This week, instead of taking pot-shots at local news coverage, I’d like to switch things up a bit and focus on some of the other local and regional publications I’ve run across recently. As a general rule, media outlets tend to publicly ignore each other, the idea being that you should never give your competition free publicity, as they’re all scrambling for the same ad dollars. As a result, there tends not to be much public discussion of local publications, which is a loss for everyone.
Publication: The Weeklys (Spartanburg Edition)
Online: Click here
In a nutshell: Biweekly and selective music listings, backed by ads.
Thoughts: In case you’ve never seen it, The Weeklys is a free, photocopied publication put out by The Weeklys, Inc., and is generally a folded sheet of 11-by-17 paper, sometimes with an additional sheet in the middle. It’s little more than a calendar of the next two week’s worth of shows in the area, but it seems to be limited to the venues that advertise. It’s basically a giant ad that has some use to a casual music-goer. But, as a local music listing, it’s not particularly useful. Since they appear to limit coverage to the venues that advertise, there’s gaping holes in their coverage. Two of the most relevant local venues — Hub-Bub and Ground Zero — aren’t even mentioned.
It also suffers from a lack of content, with a single profile in the middle of the publication, often irrelevant to the local music scene it’s claiming to represent. And since this content is basically lifted from the band’s MySpace page, it comes across as lazy.
That said, I’ve often used the Weeklys to compare my own music calendar to here on the Spark, so it’s not without its uses. But, on the whole, the publication has such an exclusive and ad-centered feel that it’s hard to really like it. It’s not even attempting to serve the readers, just it’s handful of advertisers, and that strikes me as a little sad. Local music lovers deserve better.
Publication: Belle …
Online: Click here
In a nutshell: A free, monthly glossy magazine “for the Modern Southern Woman” published in Spartanburg.
Thoughts: Since I’m not the target readership for Belle, I can’t really claim to know how well this Spartanburg-published women’s magazine accomplishes its goal of striving to “involve every aspect of its community, featuring boutiques, salons, specialty stores, and much more.” But, as someone who has spent the better part of the last decade working in print publications (mostly newsprint, but some glossies as well), I must say I’m impressed at the way their product looks. As a full-color glossy publication, Belle uses tons of photos and lots of color to create a better-than-average magazine feel.
On the content side, however, I’m less interested. Belle doesn’t appear to pay their writers, and as a result, the content is anemic. As is often the case with ad-heavy publications — and women’s magazines in general — there’s no clear line between the editorial coverage and ads. In the mag’s 48 pages, we’re given 21 pages that could be considered content. That’s a pretty heavy ad-to-editorial ratio, so you really want that content to pop off the page to encourage readers to come spend time on the page, and thus have more exposure to the ads.
It’s not that the writing is bad, exactly, but more that it’s just not very interesting. For instance, in their October issue, Belle ran an interview with a local breast-cancer survivor named Lindsay Webster. It’s in a Q&A format, and instead of prefacing the Q&A with some details about who Webster is and why her story is important, it just goes right into the questions. That wouldn’t be so bad if there was some point to the Q&A, but it meanders around an awful lot, going from asking about the “positive” things that have come from Webster’s cancer experience to asking her what she likes about fall and what what music she’s listening to. There’s no narrative here, and as a result, Webster’s story isn’t as compelling as it could have been. And this was the best piece of writing in the issue, with much of the rest seeming like filler more than actual content geared at a specific readership.
On the upside, the “Belle’s Closet” photo spread in the center is more focused. In their October issue, they featured clothes from The Runway and shoes from the Lemon Peel. I haven’t the foggiest idea if the fashion is any good, but the photos seemed to have some central vision they were hoping to communicate, and I rather liked the fact that they were keeping it local.
So, to me at least, Belle is something of a wash. It looks good, and if they could ever find the time or the money to get some worthwhile writing in there, it could be a worthy publication. But, as it stands, it’s just a pretty magazine with a lot of ads for clothes and shoes — and not much else.
Publication: The Upstate Shopper
Online: Click here
In a nutshell: Classified ads galore.
Thoughts: The great thing about The Upstate Shopper is that they know exactly what they’re trying to accomplish, and are doing it very well indeed. It’s a publication devoted to classified ads, and nothing but classified ads. Want to sell your car, but have no idea what Craigslist is? The Shopper is for you.
The layout? A horrible jumble of inexpertly crafted display ads and classified text. To my eye, it looks awful. But it doesn’t matter anymore than culinary school plating technique does at the Waffle House. The ad copy? Functional at best — “ANTIQUE BARREL: Smaller one, good condition, has bee stored inside. $30″ — but cryptically amusing in its own way.
Of course, that’s not to say that the Shopper lacks content. Why, they even run a weekly “Bible Study” column by “Evangelist W.C. ‘Dub’ Dellinger — Age 90.” In the Oct. 16 issue, Dellinger picked the wonderfully fitting topic of “Who Owns It?” for his column, which attempted to answer the basic question of wealth and ownership, and how that meshes with Dellinger’s view of the Bible. Instead, he kind of got off track and starting talking about how lusting for money or something belonging to someone else is a sin. Dellinger writes with a … how to put it … highly individual voice, which is part of his charm.
“This subject came up the other day and in the middle of the conversation, I SAID WHO OWNS? … If you carry out your lust, your soul looses [sic] every time, and old Satan sets over in the corner, draws up with a big smile and says, I got you now!”
Leaving aside the subject of greed and lust in a paper that’s devoted to finding a bargain (and which features plenty of ads and classified listings from a variety of pawn shops), it’s hard not to like the Shopper for being exactly what it is.
That’s it for this week. Have any thoughts about the publications covered in this column? Please post a comment with your thoughts.
Steve Shanafelt
A gym I used to frequent, before I fell off the exercise wagon had copies of The Belle for us to look through while sweating on the treadmill. I thought it was pretty, but not really relevant for me an average woman reader. I am a shopper of the clearance rack at Ross’s more then a boutique style shopper, so the ads and the clothing photos didn’t do much to spur me into a shopping frenzy. I thought the magazine was a bit too fluffy for my tastes, but hope that it grows more in content as it grows in age and readership