I think I might have just had my 15 minutes of fame. Folio Magazine, the trade publication for the magazine industry, asked if I would be on their cover and anchor a story on niche publications. Given their reputation for staid business shots, I was both surprised and flattered. When the photographer wanted to take the shot among brewing equipment, I was even more impressed. Folio was stepping out here! Not bad. Then the result hit our desks and I even more surprised. Nice shot. Nice article. Great attention to the small guys.
The publishing industry shares many attributes with the beer industry. The big guys are struggling and the little guys are charging ahead. For years I’ve showered Folio people with queries about covering small guys. For example a recent headline bemoaned the dramatic fall in ad pages and ad revenue last year. However, all the small publishers, particularly niche publishers, saw significant growth, maybe not 2008 numbers, but significant.
Furthermore, companies like ours succeed by focusing on the people. Our supporters aren’t statistics. They’re readers and advertisers. We can easily find out if we’re doing the best job we can. What this means for the staff is they have to be particularly agile and involved. Like the better craftbrewers, our people are deep into the beer community, working to fulfill our role. (Ironically, we haven’t put a list of the gang up on the website, which we will do soon. You should get to know them. They’re really great colleagues.)
Enjoy the Folio article. For those of you who know me personally you can only guess at how much of the interview hit the cutting room floor, but it was a shot for attention to the world of niche publishing.
Thanks for being along for the ride.
Daniel
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