Neil Harner: "When You Run a Niche Publication, You Got to be Part of the Scene."

Neil Harner and a few friends were hanging out at a bar in Germantown, having a few beers, when they realized that the existing beer magazines didn't serve the Philadelphia region at all. The existing mags mostly catered to beer snobs and they highlighted beers you couldn't find in the area.

That night, in March 2009, Harner and his buddies hatched a plan to launch a beer magazine specifically focused on the Greater Philadelphia region. By June of that year, Philly Beer Scene magazine was on the streets and full of advertisements. They earned enough revenue to cover their costs and over the past 18 months, the magazine has been produced bi-monthly, usually making a profit.

"We are just a few people who love beer," Harner said yesterday in class.

Harner and his crew do not have formal journalism backgrounds (except for executive editor Alicia Eichelman who graduated from Temple's journalism program in May). Harner's background is in design and marketing, specifically online. He runs Inverse Paradox, a company that designs websites and print publications, as well as offers other services. His firm used to design Bucks and Montgomery Living magazines.

He credits the success of Philly Beer Scene to the fact that his crew is a part of the local craft beer community.

"When you run a niche publication, you got to be part of the scene," he said. "That's an idea that's been lost in business in general. Personal relationships have been lost over the years."

Some of the mag staffers visit bars every day (tough job, eh?). They are constantly networking, attending beer events and just listening to what people are saying.

The small team writes all the stories (with the help of freelancers). They contract photographers. They design the mag themselves, sell their own ads and then personally distribute 20,000 copies of the mag to hundreds of locations around the region.

Despite being an online guru, Harner started the mag in print because he believes that print is a tangible product. It's also a catalyst to send people to the website where the greater community can live and communicate.

He had a few suggestions for people starting their own publications:

- Put together a media kit that represents the magazine.
- You want to look professional. Potential advertisers and/ or partners want to see something that will inspire confidence in you.
- If you don't have partners with complementing skill sets, find them. You need a core group of people who bring different abilities to the table - designers, journalists, sales people, people who understand the business side.
- Go to places where like-minded people will be. For instance, Harner and his crew surfed beer message boards prior to launching, learning about the community and dropping hints that the mag was coming. They also attended craft beer events all over the place.
- Stay connected to the community.
- Set goals, benchmarks for success.

Here are a few other things he said that I found interesting:

- They have their editorial calendar mapped out for the next two years.
- They have a plan for growth - expanding the magazine, gaining national advertisers and possible franchising of the magazine.
- He would accept advertisements from massive beer companies like Budweiser, despite Budweiser being the complete opposite of what his magazine represents. "They'd only be helping me to win," Harner said. "There's no way you could pay me to drink it though."
- Everyone who contributes to the magazine gets paid (except for those who offer to work for free).
- The magazine experimented with using sex appeal to reach their audience. It was rejected. Harner and his team recognized that their audience is not the "sex sells" crowd.
- If they use sex appeal, they try to do it with class, like the Vargas-style, pin-up girl look in the cover at the top of the post.
- They are honest but not necessarily critical in their magazine. "We tell people what to drink, not what not to drink," Harner said.

Harner also mentioned that he met Alicia Eichelman while she was working on a story for a Temple journalism class. She then interned with the magazine. During her senior year, she was hired in a lesser position. After graduating, she was elevated to the top job.