As in the 1970s, associations would develop such as Small Press Underground Networking Community (SPUNC), started in 2006, with remarkably similar aims to the Australasian Small Magazines Association and the Australian Independent Publishers Association during the 1970s. This was evidence that the major problems for literary magazines (and small presses) were different in the 2000s, but with similarities, and further evidence that the 2000s represented a second upsurge of activity. Interestingly, Nathan Hollier, a past editor of Overland, was a major driving force behind the formation of SPUNC, suggesting that during difficult times some people have more of a collective consciousness than others.

In 2007 SPUNC commissioned a report, A Lovely Kind of Madness: Small and Independent Publishing in Australia (the title based on a quote from Ian Syson, of Vulgar Press and formerly of Overland), on the state of smallpress publication. The report was written by Kate Freeth, and identified a number of key issues for the sector, including literary magazines. Forty-six presses were surveyed, of which nineteen were members of SPUNC. While acknowledging the diversity and important cultural role played by the presses and the magazines, Freeth identified that members had two major concerns:

Of the major difficulties identified by those surveyed, unprompted, 39 per cent cited distribution as their major problem, followed by publicity and marketing. Freeth noted that