Mr. Magazine

Today we present two more 7 questions and answers from our interviews with the editors and publishers of the 30 Most Notable Launches. The interviews will be published based on the alphabetical order of the names of the magazines. Today’s magazines are Aromatherapy Thymes and Artful Blogging. To read a short profile about each of the aforementioned magazines just click on the magazine name. We have asked the editors or publishers to answer the same 7 questions. Click here to read part one and here to read our interview with Tyler Brule of Monocle magazine, our first international notable launch of the year. What follows are today’s two notables:

Patricia Carol Brooks of Aromatherapy Thymes answered our questions:

1. What do you consider the single most important achievement your magazine has accomplished in today’s marketplace?
Our goal of taking an alternative health magazine and making it mainstream and commercial which is atypical for an alternative health magazine that usually has a niche market.

2. Looking back, what was the most important hurdle you were able to overcome?
Surprisingly, we were able to assemble, research and collect informative articles of interest, but finding quality photographs and photographers to match the articles was an initial hurdle. Because the intent was to present the science and show the true beauty and art of aromatherapy.

3. What was the most pleasant surprise?
That so many people were interested in aromatherapy and enthusiastic that we presented aromatherapy in a down-to-earth and artistic style.

4. What is the biggest challenge you are facing today?
The two biggest challenges are, maintaining the integrity of the essential oil trade through informative articles and staying in contact with essential oil distillers in the U.S and abroad and coordinating the distribution channels for our market.

5. Imagine you have a magic wand and you can strike the magazine and make it human? Describe that human being.
Humble, compassionate, artistic like Degas, and poetic like Henry David Thoreau.

6. The number of new magazine launches has been on a steady increase. What advice do you offer to someone wanting to start a new magazine?
Do your homework by learning the publishing industry and most important find your readers and do you best to give them a publication no one else can and listen to them.

7. Finish this sentence: in 2011 your magazine will be…
Recognized worldwide as a reliable reference for aromatherapy and a publication that brought the distilling, trade, sell and distribution of essential oils to forefront.

Staci Dumoski of Artful Blogging answered our questions:

1. What do you consider the single most important achievement your magazine has accomplished in today’s marketplace?

Artful Blogging has breached the barrier between the print and online worlds. There’s a lot of talk about the decline of print as people turn to electronic means for news and entertainment, but we’ve turned that digital awareness to our advantage by offering contributors and readers something concrete that they can hold on to, kind of a “best of the best” of what they might find online. It lends a sense of permanence to the ephemeral virtual world. I hope it makes people realize it doesn’t have to be one or the other — print and digital media can help each other grow.

2. Looking back, what was the most important hurdle you were able to overcome?

Simply conveying to contributors, distributors and buyers what we are trying to accomplish, and getting them to believe that people really would spend money for content they’d already seen online.

3. What was the most pleasant surprise?

How beautiful the magazine is to look out. With dozens of artists representing all different art forms, it had the potential to be a real visual hodge-podge. But instead it’s turned out to be something of a visual masterpiece! That, and the response of our readers, who were buzzing about it on their blogs before it even hit the stands.

4. What is the biggest challenge you are facing today?

The Internet is always changing, and we have to stay responsive to that change by adapting to what’s going on in the online community. We don’t want to bore our readers by getting stuck in a rut.

5. Imagine you have a magic wand and you can strike the magazine and make it human? Describe that human being.

Exactly the kind of person you’d like to have over for tea and conversation. Or rather, a whole room full of those people — kind, colorful, generous, and inspiring.

6. The number of new magazine launches has been on a steady increase. What advice do you offer to someone wanting to start a new magazine?

Don’t underestimate the importance of your visual impact. As enamored as I personally am of the inspirational stories our contributors tell, our #1 reader response is always about how gorgeous the publication is.

7. Finish this sentence: in 2011 your magazine will be…

…a completely different creature than it is now. More than that, I can’t say, because who knows what the Internet will look like five years from now? For sure we’ll be right there on the edge, helping all our artful readers keep track of the digital realm.