The Four Questions with Nancy Small, President, Hallmark Publishing Hallmark Magazine's website (www.hallmarkmagazine.com) launched in June, before the publication of its first bimonthly print issue, set to appear August 21 (September/October issue). Initially, the magazine's paid circulation base will be 400,000, which Nancy Small, Hallmark Publishing President, projects will grow to 550,000 effective with its January/February 2007 issue. Hallmark's primary target, she says, is affluent women in their 40s who are married with children, usually 10 years and up, and who generally work outside the home. Previously, Small was CEO at Eating Well Inc., publisher of Eating Well, and before that, as SVP of Rodale's Organic Living division, she oversaw the debut of the now-defunct Organic Style. Q. What areas will be the main focus of your editorial content? A. We'll have five sections, summed up by the words inspire, renew, nest, connect and nourish. "Inspire" consists of short, front-of-the-book pieces featuring nature, culture and an almanac. "Renew" is a section on taking care of yourself. Hallmark is not known for beauty, but this is about beauty both from the inside out and from the outside in. "Nest" is about the home—not just furnishings, but about its being a haven and about time spent there entertaining. "Connect" makes sense since Hallmark Cards has been in the business of connecting with people for generations—family, friends and community. "Nourish" is our food section, with recipes and the meanings behind food. Besides a banana cream pie recipe, for example, we go into why it's important, passed down through generations. This is about food that's good for you, but, even more, it's about coming together around food. Q. There are more than 4,000 Hallmark Gold Crown stores. Will your magazine be sold at those stores and others, as well as via subscriptions? A. Most of those Hallmark Gold Crown stores are not company-owned, so their individual owners will decide whether to sell the magazine. So far, 3,600 have requested it for sale. That's exciting. Plus, 43,000 other stores sell Hallmark products, from CVS to Safeway to Wal-Mart, and Hallmark Magazine will be sold on their magazine racks and on additional aisle racks. Q. A lot of magazines are developing programs for TV and cable networks. This may be a bit early, but might you be interested in such programming spin-offs with, say, your sister Hallmark Channel? A. We will definitely take a look at that, but it is a bit premature just yet. We do see the synergy in our magazine and the cable channel for both our readers and our advertisers. We probably will offer multimedia ad-sales packages linked with Hallmark Channel. Q. Eventually, will you also focus on such life-changing family events as graduations and weddings? A. We will look into those areas in the future. We'll also be developing content for digital and online platforms, as well as book publishing. Hallmark Magazine is just the first step to building a publishing foothold.
No items were found.
