If you reminisce the country get Our Iowa
February 17, 2008
I know Our Iowa is a magazine “for Iowans by Iowans,” but after looking at its first three issues I am sure that folks who reminisce the country and the country way of life will find in this regional magazine a lot to satisfy their desires to that way of life. You do not have to be an Iowan to enjoy this magazine. Founded by the man who created a whole genre of country and country lifestyle magazines Roy Reiman (the magazine’s publisher) and the former editor of Country and Country EXTRA magazines Jerry Wiebel (the magazine’s editor), Our Iowa presents itself as the magazine that “recognizes and celebrates why Iowa is so special to us and to all who live here.” The goal of the magazine is not “to make a fortune on this venture (Reiman already did that when he sold his Reiman Publications to Reader’s Digest Corp.), but “Rather, it’s a chance to put our publishing experience to good use while offering us an opportunity to give something back to our native state.”
In typical Reiman style, the magazine will be written by readers and will depend on field editors across the state of Iowa. In less than six months the magazine has signed up a “Hawk-Eye Field Editor” in all 99 Iowa counties expect for five. By the time you are reading this blog, chances are those five counties positions would have been filled. In the same time period the magazine has “over 23,000 subscribers, and more orders keep arriving daily by phone, mail and E-mail.”
The magazine is not only a delight to read, but also a delight to look at and interact. Yes, interact, since the magazine offers more chances for readers to engage with each other, to engage with the magazine editors, to engage with the state, and to provide a great sense of community in a way that only a magazine like Our Iowa can do.
Am I a fan? You bet you and you should be one. Check Our Iowa here. I know the founders of Our Iowa want the magazine to be for Iowans by Iowans, but I think the rest of the country folks deserve to see and look at Our Iowa. Maybe there is an “Iowan” in each one of them.
Samir, I enjoyed your posting about Our Iowa and certainly wish Roy and Jerry every success with the new title. I’d like to correct one factual error, though, that is being repeated often as observers of the magazine business assess what Reader’s Digest has done with/to Reiman Publications. Roy sold the company to Madison Dearborn Partners private equity group in 1998. He and the other Reiman executives put some money into that deal, but MDP was, by far, the majority investor. Four years later, MDP sold Reiman Publications to Reader’s Digest.