Magazine-Making, Organically

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, August, 2001 by Geoff Van Dyke

Populism and magazine editing aren't the most cozy of bedfellows, but healthy lifestyle publisher Rodale Inc. is doing its bit for people power with the launch of its Organic Living/In Style hybrid called Organic Style.

Members of an Organicstyle.com e-mail list recently received a message with the subject line "Choose a cover--win a $100 gift certificate!" The missive's text read, "We'd love your input on the cover of the next issue of Organic Style," then directed recipients to a Web site and asked them to vote for their favorite of nine different cover shots ("Woman in field" or "Woman with watermelon") and 20-plus coverlines ("Haute Cuisine Comes Down To Earth;" "Mad Cow: What You Need to Know").

"The interesting thing, of course, with e-mail testing is that it's instantaneous," says Nancy Small, senior vice president and managing director for the Organic Living division of Rodale. "We sent that one on a Friday, and by Monday morning we had 90 percent of our results." About 600 people responded to the message.

Rodale apparently enjoyed the instant gratification. Twelve days later, another e-mail was dispatched. This time, the magazine had winnowed the coverline options for the debut September/October issue and asked the e-mail list folks which "sentiment" was the most and least inspirational: "Get Happy Now," "Pure Joy," or "Lighten Up."

Small wouldn't reveal which cover came out on top, but she did confess that the magazine "actually went out and commissioned a couple of additional cover shoots [based on the responses to the e-mail tests]. And we haven't actually tested the final cover."