JustUsBoys and renowned photographer Steven Underhill have joined together to promote Underhill's newest book, Rassle, due in stores in January.
JustUsBoys will profile Underhill in a pictorial spread that he will shoot for the cover of the January 2007 issue of JustUsBoys magazine. The arrangement is expected to enhance the magazine's penetration in key markets while enhancing the profile of the magazine's advertisers and driving sales of Underhill’s book.
Underhill, 44, is an American photographer. He grew up in Northern California and graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles. He has produced seven successful photo books featuring nude and semi-nude male models, including Straight Boys, Jeff, Twins, Boys Next Door and Happy2Gether. He is most well known for photographing identical twins Bruce and Seth Hall.
Underhill contacted JustUsBoys in early November after picking up the magazine during a visit to Palm Springs. He stated he was “impressed with the magazine’s quality” and thought “JustUsBoys magazine would be a great way to introduce [his] newest project to [his] fans,” according to a statement released by the magazine publisher.
“We are able to drive a lot of gay traffic to the people and websites we profile on our website and in our magazine,” said Bryce Thomason of JustUsBoys parent company JUB Media Ltd. “We have one of the largest gay communities on the Web, with millions of page-views each and every day. We also print over 80,000 copies of our magazine, and each time we make the online version available, it is downloaded over 100,000 times by our surfers.
“We are excited to have Steven shooting our January cover,” Thomason continued. “Our readers and advertisers are going to benefit from this captivating content. The synergy between the kind of work that Steven does and that we do is really a match made in heaven. Our issues already fly off the shelf, but I know that this issue will be our most popular yet.”
JustUsBoys magazine also announced an increase in production for the magazine. The popular periodical will be printed bimonthly; it was a quarterly for the first six issues.
“By printing every other month, we can capitalize on further building the brands of our advertisers by having more issues on the streets,” Thomason said. “When a new issue of our magazine comes out, our website traffic almost doubles, and we have a hard time keeping the racks stocked at our distribution points due to demand. That is the power of print media and the power of branding.”
Underhill said he appreciates that dynamic.
“JustUsBoys has become a market force in the gay community,” he said. “They can launch a product and drive sales in a way very few other gay companies can. I'm excited to shoot their cover and look forward to working with them even more in the future.”
The folks at JustUsBoys said that suits them just fine.
“Steve can shoot as many of our covers as he wants,” said Thomason. “He is an icon, and we are truly honored that he contacted us.”
