year reflection for Nomad Magazine. And I also want to make sure you've got all three of our editions (*for free at the end of this email).

So, 2025 has been amazing, even though I did not feel that way a year ago. We published two beautiful editions, and the next one is almost ready, coming in early 2026 (the best so far!). We travelled to Nomad Cruise, Colive Fukuoka, Nomad Island Fest, and we even had a booth at Bansko Nomad Fest. We also spent time in Armenia, Switzerland, and Palermo, exploring the growing nomad scenes there. We've been getting in contact with so many projects, which is also why we started Nomad Directory, which will be in print too.

Financially, we achieved a huge milestone that honestly didn't feel possible. The next, fourth edition is the first one in two years that breaks even. It's a huge milestone for us and huge thanks for brands and people behind projects for their trust.

People often assume that if we do print then we don't do digital, or the other way around. Let me tell you a secret: if you have a PDF for print, then you already have a digital version too. Although not every digital PDF should be printed. We do both. This year, we started a collaboration with ZINIO digital distributor, where readers can access Nomad Magazine inside their app and though their partners. And print we send to where remote people hang out the most: coworking spaces, colivings, and events. And let me tell you, digital is great, handy, but print is what makes the biggest impact.

Another common question we receive is why we publish once every 6 months. The hard reality is that the production timeline is long. It takes 2-3 months working with writers and finding the right mix of topics. Then another 2-3 months for design (no, AI is not there yet). Then print and shipping is another month. With a small team, it's nearly impossible to speed it up. But I believe that in a few years, when we are financially stronger and have a bigger team, we'll move faster.

There's also a personal reason. The web is flooded with low-quality articles, and with ChatGPT it has become even worse. Our articles are carefully curated, edited, and reviewed by a few people to make sure they are worth the print cost. One person recently told me: "It's so nice that it's an actual magazine and not a website. I'm so tired of reading websites."

And here are the changes for 2026. We've been listening to your feedback that we should publish more often, digital and it should be free.

In 2026 we're going to try a few new things. We are going to work on digital-only editions that are shorter and easier to put together. This way we aim to deliver valuable content about location-independent lifestyles whilst also supporting nomad-friendly businesses with announcements. As well as this, we'll be launching Substack to showcase our articles.

We see clearly that our once "privileged lifestyle" is becoming more mainstream and turning into an international ecosystem. I believe that traditional tourism will partially migrate into the nomad travel industry, and it will be quite ordinary for people to experience a "nomad phase" in their lives. In the first 6 months of 2026 alone there are around 10 digital nomad events. Countries and their tourism boards are turning their heads towards digital nomads and inviting them with open arms.

"We see digital nomads as the modern successors of the Phoenicians, connectors of cultures, ideas, and commerce. Digital nomads are already shaping and inspiring a new world, full of opportunities for collective learning, innovation, and the creation of new business ventures through active choices and exciting explorations," is an extract from an email I received just yesterday.

The more I work on the magazine, the more I realize that the magazine connects people: countries inviting digital nomads, brands finding their audience, nomads feeling a part of something, and newcomers getting inspired, "It's a place to find valuable lessons and ideas while digging into the topic and getting closer to making the leap." And I won't lie, bringing this magazine together is also mine and the team's dream job.

Before I finish this monologue, I want to say a huge thank you to my team. Without them, Nomad Magazine would not have come this far:

• Jessica Holmes, our senior writer and editor. Our authors are much happier with her lead (than mine).
• Amy White, a world-class editor (not joking) and ghostwriter, who, while publishing books for major authors, still finds time for Nomad Magazine. Everything you read has been edited by Jess and Amy, professional writers and editors from the UK.
• Chris Florke, who joined to work with partners and bring out-of-the-box business development ideas. He has been a true spirit for the team, bubbly and alive and our partners love him!
• Estudio Drama, our talented design studio in Brazil. They understand our design style so well that we almost don't need major revisions.
• Tetiana Durova, who is taking care of all worldwide shipments from Prague.
• And Feride Mustafaeva, our social marketing lead for the last two years, who was growing our social accounts. She had to step away from her role, but I hope it's temporary (we miss her 🥹).

Also huge thanks to all sponsors, authors, collaborators, illustrators, coworkings, colivings etc. In general we work with 30+ people to make one edition happen. It's a collective product by many!