A reader supported magazine

Somethin’s happening here ….

When North of 50⁰ was first published, almost 10 years ago, I could count the free magazines distributed in racks in the Central Okanagan on one hand. It was an efficient, cost-effective way to distribute our magazine - a win-win for the retailers and other high traffic businesses who allowed North of 50⁰ racks on their premises; each benefitting from the other’s clientele.

Today, it’s a different story. Recently, I counted 20 free magazines in Kelowna’s Capri Centre mall. It’s become a dog eat dog world out there. Businesses are inundated with print advertising sales reps cold calling, each trying to convince the prospect that their magazine will get them better results than any other.

Is any one publication better than the other? That’s not for me to say. Of course, I believe North of 50⁰ has the best content – that is North of 50⁰ has something to say. We present stories about social and political issues. We remain independent, not influenced by advertisers. We pay our writers and do not publish ads under the guise of advertorial. We are the ONLY magazine in the Okanagan that adheres to those high journalistic standards.

Our plan is to change our business model to a subscriber based magazine. What does that mean?

A reader supported magazine makes us accountable to our readers. It gives us more freedom to print stories that some advertisers and mainstream media will steer away from. We’re not interested in turning into an” off the wall” or “lefty” magazine; we ARE interested in being a progressive, forward thinking, publication, unafraid to dig deeper, to say more. We want to do more investigative reporting, print more opinion pieces and offer content different from mainstream media that relies so heavily on advertising for income.

The question is: Will readers support us? Send us your comments to: editor@northof50.com