Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Some ads aren't welcome

It's hard to say it, but there are some ads that are just not welcome in All Things Country Magazine. With the economy the way it is, and the lack of ad sales during the past two months you really wouldn't think you'd hear that from a publisher. But you will from me. And I guess that might just be my downfall. But, hey ... it's my book and I can make that decision.

There aren't too many things in life that you really have a choice in. Thinking back to a recent post about the price of gas is just one example. We wake up every morning wondering what the world will bring us for that day and how much the gas prices have gone up or down. Our paychecks are dictated by the government. Heck .... our schools, our churches, our banks - everything is dictated by somebody, somewhere in the world.

But, my magazine - nope. If I don't want to run your pain pill clinic advertising in my paper - I don't have to. Sure, the money would be nice. Probably big money too. They can afford it. A small business person, they can't afford to advertise. A semi-legal pain clinic - with a sign on the building that says weight loss - they can afford it. Sad, isn't it.

I think about what my readers would think when I accept advertising for the magazine. If I go into a store - and find it's not a business that I can promote with a clear conscience - then I turn around and leave. I have been known to accept liquor store ads, but hey - every once in a while I have a drink. I certainly don't run ads from bootleggers! And I don't mean to offend people by running them, but I'm not telling my readers to drink if they don't want to.

Running this magazine is tricky business. I have certainly found that out over the years. This magazine rules my life, it really does. It's like my baby. I care about it. I worry about it. Every single page means something to me - and I absolutely hate it if I have an advertiser that doesn't like their ad. I take it personally, because I design nearly every ad in the magazine too. I design every page. I type up every story - well the ones that are sent in. If they are emailed in, I get a reprieve :-)

So, when you are reading All Things Country every month, know that you are appreciated. By me, at least. I appreciate each and every comment, each and every ad placed with us, each and every poem written about us or for our book. I appreciate each of you that take the magazine with you on your trips - the pictures are awesome.

Spring is just around the corner, and I'm sure ad sales will pick up. And rest assured, you'll never see an ad for some shady business in my book. No matter how bad I want to sell an ad. And if you are in a business that you think would be a good fit with All Things Country, please leave them a copy and recommend us. I'd appreciate that also :-).

Have a great day everyone! Blessings to you and your family.
Pam




Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Are my traveling days are about to end?

I have been on the road alot in the past 10 days and will be out and about again tomorrow. Since the Dave person is trying to find employment elsewhere, it's now up to me to get all the ads sold, then come home and build them. Yeah, it's getting tougher to make a living. And not just for us, for everyone. So I won't even begin to complain. We have our health, family and all the other important things. Many in this world don't.

What I will complain about it the rising price of gas. Again. It's ridiculous that our net income each month is determined by how much money we put out to get to work everyday. Some days it might cost you $5.00 in gas, the very next day it might cost you $7.50. And the balance of this equation lies with the powers to be? Not a bit fair is it?

My sister just lost a very dear friend to cancer and her obituary came out today. Reading through it, you realize how much Laurie disliked cars. She rode her bike everywhere. I have heard that the only time she drove her car to work, which was ONCE, she got a ticket. She even rode her bike to her chemotherapy and radiation treatments. It made me wonder just how much money that girl saved in her life by not driving a car everyday! Amazing.

I'm not sure I could get 10,000 copies of All Things Country Magazine delivered in two days to 20 counties riding a bicycle! No, I'll change that. I know I can't. But, if the cost of gas keeps rising, what are we all going to do? Go back to horse and buggies?

I would estimate that I have driven over 1,000 miles this month already - and there are 8 days left in the month. At $4.00 a gallon, that means I've burned up at least $140.00 in gas, not to mention wear and tear on the vehicle. If it goes up to $5.00 a gallon, I'll be spending a minimum of $175.00 on gasoline each month. Gosh, that's alot. And I'm not talking distribution in these numbers. Add those two days to the mix and it's just downright scary to think about how much we pay to deliver a free magazine each month.

