Every issue I have the pleasure of addressing our readers on this page, with the intention of directing you to places in the magazine of particular interest: “Please turn to our wonderful feature on so-and-so on page 39!” For me, it’s often an occasion of maternal guilt: I feel like I am favoring a child by singling out one story over another when of course I love them all equally. At least most of the time.
But magazines are not only pages of stories and pictures bound together by a single spine. Amidst the editorial pages are ads. Thus, rather than new sofas or remarkable houses, it seems appropriate on the occasion of this seventh anniversary issue to direct you to the other half of the magazine, our advertising, which serves as great a purpose as the editorial. I love our advertisements because they are newsworthy (I see new shipments and trends), inspiring (the pretty ones give me great ideas), and motivating (when I know that a product or service is in my neighborhood, I take action). Advertisers in local magazines have a tremendous edge over advertisers in national magazines because our reader comes to the magazine not for idle diversion but for concrete information that can be used here and now. For this reason, our policy of separating editorial and advertising is not just journalistic dogma but the way we earn the trust and respect of our readers. If we only printed information about our advertisers, this wouldn’t be a magazine, it would be something else, and, frankly, something less. I am very proud to say that each and every one of the companies you see advertising in D Home understands that and respects that—which means they deeply respect you. That in itself tells you a lot about the caliber of the people who advertise in our magazine.
In the magazine business, we have an odd but endearing practice of listing our employees on mastheads, I suppose so that the world (and especially our mothers) can see that we still have a job. I wish I could list all of our advertisers as well, but space does not permit. The best thanks I can offer is for you to study their ads and patronize them. Our advertisers make your magazine possible. Enjoy this issue, and let me hear from you.
Christine Allison
Editor and Publisher
[email protected]
