Manly, Iowa – Interest continues to grow for the digital-edition magazine FitnessDigest.us. The North Iowa company is into its second year publishing the magazine to a national audience – 61% of customers are outside Iowa.
At first glance you might think it is just another fitness magazine, but FitnessDigest.us is different from other fitness magazines in that it publishes narrative stories. The company’s principal shareholder, Mark Miller said, “We don’t use reporters. We feature the creative talent of armature and professional writers. It has been amazing to work with some of the talent. My favorite part of the day is e-mailing and talking with the authors.” FitnessDigest.us has published stories from Charlotte Hilton Andersen, author of The Great Fitness Experiment. Charlotte has also written for the Huffington Post and Redbook Magazine. Other contributors include world record bench press holder, Jake Prazak; US Rowing Masters Coach of the Year, Jenn Gibbons; nationally known swim coach, Bob Steele; professional blogger, Karen Mares; Communications Director of Iowa Special Olympics, Joyce Allard and book author Kirkus MacGowan. MacGowan’s book The Fall of Billyhitchings recently reached the top 20k on the Amazon sales list. The magazine has also included amazing armature talent in every issue.
Miller stated that many of the writers have taken on some ownership in the brand. It really shows that FitnessDigest.us is become a name brand. The paid clientele are more appreciative of the quality stories. A recent reader survey showed great results. 97%-99% answered that they enjoyed many of the stories. It has been great for advertisers too – 90%-95% answered that they remembered multiple advertisers from the most recent issue. Advertisers make it possible to have one issue available to readers free of charge, so people can try it out at no cost.
The success of the company also fills an economic need locally. Many cities in Iowa have independent publishing companies and Mason City could use a small publishing company of 8-10 employees. Miller said the company might be interested in working with other media businesses in the area.
FitnessDigest.us is published in an open and universal format for iPad, Kindle Fire, Nook, Android and computer. It is also located on the adult reading station at the Manly Public Library. You can find more information at http://FitnessDigest.us or look up ISSN 2164-3397 on WorldCat.org.