The real bummer on all of this is that I haven't brought in any income in all of those miles. I've got several leads that I have to GO BACK to next week. You guessed it, more gas and mileage on the old trusty car. And I've had calls from several people wanting us to run free items for groups. You know, the newspapers does it, why can't we? Well, we don't charge 50¢ per copy for All Things Country. If I did, I could afford to give away free ads. We don't collect income from publishing legal notices. If I did, I could afford to give away several free ads each month. But, that's not the case. Every dime of income at All Things Country comes from us going out daily and pushing the magazine and it's advertising.

The great part of my business, traveling around visiting with people. The bummer part of my business, not being paid to travel around and visit with people. I am in the wrong business I guess. I should be involved in the tourism industry. I see posts from local tourism groups and all the traveling they do. One fellow posts his meals every day, all across the state of Kentucky. Maybe that's why I have NEVER gotten a reply from him regarding our magazine. He's always busy eating!

I could do that too, because as I'm traveling around searching out antique malls and craft stores and the like for advertising, we also have to eat. We've found some great spots to enjoy a meal over the years. Maybe it's time to start my own non-profit. I've been wanting to do a "Community Spirit" type of deal for quite a while anyway. I could even write advertising into the grant and help spread the word through our magazine. Hmmmm.

Well, it's time to get to work. With all the traveling I've been doing, it takes me a whole day just to catch up on office work. Today is that day.

Until next time..... have a blessed day.
Pam


Thursday, February 9, 2012

Delivery day adventures

We are almost done with delivery of the February edition of All Things Country Magazine after picking it up from the printers yesterday morning. With the help of my wonderful husband and sister, we have completed delivery in Estill, Powell, Lee, Wolfe, Madison, Fayette, Clark, Bath, Rowan, Montgomery and Carter counties. I'm pretty sure I'm leaving out a county or two, but I'm a bit tired tonight :-). We've got eight or nine counties left tomorrow and we'll be done ... for this month anyway.

It's really kind of fun going out to deliver the magazine. Who doesn't like it when the door opens and someone is bringing you something for free? So people are happy to see us! Of course, most of these businesses have ads in the book, so it really isn't free. But, our hope is that they get business off of their ad too, at least enough to pay for it!

It's interesting to hear people say, "Oh, I thought you'd be here today." Or the one we hear the most, "people have been calling to see if it's here yet."  It's very gratifying to hear so many people say they like the magazine. It makes it worthwhile. For the most part. We certainly aren't getting rich off of All Things Country, but things are starting to pick up and that's good news too.

Our delivery days are very hectic. We usually pick up the magazine about 7:30 in the morning and load both of our rigs to the very top with them. I deliver part of Winchester, then head for Carter County and leave Uncle Bobby bundles for the Carter, Elliott and Lewis county areas. We've got some great readers in the Eastern part of the state. On my way back towards Winchester, I deliver to businesses in Morehead, Farmers, Cave Run Lake area, Owingsville and Mt. Sterling. I finish up the rest of Winchester before heading back to the farm. I can't do all of Winchester that morning because some businesses aren't open until later on, so I kind of divide it up.

Dave's day includes dropping off bundles at the farm and then delivering all of Estill County. His second day he takes them over to Powell, Wolfe and Lee counties for me, while I head to Lexington for a few stops over there and on to Richmond to deliver Madison County. Whew, lots of miles go on our rigs over two days. Good thing I don't mind driving! It's actually Dave that hates driving, it makes him tired.

We wrap up delivery of the magazine by, again, going in two different directions. One of us will take the southern route, which includes Berea down to the Welcome Center near Jellico, Tennessee - the other, up to Paris, Carlisle, Cynthiana and then up to the Welcome Center near Cincinnati. We kind of switch back and forth on day three, usually depending on the weather.

It's supposed to snow tomorrow, so we'll be out of here early in the morning and hopefully we can both get home before the roads get too bad. I've driven in my share of snow, so it doesn't bother me too much to drive on snowy roads, it's mostly the other drivers around me that make me nervous. Of course, yesterday when I couldn't make it up my Uncle Bobby's hill in Olive Hill, now that wasn't a whole lot of fun. I don't much like backing down a snowy road! And the brakes on these cars nowadays are kind of weird feeling when you are sliding...... enough said!

