by Mark Miller, Publisher of FitnessDigest.us –
This is an expert is from FitnessDigest.us Vol. 4.2 Summer 2012. This issue in it’s entirety can be bought on coopnet.biz or Scribd.com.
Volume 4.2, what can I say? The FitnessDigest.us brand is speaking for itself these days. That is one thing I am grateful of, I never wanted the magazine to be about me. From my first day working for a magazine publisher in Cedar Falls, IA I learned it is not personal. It‘s always been about the content. Content is king. I’ll do my best to give some insight into the most incredible issue to date.
First off the blocks. We received a story from the most well known contributor yet. Gary Hall, Jr. is recognized in many households worldwide for his Olympic swimming accomplishments. His story is so much more than swimming – it has many elements. It’s fun, inspiring, heartfelt and it draws attention to a good cause – diabetes research. It is a story diabetics will want to read, but everyone will gain great insight into what inspires the greatest sprint-swimmer in history.
I often take time to think about what the magazine can offer people like Gary Hall Jr. Many times I find that it is about building on their legacy and getting their story in the hands of more people. FitnessDigest.us wants to help amazing athletes with incredible stories leave a lasting legacy. The popularity of hosted-websites has made legacies difficult, in this sense.
I recently read about a government agency that was archiving information on a website and lost funding. No one had thought to make external copies of it. Much of the information was lost. It really illustrates why digital reproductions are so important. FitnessDigest.us is a good vehicle for delivering stories in a way that helps preserve them. We found it important to use standard formats like ISO 32000, better known as PDF. Issues in this format will not go out-of-date when technology is upgraded.
The company has been watching the number of digital reproductions made of each issue. I can tell you we have a good start, but the more copies we can create, the more valuable it becomes for contributors like Gary Hall Jr. Each copy, that is archived on a digital bookshelf, is another chance for the story to live-on forever.
The magazine received another story from Charlotte Hilton Andersen. If you are a subscriber of FitnessDigest.us you already know how much she has accomplished with her writing. Charlotte has been kind enough to let us republish stories from her blog. Although the article is available there for all to read, I think there is value in the timely delivery of her story to our subscribers. It is sure to resonate with the magazine’s readership. If you like the story we highlight on page 33 please visit her blog. Watch for her in Shape Magazine, Fitness Magazine, the Huffington Post or on NBC. I hope Charlotte will write an exclusive story for us someday. Thanks again Charlotte!
Swimming has taken the drivers seat in this issue. We got two incredible stories from swimmers raising awareness for good causes. William L. Klahn is a Transplant Games 50 meter breaststroke world champion. Bryn Dymott is swimming across the English Channel to raise awareness for Parkinson’s disease. Both stories are incredible, I’m sure readers will agree. The passion and work these swimmers are putting into their message deserves the utmost respect.
This issue also features a North Iowa writer, Greg Nicholas. His story takes us on a journey around Clear Lake, Iowa. Pedal on the same roads that are used for the annual Bike, Blues and BBQ event. Sixty-six precent of the magazine’s readers are not from Iowa, so I made sure some scenic photos accompany his story.
A weekend of riding in North Iowa can be a very pleasant experience. You can spend hours biking on hundreds of miles of low traffic roads – paved and gravel. The gravel roads are especially nice for long scenic mountain bike rides, but there is more than riding to do. Within a 20 mile radius we have the historic Surf Ballroom, Music Man Square (Meredith Wilson’s boy hood home) and the last remaining Frank Lloyd Wright hotel. The Park Inn hotel is operational, so you can stay there for a surprisingly reasonable rate. If you appreciate prairie school architecture it is a short walk to the historic Rock Glenn neighborhood. North Iowa is also home to the Diamond Joe Casino. There are many fine restaurants, but I suggest riders stop in at The Hungry Mind for lunch and Chop for dinner. Greg’s story describes some of North Iowa’s features in more detail.
Many people handed down short stories to me in the past three months. Take a few minutes to read the short stories, they are the some of the most humorous and antidotal. I’m still laughing about a few. The short 50-100 word stories are unique in how we receive many of them. Often times someone will tell me a story, then I write it trying to make them entertaining and accurate. The stories we got are so good, it makes writing them easier.
In this issue we are introducing two new features. LiveMedia and LiveAdditions. A surprising number of people indicated they wanted more social features along with more multimedia. We think we found a fun solution that balances social-media and content-quality. LiveMedia is a way to get a comment published without writing a letter to the editor. LiveAdditions is an online directory of multimedia links that pertain to stories and advertisers. We hope readers can have fun using both of these new products.
All-in-all, this is the best issue we have put together so far. Thanks to all the contributors, proofreaders and businesses that are part of Volume 4.2 Spring Summer 2012.
