Can a general interest print magazine survive today in California? This one is going to try

Starting a print magazine at this time may seem like a fool-hardy endeavor, but make the publication about California and you know the founders must be sanatorium-bound; glossies about that state have not all been that successful (remember “New West”?)

But Editor Douglas McGray and Publisher Chas Edwards will launch California Sunday in October in print and on the web, iOS, Android, and Kindle. The print edition will be inserted into select Sunday issues of the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Sacramento Bee newspapers.

The editorial will be “ambitious and rangy” and have dual editorial guideposts: It must be a great story and it must be unique or peculiar to California.

Typical readers will be men and women between 25-49 who work in creative industries, are heavy consumers of premium media, are early adopters of Apple products, and who do more international travel than average.

Douglas McGray, doug@californiasunday.com, @dougmcgray is editor and Jacqueline Bates, jackie@californiasunday.com, @jackiecbates is photography director.

Patch is dead; long live EveryBlock

AOL’s Patch, the local network of community websites, is technically not dead (yet) and is not really AOL’s, either. It is owned by Hale Global and – much smaller – seems to be waiting for a buyer.

EveryBlock might be in the same shape, although owner Comcast insists they are running the network out of the goodness of their hearts. “This is truly a community engagement, community investment product for us,” Matt Summy, vice president of government affairs for Comcast’s Chicago region, said.

The network was live from 2008 to 2013 with owner NBC News citing “considerable” financial losses as the cause of the shut-down. Current owner Comcast relaunched the Chicago site early this year and has now re-opened the Philadelphia site with plans to add Houston, Denver and three other markets by year’s end.

“EveryBlock is a combination of many different types of local information – from public records like crime reports, to neighbor discussions, to photos people have taken in your neighborhood,” the “About” page states. Curiously, as much emphasis on local and person-level information that EveryBlock emphasizes, the company uses an impersonal website form to submit information.

Again, according to the “About” page, visitors will find four types of content on the EveryBlock homepages:

• Neighbor messages – what your neighbors are talking about. (“Here’s the scoop on that new bakery coming to Main St.”)
• Civic information – building permits, crime reports, restaurant inspections and more.
• Media mentions – any time your neighborhood is mentioned in a media site, we’ll let you know about it.
• Fun from across the Web – local photos posted to Flickr, user reviews of local businesses on Yelp, lost-and-found postings from Craigslist and more.

Enterprising readers of this blog can probably find many uses for these hyper-local sites.

Golfers can now get their news digitally every week

Publisher Time Inc. borrowed assets from Sports Illustrated and Golf magazines and begat Sports Illustrated Golf + Digital, a free weekly magazine for the desktop, iPads and iPhones.

It features PGA Tour news and analysis, instruction tips, travel recommendations, the latest in equipment, video – all original content. Among the recurring videos will be an instruction series called “Play Like the Pros” and an equipment primer called “Tech Talk.” There’s even a serialized golf novel by Michael Bamberger, who is taking reader suggestions on where the plot should go. The magazine will publish 45 times in 2014.

The New York City-based publication is available from Golf.com on Wednesday mornings. Alan Bastable, alan_bastable@golf.com, is the editor.

Atlantic Media’s business news site is now two years old

They said it wouldn’t work – the digital-only business news publication of the Atlantic Media Company, called Quartz. But it’s now two years old and boasted 2 million monthly visitors in April 2013 and is now averaging close to 5 million a month; 42% of which come from outside the US.
It targets an audience of “global business leaders – digitally savvy, post-national executives, who seek information that will help them better navigate the new global economy.”

But what bothered the pundits from the start were new ideas, such as the absence of the traditional beats. Instead, Quartz features “obsessions,” i.e. “the patterns, trends and seismic shifts that are shaping the world our readers live in. ‘Financial markets’ is a beat, but ‘the financial crisis’ is a phenomenon. ‘The environment’ is a beat, but ‘climate change, is a phenomenon.” These phenomena are called “obsessions.

The editorial offices are located in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood and Kevin Delaney, kdelaney@qz.com, @kevinjdelaney, is the Editor-in-Chief.

Freelance writers will get professional news in new PWAC publication

“The Current” is a new ‘news brief publication’ by The Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC.)

It will launch July 24 and will be sent by email to over 600 subscribing freelance writers every Thursday. “We search the Internet and find all relevant news stories applicable for freelance writers that are trending, such as self publishing and copyright law, and we will submit those articles to PWAC [for approval],” said Tim Tsafaridis of B2B digital marketing company MultiView, The Current’s Publication Manager. PWAC will also review articles from members…

Magazine to enhance commercial airline travel has launched

Airline Passenger Experience magazine from the Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX) is a new publication covering all aspects of the airline passenger experience.

The editorial covers inflight entertainment, catering, lounges, communications and technology, the latest industry trends and issues, perspective and insight on news and developments, as well as all association activities, events and programs. The magazine is meant to provide relevant industry information while generating greater industry awareness of and support for APEX.

It is custom-published by Canada-based Spafax and editor is Terri Potratz, tpotratz@spafax.com.

Regional magazine celebrates good food and good company

Good Company is both a local magazine and one dedicated to people – especially women – and food. It is a bi-annual food journal “built to inspire and empower you to cook. At its core, it’s about the company you keep.”

The editorial highlights people, tools and seasonal, sustainable ingredients in luscious photography on high quality stock and printed in the US with vegetable oil-based inks, no VOC emissions, and wind supported power.

It is distributed in the Otter Tail, Grant and Wilkin counties, Minnesota, and is headquartered in Fergus Falls, MN. For submissions contact Connie Knapp, news@ingoodcompanyff.com