I do get to meet some mighty interesting people along the way though. Marty, the owner of Lying Lee's Used Cars between Morehead and Olive Hill. Now what a character! And they were one of the most hopping places I'd been to that day. What a bunch, that group. I'll probably never drive by that place again and not at least stop in and say hello! Heck, they'll probably be eating something while I'm there and I'll get lunch too. And to think that I've been driving by there now for six years and never did stop. Come to find out Marty is one of the organizers of Poppy Mountain Bluegrass Festival, which I've wanted to go to since moving here. And good news .... I walked out of there with tickets :-). So, we'll be there this year! And, better yet.... he's going to sponsor several Abby Tracks prizes before the festival in September, so some of our readers will be able to go too! You can find details about Poppy Mountain in the March book.

Today I had a great visit with Mike Chaney over at the Country Place in Richmond. They have such beautiful stuff in there. If you have never been there you really should plan a visit. They carry a fine line of antiques, pictures, candles, just all kinds of decor and other items. I could literally walk around there for a couple of hours and find stuff I'd love to have in my home. They are going to sponsor an upcoming Abby Tracks prize also.

So, all in all, we've had a great couple of days getting out the magazine. And now, the whole process starts again. I'll be out again Monday picking up ads for the March book. The Dave person thinks he has a job lined up starting Monday, so I've kind of lost my help all of a sudden. I panicked for a minute when I thought about doing all of this myself, but it only lasted a minute or two. I'll be okay. And I'll get to meet that many more people.

Have a great evening everyone! Time for some knitting before bed.
Pam

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

My in-between day

Today is my in-between day. I have one every single month. It is the day between print day and pick up day for the magazine. I could say that I have nothing to do, but that isn't true. I have a million things I could do. Don't we all? The question is, what do I want to do?

There is housework to do. That never ends. Even with just two of us, the housework remains the same as when we had a kidlet living at home.  The only thing that really changed once Jen left home was our cooking patterns. It's not uncommon for the Dave person and I to just have a sandwich for dinner on some nights. You just can't do that with kids. They kind of expect some form of a dinner.... ha ha ha.

There is farmwork to do. But, hey, that never ends either! It's hard for me to do farmwork on such a nice sunny day. Because I would do the farm work that I WANT to do, not the farmwork that needs to be done. That's out anyway, because Dave is up at dad's installing a dishwasher for them. So, I can reasonably put off the farmwork idea 'til he returns home.

I could sit and spend the day knitting or needle felting. I'm working on an awesome needle-felted hat that is taking up my evenings right now. It is my first one, so it's a tester model. Tester models stay on either my head or Dave's head. This one is more for a girl, so it's mine :-). I'll post pictures when I'm done.

Office work is another option. I could clean off my desk! What a novel idea. But, really, on my one day off each month, do I really want to do office work? Not exactly. I sit here all the time, in our 'dining room' converted to office space part of the house. Why would I want to do it today too? My sister actually told me to not get dressed today, since I don't have any plans. Yeah, right ....

I tried that. Staying in my robe. Guess who showed up here at noon today? Two representatives of the American Cancer Society to talk to me about Relay. I wonder if my sister heard me in her head when I was saying to myself, "Sure Pam, stay in your robe all day." Fine idea sister person. But, hey, guess what? I'm still in my robe!

I guess that by the time I decide what to do with my free day, the day will be about over. It's already 1:30 ... and I have a Relay meeting this evening at the hospital. So, I'm down to about 4 hours left of my free day. And if I don't get some laundry done, I won't have clothes to wear. And if I don't clean the kitchen up some, we won't have any dinner. And if I don't get these dogs fed, they are going to bug me until I do. So, I'm right back to doing housework, farmwork and thinking about my evening meeting.

