Welcome to the New InsideHook

Hey there, reader. James here. I’ve spent the past three months tinkering behind the scenes, and now, with the coming relaunch of our newsletters (more on those bad boys, and when they’ll hit your inbox, below), it’s the perfect time to say hello. So: hi. And thanks for being here.

I’m writing this note from IH’s office at 1700 Broadway in Manhattan, 18 floors above a burgeoning little neighborhood called Times Square (real ones know). The building has personal significance for me — a 42-story, glass-and-steel Midtown tower where I began my career in media 23 years ago. Back then, I was an assistant at Town & Country magazine. We didn’t have a website and certainly no social media. Editors had big expense accounts, black town cars at their beck and call and wielded enormous power. The pages of each issue were flush with bluechip advertisers. At the time, I envied friends at cooler upstarts like Vice and The Fader, all of whom gave me grief for being stuck at a place where penny loafers were de rigueur, and where we used phrases like de rigueur. But in retrospect, I’m forever grateful that I got a taste of print’s last, glorious run.

Fast forward two decades, and the media landscape has fractured and completely changed. Substack, podcasts, Instagram and TikTok creators, you name it — today’s stories are delivered by people, not monolithic legacy media brands with a penchant for writing in the “editorial we.” What we — as in we, the readers — want is 1:1 relationships with the writers who appear in our inboxes. We want distinct voices and points of view, expert insights and dispatches from out there in the real world — remember that place? Also: access to fascinating people, places and ideas, delivered by the type of writing that crackles with the texture of lived experience.

All of which brings me to the new IH and its suite of re-imagined newsletters, plus the star writers behind them. If you’re looking for listicles of the 52 peatiest single malts of all time or 78 pairs of Japanese raw denim jeans that “every man needs now,” these are not the newsletters for you. Sure, we’ll still bring you plenty of expertly sourced and rigorously tested product reviews and recs, but this new-and-improved IH will go deeper. Look for smart, sharp, sensible stories written by people with actual skin in the game. Also, you’re in for some fun, because — dare I say it — it is still pretty fucking fun to be a guy.

Here’s a more specific tease of what you can expect across our newsletters and verticals: style dispatches from New York, Milan, Paris and points further afield, brought to you by writers and photographers deeply embedded within those scenes. Reports from downtown gallery shows and the latest literary salons, and deep-dive profiles on burgeoning bands and the next great filmmaker. Wellness tips for both mind and body, from experts, not charlatans selling a new religion or mail-order panaceas. We’ll have dining, drinking and nightlife stories filed from bars in Athens, back-alley izakayas in Tokyo and basement clubs in deep Bushwick. There will be interviews with authors, entrepreneurs, explorers and scientists, plus sage advice from legendary old guys your dad respects and your mom thinks are hot.

Something else you’ll get: probing personal essays by men at once unashamed of their masculinity and unafraid to question it; men who are okay looking foolish by trying something new, or risking rejection by flirting with a woman at a bar because they trust a visceral reaction more than an algorithm. In short, we believe guys are more interesting and three-dimensional than a bunch of hypebeasts who only care about the latest sneaker drops, gaining access to the new, invite-only dating app and whatever fad the masses are currently lining up for in search of cheap dopamine.

All that is just the tip of the iceberg. Add writers both seasoned and excitingly new, a lineup of soon-to-debut short-form social media shows, and forthcoming events where we can congregate IRL, and we — excuse me, I — think we’ve got something special here. Below, you’ll read more about our newsletters in detail and the person behind each. There are six in total, each with its own beat and point of view, all slated to launch the week of August 24th. Every one of them is getting a revamp, including some name changes. We’re also introducing a new newsletter and folding two existing niche properties into a bigger, bolder brand.

The Stitch becomes Protagonist
The Charge becomes Champ
The Spill and The Journey become IRL
The Daily becomes Hits
Coverage is our new culture newsletter
The Goods remains The Goods (and it’ll be great)

That’s it for now. Thanks for making it this far, and buckle up for the next era of IH. It’s going to be fun.

✌️

James (you can call me “Jimmy”) Jung
Editor-in-Chief

Meet your guide

James Jung

James Jung is the Editor-in-Chief of InsideHook. His journalism has appeared in Bloomberg Businessweek, Outside, Vice, Travel + Leisure, Bicycling, Slate and other publications. His fiction has been published in Narrative, The Southern Review and The Southampton Review. Prior to joining IH, he served as the Editorial Director at Blackbird, the restaurant payments and loyalty company, and was the creator…