The New Inquiry

What The New Inquiry does

The New Inquiry is an independently operated online literary magazine founded in 2009 and based in New York City, publishing long-form essays, reviews, features, interviews, and blog content focused on cultural criticism, literary scholarship, and political analysis. The publication's core product is its editorial content, distributed primarily through thenewinquiry.com, with a content archive spanning 236+ pages dating back to October 2009. The technology stack is a web-based digital publishing platform with no disclosed AI, API, or proprietary technical components beyond standard content management and a Shopify storefront integration.

The business model is built on a recurring $2/month membership subscription via members.thenewinquiry.com, supplemented by merchandise sales through a Shopify store at the-new-inquiry-store.myshopify.com. Contributor compensation is structured at $300 per essay/review, $100 per feature/interview, and $70 per blog post, indicating cost-side economics typical of an independent literary publication. Content is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License, positioning the publication within the open-access literary ecosystem rather than a paywalled model. The publication also produces periodic themed print and digital issues (e.g., 'Assets' Vol. 76, 'Pandemic' Vol. 75).

The company serves a horizontal segment of literary and academic readers interested in in-depth cultural commentary, works in translation, and scholarship unmoored from the news cycle. Distribution relies on organic channels — the website, social media (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram), email newsletter, RSS feed, and NYC-based community salons and events. No institutional ownership, venture capital, parent company, or funding rounds are disclosed in the source data; the magazine operates as a community-supported independent publication, with a 2017 relaunch fundraiser being the most significant disclosed structural event. Co-founders Jennifer Bernstein, Rachel Rosenfelt, and Mary Borkowski established the publication in 2009, which remains actively publishing through 2026.

Name

The New Inquiry

Legal name

The New Inquiry

Website

https://thenewinquiry.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The New Inquiry is an independently operated online literary magazine founded in 2009 in New York City, publishing long-form cultural criticism, literary essays, and political analysis for academic and literary readers, monetized through a $2/month membership subscription and merchandise sales.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Literary Magazine

NAICS

Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (5192), Information (51), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Interdisciplinary & Multidisciplinary Scholarly Publishing (EDAGAFAI)

akta.pro secondary industry

Open Access Scholarly Journals & Monographs (EDAGAFAJ)

Keywords

• Literary criticism
• Cultural commentary
• Digital publishing
• Online magazine
• Literary magazine

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Subscription Revenue: Monthly subscription model offering digital access to the magazine's content. Subscribers pay $2 per month for membership access.
2. Contributor Content Licensing: The publication pays contributors for content: $300 for essays and reviews, $100 for features and interviews, $70 for blog posts. This represents a cost structure rather than revenue.
3. Merchandise Sales: Online shop selling merchandise through the-new-inquiry-store.myshopify.com.

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The New Inquiry is an online literary magazine publishing original analytical essays (~3,000 words), reviews, features, interviews, and blog content on literature, politics, culture, and social issues. The publication offers a $2/month membership providing access to current and past issues, themed periodic print/digital issues (e.g., 'Assets' Vol. 76), audio content, and a Shopify-backed merchandise store. Content is published under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 license.

Product overview

The New Inquiry is a literary magazine offering modern scholarship through a digital publication platform. The core offering is the literary magazine itself, which publishes original analytical essays (around 3k words), reviews, features, interviews, and blog posts. The company operates a membership/subscription service ($2/month) providing access to content, a Shopify-based e-commerce shop for merchandise, and periodic print magazine issues. Content spans categories including Essays & Reviews, Features, Blogs, and Audio, with issues themed around topics like Assets, Pandemic, Abolish, and Liquid.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• The New Inquiry Literary Magazine An online literary magazine publishing original analytical essays (~3,000 words), reviews, features, interviews, and blog content on literature, politics, culture, and social issues, with content published under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 license.
• The New Inquiry Membership / Subscription A $2/month membership program providing subscribers with access to current and past issues, exclusive content, and community access.
• The New Inquiry Shop An online merchandise store operated through Shopify, selling branded merchandise and publications.
• The New Inquiry Magazine Issues Periodically published print and digital themed magazine issues such as 'Assets' (Vol. 76, July 2022), 'Pandemic' (Vol. 75), 'Bad Vibes' (Vol. 72), 'Fan Fiction' (Vol. 64), and 'Patriots' (Vol. 63).

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• n+1: New York-based literary and cultural magazine publishing essays, fiction, and criticism. Closely comparable in mission, format, interdisciplinary scope, and small-team independent operation as a peer literary-intellectual publication.
• The Baffler: Magazine of cultural criticism covering politics, art, and media with a contrarian editorial voice. Highly comparable in its long-form criticism focus, anti-news-cycle positioning, and subscription-supported model.
• Los Angeles Review of Books: Digital literary review publishing essays, criticism, and interviews on books and culture. Comparable as a peer online literary-criticism publication with a similar digital-first, contributor-paid model.
• Dissent: Quarterly magazine of left-leaning political and cultural criticism with essays and analysis. Directly comparable in combining politics and cultural criticism in a subscription-based, editorially independent format.
• Boston Review: Magazine of political, literary, and cultural essays with an interdisciplinary editorial mix. Comparable in publishing long-form essays across politics, culture, and ideas with a subscription model.
• The Paris Review: Long-running literary magazine featuring essays, interviews, and criticism. Comparable as a peer literary magazine with periodic issues, subscription revenue, and a brand built on cultural authority.
• Jacobin: Magazine and media platform of socialist politics and cultural criticism. Comparable in publishing accessible long-form political and cultural essays and operating a subscription-supported independent publication.
• The Intercept: Independent online news outlet with strong cultural and political criticism coverage. Comparable as a subscription-supported, editorially independent digital publication with essays and feature reporting.

Broad incumbents

• Harper's Magazine: Established American monthly literary magazine publishing essays, fiction, and criticism. Comparable in literary criticism positioning but materially larger, broader in scope, and institutionally established versus TNI's niche independent model.
• The Atlantic: Major American magazine covering politics, culture, and ideas through long-form essays. Overlaps in literary criticism and cultural commentary but operates at substantially greater scale and distribution.

Market position

Strengths1 record

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/newinquiry
• Facebookfacebook.com/TheNewInquiry
• Instagraminstagram.com/newinquiry
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/932795

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The New Inquiry