Not much of a day off. But, that's okay! I was blessed to wake up this morning and that's enough to carry me through my whole day, whatever I decide to do .......

Have a great day everyone! We'll be out and about tomorrow delivering the newest edition of All Things Country Magazine.

Blessings, Pam

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Is it really Super Bowl weekend?

Gosh, it's so hard to believe that it's Super Bowl weekend. But, if you watch TV at all, you certainly haven't forgotten it happens this weekend. I'm kind of split on the Super Bowl coverage of the past week. I have a friend in Indianapolis, so I've tried to watch for her during the morning show all week. Most of them have been filming from there all week, so it's been hard to miss if you watch television at all.

What I'm split on is the fact we've seen so many of the commercials. I understand, from a marketing standpoint, that it is only beneficial to put them online. I mean you are getting so much more coverage and it's for the most part free. I guess it's up to a person not to watch them online if you are interested in watching them during the game. I must say I am looking forward to seeing the entire Elton John/Pepsi commercial. But it would have been so much better to see it the first time during the game, not days before on The Today Show. Oh well. It's just my opinion, which I've learned doesn't mean a whole lot.

Super Bowl usually has meant some type of a party most of my life. My folks watched football, so we watched football growing up as kids. My first real memories of football come from our time spent in Woodbridge, Virginia. We were huge Redskins fans. Dad worked for Lowe's back then, when Lowe's was barely a store, not a huge chain store. He had Redskin players as customers, so he actually knew some of those on the field. We always thought that was kind of cool.

I remember Dad coming home with tickets to a big year-end NFL banquet one year, compliments of Lowe's. Mom shopped for the perfect clothes for a month, Dad even had to have a tuxedo I think. Mom was so excited to go. She went to the beauty shop a day or so before the big event to have her hair colored .... and came home with hair that had a purple tint. Oh my! She was devastated. Nowadays it wouldn't mean a thing, would it? But back in the 1970's, it meant something. We assured her that it would be okay. And it was. She looked fabulous in her dress, jewelry and make-up. And the hair wasn't that PURPLE, it just had kind of a weird tint to it. Back then they wouldn't re-do your color for several days, so she really didn't have much of an option but keep a smile on her face and go.

They came home with stories galore. Mom talked of sitting with football players at their table that were twice her height. Sure that's pushing it a bit, but she was only 5 foot tall so it must have felt that way. I can't remember her talking about the food, but I'd say it was mighty tasty too.

Most of my super bowl memories include food and big get-togethers. I spent many years in the mountains of Idaho at Super Bowl parties. We considered it Super Bowl weekend though. Any excuse for a party back then. Of course, I'm sure those I gathered with back then will still gather together again tomorrow and enjoy the game. Although I'm sure it's not as exciting for them since there isn't a west coast team in the mix.

For several of my friends back there the party starts today!! You see, it's the annual Pierce Winter Carnival weekend 'on the hill.' I'm sure they are glad to have finally got some snow, so most of the events can go on as planned. They have snowmobile rides, snowman building contests and just fun in the snow. This is the second year for the Barstool races, and I'm sure hoping I get to see pictures. Or like one of my friends said, a video! They put skis on barstools and race them. What fun that must be to see. I'll share it with you in a future post if I see one posted.....

Well, time to get some work done around here! I've got company coming for the game tomorrow ... and we'll be having our own little party on the farm. Hoping your weekend is blessed, no matter if you watch the game or not......

Pam

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Groundhog Day has arrived, is Spring next?

The day has arrived. The folks up in Pennsylvania are having quite the party this morning, at least that's the looks of it by the coverage they are showing on the Today Show. Is Spring around the corner or not? The big question of February 2nd of every year.

I am guessing that the little guy is going to crawl out of his hole and ask everyone what happened to winter.... what if he says Spring will arrive 6 weeks after winter finally arrives? Oh my goodness, we'll be in trouble then.

In the West, we never took much interest in groundhog day. Usually on February 2nd the entire western side of the United States is covered with snow. Not this year. Not by a long-shot. I am not completely sure if anywhere in the good ole' USA has a normal snowpack. This means lots of bugs next summer. Yuck! And lots of wildfires. Yuck! So, Mr. Groundhog won't be too pleased.

