Twenty years is an eternity in the magazine industry. Very few publications make it one year, let alone five. But here we sit at Kentucky Monthly, with more than 200 issues behind us, celebrating our 20th anniversary with this issue.
The odds were certainly not in our favor back in 1998. According to Samir Husni, director of the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi, only about 18 percent of magazines last beyond their first year. But he predicts that, since we have beaten the odds, the future certainly looks favorable.
“Your readers get addicted because of the content and the experience,” Husni said. “It is similar to getting a taste of Kentucky bourbon. Once you get a taste, you want more.”
Kentucky Monthly Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Steve Vest, whose journalism career includes years of experience at newspapers and magazines, thought Kentucky should have a quality contemporary magazine. Back in 1998, he put the wheels in motion to make it happen.
With his wife, Kay, newsman Michael Embry and a skeleton crew, he put together the first issue, with George Clooney on the cover.
“We had 40 paid subscriptions with the first issue,” Kay said. “We gave them away to schools and libraries, and we would pass them out anywhere there was a crowd.”
Steve recalled the logistics of distributing those early copies.
“The first issue we delivered by hand. We had 10,000 magazines delivered to a booth at the Kentucky State Fair. We had 10,000 delivered to Cardinal Stadium before the first UofL-UK football game, and 30,000 came to our two-car garage in Frankfort,” he said. “Then, we divided the 27-pound magazine boxes among seven or eight cars and hit the road, giving them to anyone we met along the way.”
Steve knew what kind of magazine he had in mind but looked to other state magazines for guidance.
“I studied numerous magazines, but especially Texas Monthly and Minnesota Monthly in the beginning,” he said.
Over the years, Steve has met other state magazine publishers and has incorporated some of their good ideas into Kentucky Monthly. Bernie Mann of Our State magazine in North Carolina has become a friend and mentor.
“His magazine is one of the magazines we have aspired to become, both in the quality of his stories and the appearance of the publication,” said Steve.
Mann, who has been owner and publisher of Our State for 22 years, certainly knows the challenges of the magazine world.
“To make it to 20 years for any business is a great thing, let alone one in such a competitive environment,” he said. “But Kentucky Monthly shows the best of Kentucky, and that is what people want to read.”
He points out that just 20 years ago, we didn’t have smartphones, and the internet was still new. Processes were slower, and information was not, literally, at our fingertips.
Back in 1998, the day-to-day operations were much different from today. Steve recalled the work of seven people from the Frankfort office.
“When we first started the magazine, we designed the pages and saved them to large computer disks, which we put in a box and drove to our printing plant in Lebanon Junction,” he said. “The folks at Publishers Press [now LSC Communications] would then create a proof of the magazine and ship it back to us to review.”
Today, our files are sent electronically, and we count on the USPS to send out our 35,000 copies each month. Our headquarters are still based in Frankfort, but our staff is scattered throughout the state.
Kay said that, in the early days, they compiled a list of story ideas and Kentuckians to report on.
“I wondered what we would cover when we got through that list,” she said. “But thanks to ideas from our readers and writers, we have more story ideas than we have pages to print them on. It all worked out.”
Steve’s goals for the future of Kentucky Monthly involve expanding the magazine to better represent all regions, especially those parts of Kentucky that often feel overlooked.
Sure, we have had great writers, supportive advertisers, terrific artists and gifted editors in our ranks, but Steve knows it’s our loyal readers, the lovers of the Bluegrass State, who have carried us through.
“I don’t think we could have made it if we weren’t in Kentucky,” Steve said. “Our readers love Kentucky, and they count on us to tell them more about it.”
Here’s to 20 more years.