Southern Tides January 2019

Page 5

E ditor’s N ote New Year, New Ideas

E

ach morning when we wake up is a chance to start something new, be better than we were, and explore new ideas. So are Mondays and the first of each month, but the start of a new year is the mother of them all. The time for big ideas, big hopes, and sometimes big changes. I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions per se, but I can’t help feeling that tug to start fresh, do more. So I’ve been exploring ideas and taking a good hard look at things, and I want to talk with y’all about it. If you truly enjoy this magazine, you’re going to have an opinion, one way or the other, and I hope you’ll share it with me. We live in a digital world – some of us may not be terribly comfortable in it, but it’s here to stay and that isn’t likely to change any time soon. I don’t know a single person who doesn’t have at least a cell phone, most everyone I know has a computer, and many have tablets. While all of these devices started out as work tools, over the years they’ve infiltrated every aspect of our lives. I’m sure you know where I’m headed with this. Yes, I want to talk about Southern Tides Magazine going digital. Here are the pros, as I see them: • Less paper waste – even though almost all copies are picked up, unless you’re a hoarder, you eventually throw them away. • It’s less expensive to publish digitally than have them printed each month. • A digital version could reach more people – I’m limited by cost to how many I can print. • Less time delivering each month would mean more time spent writing and sourcing content. • There are no size restrictions – I could make it as many pages as I have time to produce – so more content. • The photos would look FAR better on a screen than they ever could on newsprint. • You, the reader, would be able to enlarge the page or shrink it to suit your vision. • You would be able to click the ads and be taken to the advertiser’s website and click content to be taken to our website for more photos and related articles. • A digital version could provide more of the resources you’ve all been asking for, such as marina listings, tide tables, charter listings, dockside dining listings, seafood market listings, fishing regulations, and more. • How many people are actually reading it could be trackable which would show the value of the magazine to advertisers. Here are the cons, as I see them: • If I’m not physically putting it in your hands each month, will you still read it? • There’s a learning curve. I’m still figuring out how it would all January 2019

Southern Tides Magazine

work. • It could take a while to make the transition and during that time, advertisers may not see the value in it, which would make it very difficult for me to keep it all going. • I worry that it would damage the perception of the magazine, that it wouldn’t be as “real” anymore. • Some old school folks (like me) like holding the real thing while we read. • You can’t easily take it in the bathtub with you. • You can’t hand it to a friend (though you can send them a link). That’s what I’ve come up with, but I’d like to hear from each of you. I’ll be putting up a poll online and a hard copy of it in the next issue. Or just email me and tell me your thoughts. If you do that, please tell me what area you’re in. One option that’s been proposed is to print a limited number of hard copies and put them in the areas with the highest concentration of readers. Please don’t worry. I haven’t made any decisions yet and won’t until I’ve heard from enough of you to give me an idea of the majority opinion, and until I have all the facts. If I decide not to go this route, the magazine will go on as it is now, in print. This isn’t a last-ditch effort to save it, it’s doing fine. This is an effort to make it better, give you more content, and be a better resource for our coastal community. Thank you for giving this your thought and attention. Remember that first sentence: Each morning when we wake up is a chance to start something new, be better than we were, and explore new ideas. I’ll look forward to hearing from each of you. Happy New Year! See you out there!

Amy Thurman Editor in Chief

amy@southerntidesmagazine.com 5


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
Southern Tides January 2019 by Southern Tides Magazine - Issuu