PRESSING QUESTIONS: Outword Magazine of Sacramento, Calif.
Interview with Fred Palmer, CEO of Outword Media Marketing and Events
by Joe Siegel
Year founded: 1995
Staff size and breakdown: One full-time art director, one part-time graphics person, one editor, and several contract writers
Physical dimensions of publication: Tabloid size, 13”
Average page count: 28 pages average, a bit larger for special issues like Homes & Gardens and Romance & Weddings; Pride issue is usually 72 pages
Print run: 5,000
Website: www.outwordmagazine.com; Paper is fully functional and downloadable online as a flip version or PDF
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PPQ: Who came up with the name and what is the inspiration for it?
CEO Fred Palmer: Myself and a designer. We played with the word “out” in many different forms. It was a different world 21 years ago and being out and getting LGBT communications to our community was a different process. It was just print news, no Internet, no websites, no Facebook.
PPQ: What challenge has your publication had to overcome in the last 20 years?
Palmer: The biggest challenge has been the same for any business, surviving ups and downs. The last 10 years have been hard on media as an industry.
PPQ: What challenges is Outword facing now?
Palmer: None, we are doing well.
PPQ: How has Outword changed since it was first launched?
Palmer: Biggest change was online, but we were one of the first to have a fully downloadable copy of the paper. The first company that we hired was expensive and out of Canada. Now it is easy and inexpensive and we use issue.com, like many of us.
PPQ: What one change would you like to make?
Palmer: Have a salesperson other than myself.
PPQ: Do you see yourself as an “activist journalist”? If so, in what way?
Palmer: I have always been more of an activist rather than a journalist.
PPQ: What’s the most surprising feedback you’ve received from a reader?
Palmer: One reader thanked us for being available and that it helped her to connect with her son who was about to commit suicide; she said we saved his life. One other reader wrote us a letter about a story we ran on self breast examination and said we saved her life, but that since we were gay we were still going to hell.
PPQ: What advice would you give to anyone who may want to launch their own GLBT publication?
Palmer: Follow your heart but be prepared for a lot of work and not much money.
PRESSING QUESTIONS
Volume 17
Issue 9
Comments
Fred's commitment to Sacramento's LGBTQ community is much broader & deeper than his flagship publication alone. Without his chronic charisma, generosity & skills, few if any of the city's orgs would be standing today.