'Argo' Author Launches Longform Journalism Platform Backed by Medium

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By Seth Fiegerman2013-08-12 14:57:53 UTC

Two prominent industry veterans are bringing longform journalism to a new outlet online.

Joshuah Bearman, a magazine writer who wrote the feature story in Wired that was adapted into the movie Argo, and Wired contributing editor Joshua Davis, unveiled a new longform journalism platform on Monday called Epic, which aims to publish non-fiction page-turners with an eye toward helping writers profit from supplementary revenue streams.

See also: Medium's Plan to Serve the Next Generation of Bloggers

"They are trying to build a model for longform journalism where the revenue generated over the entire life of a story," the New York Times reported, including "magazine fees, sales on Audible.com and Amazon Kindle Singles, ancillary film and television rights."

If the impressive pedigree of the two founders isn't enough to make people take notice of the site, Epic is also reportedly backed by Medium, the blogging platform started by two Twitter co-founders last year. Medium is said to be investing in commissioning Epic's content and will also be a publishing arm of the new venture.

"Epic stories will debut on Medium, a new venture by Twitter founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone," the founders write in Epic's 'About' section. "Medium is a platform built for ideas that should last. And that's what Epic aims for: stories worth remembering."

For now, however, the only titles on Epic are written by Bearman and Davis, including Bearman's feature that inspired Argo and a story by Davis about a dangerous 10-day mission to overturn a capsized ship (image above). Judging by the presentation of these initial stories, it seems Epic going after the so-called "Snow Fall" format that the New York Times popularized for longform content.

Epic certainly isn't the first — or only — online platform focusing on promoting longform stories. The Big Roundtable, Beacon Publishing and Byliner all have similar missions, as well as Matter, a startup focused on in-depth science and technology stories that was acquired by Medium earlier this year.

Image: Epic

Topics: Argo, Business, Longform, me.dium, Media