Bo Sacks: A Lifelong Observer, Teacher, and Champion of Publishing
- Flori Meeks Hatchett
- Jan 16
- 7 min read
Bo Sacks launched his publishing career in the ’70s with one essential skill: knowing how to make do with whatever resources he had.
The weekly newspaper he and two partners created, The Express, didn’t have much of an operating budget, says Sacks, now a respected media observer, commentator, and consultant. But those early days were rich in life experiences.
“The Express was all about anti-war and progressive ideas,” said Sacks, who was fresh out of Long Island University when he helped start the newspaper. “It was distributed in colleges in the metropolitan New York area. This was my graduate school in publishing.
“We learned on the job. We were scrappy. We didn’t make a lot of money, but we didn’t lack for anything. That was the joy of the ’70s in publishing. I bartered for a motorcycle. I bartered for places to take girls on dates. It was a fascinating experience.”
In the decades that followed, Sacks, now a Virginia resident, held nearly every position imaginable in publishing. He’s been a publisher and a freelance writer. He’s edited copy and overseen distribution. His employers have included International Paper, McCall’s, New York Times Magazine Group, and Time Inc. He is a recipient of Niche Media’s Lifetime Achievement Award and a 2010 inductee into the Publishing Hall of Fame.
“I’ve worn many hats, and the culmination of all those experiences made me the man I am today,” he said. “I absorbed from each position I’ve had the basic building blocks of how this industry runs, and I’ve become proficient in explaining to the industry what the industry is.”
Sacks regularly lectures and consults about the publishing industry, but the bulk of his explaining can be found in his e-newsletter, Heard on the Web, founded in 1993. Sacks says it’s the longest-running e-newsletter in the world.
Journalistic Highs
One of Sacks’ best-known professional accomplishments, aside from his e-newsletter, is his work with High Times, a magazine devoted to covering cannabis culture. Sacks played a significant role in its formative years, joining early in its development and serving as a production director from 1974 to 1980.
“My two partners (from The Express) and I drifted over to High Times, where I became a director of manufacturing,” Sacks said. “I had a skill set I didn’t know I had, which really helped, because I didn’t know anything about four-color printing or buying paper. My first newspaper had a weekly circulation of about 50,000. At High Times, we grew to between 500,000 and 600,000 copies a month.
“So I learned on the job, and the skill set that I discovered was that I didn’t have to know the answer; I just had to be able to find the answer. And that headspace really helps a lot in being successful in almost anything. Admit you don’t know and have the skill set to find the answer.”
Looking for answers, as it turned out, was what led Sacks to create Heard on the Web.
Finding His Calling
“I was working for (publisher) Ziff Davis in the ’80s, and there was this tiny company that wanted to insert diskettes into our magazines,” Sacks recalled.
The potential advertiser was Quantum Computer Services, later renamed America Online, or AOL, and it went on to become a household name famous for introducing millions to dial-up internet access.
But back in the ’80s, all Sacks knew was that an advertiser wanted something no one at Ziff Davis had ever done. He was assigned to a small in-house team asked to figure it out. They did. And through his work with Quantum Computer Services, Sacks became one of the first people in his professional circle to get an email account.
This was still the 1980s, Sacks said. Landline phones were the primary mode of communication. One of the most popular sayings of the time was “Who you gonna call?” from the Ghostbusters movie. For most people, the era of dialing into the internet and hearing “You’ve got mail” was still several years away.
“But the idea of sending words over the phone really intrigued me,” Sacks said. “I figured if I knew how to do that, I’d be more employable than my peers, which turned out to be helpful.
“I started screwing around with email, finding an article or two and sending it to the only other person I knew who had email, my college roommate, who happened to work for Time Inc.”
Sacks’ roommate forwarded the articles to a co-worker, and little by little, Sacks found himself building a readership for his shared insights. Heard on the Web was born.
“I was just trying to learn how you send words over the phone. By 1993, I had 1,000 subscribers, and I figured, I guess this is meaningful.”
The subscriber list for Heard on the Web eventually grew to 16,000 readers, including an international following.
“To the best of my knowledge, it’s the world’s oldest, longest-running e-newsletter,” Sacks said. “I’m flattered, and I find it humorous. I’m just a guy from Merrick, Long Island, who somehow started a newsletter, and things worked out wonderfully. The newsletter empowers me to give lectures to the industry. Life is great.”
Teacher at Heart
Aside from writing, lecturing is one of Sacks’ favorite things to do.
“I think somewhere deep inside I’ve always wanted to be a teacher,” he said. “It didn’t end up that way, but I think lecturing is fulfilling a small dream of mine. I have given lectures in many universities and, of course, at industry events. I love it. It gives me an opportunity to explain to the industry my beliefs, where we are, where we’re going, and the things we have to look out for and not be complacent about.”
He also enjoys working with publishers one-on-one through his consulting firm, Precision Media Group.
“I help clients adjust their former business model into a futuristic one. Where do we want to be in five years? And how do we get there? The answer is not always simple.”
Publishing Landmines and Opportunities
Two of the topics that have particularly fascinated Sacks lately sit at opposite ends of the publishing spectrum: the potential dangers of artificial intelligence (AI) large language models (LLM) and the continuing value of print.
AI
When it comes to AI, Sacks hasn’t been shy about his stance. He sees it as a real threat to publishing, and he’s calling for leaders and industry stakeholders to defend human-made media.
“Let’s not sugarcoat it,” Sacks recently wrote. “AI is feasting on our archives like I feast on free conference bagels: voraciously and without shame. Every digitized issue, every scanned backfile, every literary corpus, hoovered up by corporate systems that don’t credit, don’t compensate, and don’t care. This is editorial extraction. Cultural colonialism in code.”
This reality is one of the reasons Sacks is grateful that, after years of books, newspapers, and magazines moving to digital, print appears to be making a comeback.
“We’re never going to get the volume of print that we used to have — that’s gone,” Sacks said. “But what we’re heading to is a period where there are new rules in print: quality over quantity.”
Gradually, he says, publishers have been embracing this standard: Print publications must be created strategically.
“Every page has to be justified. It has to be quality. It has to be on great paper, and you have to appeal to a specific niche audience. If we can do all that, then print will survive. That’s the wrong word; it’s not ‘survive.’ It will thrive, but under a smaller footprint.”
And as Sacks recently wrote, print content delivers much-needed commodities: trust and accountability.
“Let me tell you something that should be shouted from every publishing rooftop: Print has a commanding edge in this trust economy. In a world drowning in digital noise, algorithmic manipulation, and content that disappears as fast as it appears, a printed magazine or newspaper makes a profound statement: This mattered enough to craft, edit, design, print, and physically deliver to you. That intention carries extraordinary weight in an age of throwaway content.”
The Power of Asking Questions
Not only does Sacks see an ongoing role for print in the publishing world, but he also sees opportunity for entrepreneurs entering the industry. And despite the vast technological changes that have shaped publishing since he got his start, he believes the mindset that helped him will serve the generation beginning their careers today.
“I understood that there’s an answer to every question. I still hold that today. Anybody who wants to go into media — to be a writer, a publisher, a circulator, a salesman — needs tenacity. There’s always an answer. You’ve just got to ask the right person, and you don’t have to know it yourself. Never be embarrassed that you don’t know. Be embarrassed if you didn’t ask the questions.”
The Ongoing Legacy of Bo Sacks
Looking back at his own path, Sacks says he considers himself fortunate. The legacy he hopes to leave can be summed up in a single line: “He thought; he taught; and he survived.”
To read more of Sacks’ publishing insights, including his Bo Sacks Speaks Out blog series, visit his website.
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