North of 50 Goes National! The Little Regional Magazine that Could

When North of 50° was first published, almost 10 years ago, I could count the free magazines distributed in racks in the Central Okanagan on one hand. It was an efficient, cost-effective way to distribute our magazine - a win-win for the retailers and other high traffic businesses who allowed North of 50° racks on their premises; each benefitting from the other’s clientele.

Today, it’s a different story. Recently, I counted 20 free magazines in Kelowna’s Capri Centre mall. It’s become a dog eat dog world out there. Businesses are inundated with print advertising sales reps cold calling, each trying to convince the prospect that their magazine will get them better results than any other.

Is any one publication better than the other? That’s not for me to say. Of course, I believe North of 50° has the best content – that is North of 50° has something to say. We present stories about social and political issues. We remain independent, not influenced by advertisers. We pay our writers and do not publish ads under the guise of advertorial. We are the ONLY magazine in the Okanagan that adheres to those high journalistic standards.

Does that make us better than other publications? No, but it does make North of 50° different. Completely different.

And it is the BEST READ magazine in our region; we’ve always had to restock our racks weekly to keep up demand. But the landscape has changed. Every free magazine is looking for a piece of the shrinking pie and soon there will be so many free magazines that even readers will tire of them. Racks are often moved from prime locations to less visible ones; in its place another free magazine. Competitors stack their publications in our racks, or worse, on top of our magazine in our racks, making it impossible for our readers to find. It’s not a game we want to play.

So here’s the thing:

North of 50° is our baby. We don’t want our baby to be mixing with the wrong crowd. So we’re changing our business model. We’re pulling our baby out of the mall and making it a reader supported, subscription based bi-monthly publication. It means we can now reach a larger target market.

We know it’s a huge risk. How do you get local readers – our bread and butter - who have been receiving something for free to value it enough to pay for it?

You promise them a damn good read – and then you deliver!

WHY SUBSCRIPTION BASED – A reader supported magazine makes us accountable to our readers. It gives us more freedom to print stories that some advertisers and mainstream media will steer away from. We’re not interested in turning into an ”off the wall” or “lefty” magazine; we ARE interested in being a progressive, forward thinking, publication, unafraid to dig deeper, to say more. We want to do more investigative reporting, print more opinion pieces and offer content different from mainstream media that relies so heavily on advertising for income.

That’s not to say North of 50° doesn’t value advertisers. We do! We hope to attract advertisers who wish to be associated with a quality read, who believe there is a need for a progressive, independent voice in our region.

WHY BI-MONTHLY – It takes time to investigate stories. To ensure we can deliver the quality content we are committed to, we need two months to research and gather information, to arrange interviews, to check and double check sources. We want to bring you stories and interviews that mainstream simply can’t.

WILL YOU STILL CARRY THE SAME COLUMNISTS? Yes, we will. And more, too.

Calvin White, Don Sawyer and Bob Harrington ‘went national’ years ago; each has been published in major magazines and newspapers across the country. Whether you agree with them or not, they certainly bring compelling editorial to the table.

We would like to hear from others, too and we invite submissions from authors from various backgrounds and levels of experience. We’re especially interested in social, political and cultural issues, especially as they relate to the Thompson/ Okanagan.

The new North of 50° will require more eyes and ears, more editorial focus than little old me can handle on my own. So I have asked Christine Pilgrim to act as editor. The idea of the new magazine with the new editorial focus is right up her alley. Christine Pilgrim has been a regular contributor for several years, and has tackled topics like poverty and homelessness, and arts and culture. Now, she will add a new title to her resume, as editor of the new North of 50°.

HOW CAN I SUPPORT North of 50°? – Please show your support by filling in the subscription form on page 11. Subscribe now, and we won’t bill you until March 2012. And, we’ll send a copy of the first issue to one of your friends for free. We want everyone who likes the magazine to get one, so if you are on a fixed income and the cost of a subscription isn't affordable for you, we'll still send you North of 50. Just fill in the subscription form and check off the box that says: I am on a fixed income. Please sign me up for a one year FREE subscription.

IF YOU ARE ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER, thank you, thank you. If you are already a subscriber, you will continue to receive North of 50° for the number of issues you subscribed to.

WHEN WILL THIS CHANGE TAKE EFFECT – This issue – the December/ January issue is the last North of 50° to be distributed in free racks. The next issue – the first of the new reader supported publication – will be available by subscription and on news stands on March 1, 2012. Our office will remain open, so feel free to call us with your questions or concerns, toll free, 1.877.667.8450 or 250.546.6064.

Email TJ at editor@northof50.com