I could use some spring right now. Even some spring for my step. It's been a long month. We travel to approximately twenty counties each month, trying to sell advertising and delivering books. This month, we got ads out of five counties. Very few ads. The worst month ever for All Things Country. Which means another small book.

If I hear I'll take an ad in March again, I might scream. Should I reply, "well, we'll have a book again in March?" Or, "I guess I'll eat again next month." I guess I really sound ungrateful. And I'm not. I appreciate every single ad that we get every month. And, from the sounds of it, I will be busy next month. Thank goodness! Lots of people have already said they want an ad in March, so I will go into February with hope.

Much more hope than I have today. Do I spend the money in gas to drive around and ask people for ads or do I just give up the ghost and go from here? Decisions, decisions, decisions. I feel like I'm in the movie Groundhog Day every day. Every day we get up and wonder how many times we will hear no. And pray we'll hear yes.

Oh, well. Every day that I wake up is a blessing. And if God wants me to go broke, I guess that's what he wants.........

Blessings everyone. Have a great day!
Pam

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Twelve times a year

I posted a question yesterday on the ATC Facebook page asking whether people knew the magazine was uploaded to our website each month and was absolutely amazed at the responses. Most people said no. This news took me by surprise. I push All Things Country every day - online, through email, on Facebook, in person. And still, after all this time, we meet people who have never seen our magazine.

The last twenty-some years of my life have revolved around marketing and promotion. And I guess I'm finding out that I'm not very good at it. I certainly would think most people that have seen our magazine also knew it was available online. And advertisers, I always figured that was kind of a selling point to them placing an ad.

You know what they say about assuming something. Well, I've done it to myself! And it's not been pretty.....

I guess I need to explain a few things about All Things Country Magazine:

• We publish 12 editions each year. That means we only bother you for an ad 12 times a year. Or once if you take a 12 month deal!

• Our magazine is full color, printed on glossy stock. It averages between 32 and 40 pages each month, although January and February are sometimes only 24 pages.

• We print on Monday of the first full week of each month. Delivery begins two days later and we distribute 10,000 copies the first two days. We save back 1,000 copies to re-stock later in the month. 1,000 copies are used for subscriptions and mailing out with Rate Cards.

• Yes, we have subscriptions! Sure, we know it's a free magazine, but if you'd like to receive it in your mailbox each month, we can accommodate you. The cost is $27.00 per year and we currently mail out subscriptions to 21 states.

• I have no staff. It's just me! My husband will pick up ads for me, but he's a busy person so I'm trying to ask him less and less. Of course, delivery wouldn't be nearly as quick without his help also.

• We have no legal advertising, which is what helps out your local paper each month. We have nothing to fall back on. The size of each magazine is dependent upon how many ads we sell. Thankfully we have several advertisers that never miss a month, so without them we would really be sunk during these lean months.

• Delivery includes businesses and advertisers in approximately 20 counties of Kentucky. We leave them along I-75 from Jellico, Tennessee north to the Ohio border. We also leave them at businesses along I-64 from Lexington to Olive Hill, Kentucky.

• Coming back to your business 6 times in two weeks and then you stating that you think you'll pass doesn't make us a dime of money. With the price of gas, coming back to your business 6 times costs about what the ad you might have taken costs.

• Every edition of All Things Country Magazine from 2009 to the current one is available to download at our website, www.allthingscountryky.com. The only edition you will find missing is the edition when our computer was hit by lightning, so it wasn't available to upload.

• I design 95% of the ads that are included in the book each month. I lay out the pages and I stress out while it's at the printers. I hate mistakes!! And when I make a mistake it's pretty public!

• We have the best readers there are!

So, there ya have it. Did I answer any questions you might have?

Have an awesome Wednesday everyone! And if you feel the need to take out an ad now or in the future, it would be greatly appreciated.......

Blessings to you .... Pam