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Discover Mid-America — May 2005

Wanted: feedbck
by Bruce Rodgers, Editor/Publisher

During the workweek (and sometimes on the weekend), a day doesn’t go by when I’m not talking to an advertiser. Most times it’s a question…about billing or an ad change or distribution of Discover Mid-America. Sometimes it’s a complaint; every so often, a little praise comes our way.

When the caller is rushed, much like I am on certain days, the conversation ends once the information is exchanged. But some people like to linger a bit, talk and try and get to know the person (me) on the other end of the line. The feeling is mutual. It’s the kind of thing this business (antiques/collectibles) is all about, and the publishing business could use more of.

When it happens to me — particularly if it’s a little praise — I like to lean back in my chair, put my feet up and let the good vibes drift over me.

But if an advertiser has a complaint, when then I sit up straight, press the phone tight against my ear and listen hard. I try not to dally. If we screwed up, then I admit it and figure out what to do to fix it. If I’m not sure we screwed up, then I find out how the screw-up happened. If it ain’t our fault, then I try and embrace the “it ain’t nobody’s fault” philosophy — just something in the air that day.

Sometimes complaints come because I didn’t know enough to satisfy the advertiser. Sometimes, it’s because we do a poor job of communicating what we, at Discovery Publications, are trying to do.

This publication is unique, a hybrid of sorts. Not quite pure antique publication yet a far cry from a general interest magazine.

In a sentence, what we’re trying to do is make Discover Mid-America interesting to our readers and relevant to our advertisers.

It’s a balancing act. I know people pick up DMA up mainly for event listings, others for the columns. And some — many I think — for both.

Feedback, from readers and advertisers, is one of the best indicators in knowing if we are “in balance.”

On this page, you’ll notice a new Letters/Email section. It’s my hope that readers and advertisers will utilize that section…to give praise and to complain to us at DMA; and to talk among yourselves about what it takes to be in this business and why loving it is why you stay — both as a business owner or just as a consumer of those things of history.

Contact Bruce Rodgers at
publisher@discoverypub.com

> Editor’s Notebook Archive — past columns