Grit Magazine Cover
// January 23rd, 2007 // Announcements
Howdy folks,
I got some neat news yesterday. Grit magazine contacted me. They are running one of my images on the cover of the March/April issue! (I had told some folks May/June, but I mis-spoke.)
Grit is a magazine with tremendous history. Started in 1882, at one time they boasted 1.5 million subscribers. They were the first magazine ever to feature a color photo on the cover, and moved their operations to Topeka in 1993 alongside Capper’s Weekly.
Today Grit is a bi-monthly magazine covering the “Lifestyle Farming” market and promoting contemporary rural living. Their readership is not what it was in the past, however there is some math involved that is worth noting. At 130,000 subscribers this is four times more views than my website and Flickr have combined for in 18 months. Cool stuff.
In a bit of global Karma, I shared the following note with the editors when they contacted me about the cover photo and asked if I had ever heard of Grit. They loved my response and said they would try to find room for it inside the cover. We’ll see. :
“My Father knows Grit magazine VERY well. When he was a boy growing up in Riley, KS my Grandfather was an entrepreneur in and around town, always involved with business endeavors. At one point my Grandfather signed my Dad up to deliver Grit. That was fine by my Dad, but my grandfather thought it would be a good idea to purchase extra copies for my dad to sell. I guess he had the vision of a paperboy, standing out in front of the barber shop yelling “Extra! Extra!” or something. Anyway, my dad would deliver the magazines, but he wasn’t going to be caught dead hawking extras for a few cents apiece. (My goodness, what if his friends saw him!) He couldn’t say no to Grandpa though, so instead he’d take all of the extras and hide them in various places; in the creek, under the shed, behind the garage… it’s a funny story to hear him tell it!”
- Chris