It's a real feel-good Friday. The sun is out, the birds are twittering outside, and I am still buoyed from meeting god-like publishing genius (I promised to write that down) Mike Soutar yesterday evening.

Soutar is the man behind ShortList Media, the publisher of weekly "freemium" mags ShortList and Stylist. He was speaking at one of the PPA's excellent networking events, and it was amusing to learn that his glittering publishing career includes an early spell as pop editor at cult teen title Jackie - his teenage self can be spotted in a number of its classic photo-stories.

It occurred to me that of the five major magazine launches I can think of in the past five years, Soutar is responsible for two of them. In fact, if you also include his work on IPC's Look prior to setting up the ShortList venture, then it's three out of five.

That's some track record and we in print (in particular printer Polestar, and premedia supplier FMG) have much to thank him for as Soutar's team are putting the best part of a million magazines a week into people's hands - and the fact that they are indeed put directly into the hands of willing readers means the ShortList model involves incredibly low wastage, too - 96% of the magazines printed are actually distributed.

His love of the printed word is palpable, he talked about the tangibility, portability, and engaging nature of printed magazines. Reading between the lines there could be more on the way from the ShortList stable, as he believes there is further potential for a few more titles using the freemium model.

What's more, Soutar's activities are likely to spur further activity from other publishers who've spent the downturn battening down the hatches but now need to be similarly innovative.

Amid all the hoo-hah this week about the iPad, it was a fantastic boost to hear someone talk about the way that quality editorial + paper stocks, format choice, and ink on paper come together to form a real connection with readers.