February 2010
From the Editor
Atlanta magazine has always been about more than just the city. We really don’t have any other choice; only about one in ten metro Atlantans actually lives within the city limits. Compared to the city’s 131 square miles, the metro area around it is vast—8,500 square miles—and encompasses dozens of governments.
In December, as part of an online contest tied to our Best of Atlanta issue, we asked participants to tell us what they think of Atlanta magazine. Polling subscribers (and potential subscribers) is a great exercise, because it’s a reality check. Every editor likes to think he knows who his readers are and what they want, but there is nothing like hard data to affirm or dispel those assumptions. To that end, the survey results were enlightening. More than 500 readers took part, a number split almost evenly between subscribers and nonsubscribers. Three-quarters of the participants were female, and three-quarters were between ages twenty-five and fifty-four. A slight majority, not surprisingly, live outside the city of Atlanta.
I was gratified to see that in a lot of areas, we seem to be on track. For example, our dining section, always a core franchise at the magazine, is something our readers turn to whether they live in Duluth or Jonesboro. A whopping 93 percent of respondents said they were either interested or very interested in our restaurant coverage. Something surprising (to me, anyway) was the huge support for travel coverage: Only 2 percent of the respondents said they weren’t interested in our travel stories.
Most heartening to me, a news junkie, was that readers are hungry for stories about current events and politics. As a magazine that comes out only twelve times a year, we can’t compete with the immediacy of newspapers. But we use that time to our advantage, going in-depth in a way the paper doesn’t. For instance, in November we investigated the unsolved murder of James Brown’s son-in-law, who was assassinated in his Buckhead driveway. In December we ran a profile of Melanie Oudin, the Marietta tennis phenomenon. And next month, we’ll examine the Final Exit Network, the controversial group that gives guidance to those who want to take their own lives. These stories are uniquely Atlantan, and they resonate with readers.
Perhaps the most intriguing part of the survey, though, were readers’ specific suggestions. They ran the gamut, but the theme was, simply, more: more suburban coverage, more stories about the arts, more Southern writers, more neighborhood profiles, more society gossip. All great suggestions. And in fact, when it comes to that last one, we’ve already made great strides. In January we welcomed Rich Eldredge to the magazine. If you were a fan of Peach Buzz in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, then Rich’s name is probably familiar. Rich has a Rolodex heavy enough to anchor an aircraft carrier. He’s already blogging on atlantamagazine.com about the hottest parties and the latest gossip. Starting in April, we’ll devote a page every month to the scoops he’ll be uncovering.
A magazine is always a work in progress, and we’re honored and grateful to have you along for the ride. But don’t wait for the next survey. If there’s something you like, don’t like, or want to see more (or less) of, drop me a line.
Steve Fennessy
sfennessy@atlantamag.emmis.com
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