From Where I Sit REACHING OUT TO EVERYONE
	JUNE 2005

by Richard Koscher, Publisher

Did you ever wonder when you read a copy of 110° Magazine how many other people are reading the article or looking at the ad that you have open before you? Perhaps you have never thought about that — unless you have bought advertising and are doing your homework.

Publications can, and often do, it seems, make exaggerated claims about their circulation. Some publications that claim to go to every house with an income above a certain level aren’t being sent to families we know with incomes above that level. Other publications advertise that they blanket a particular area and yet we know people in that area who never see a copy.

Of course, we hear from Brentwood residents from time-to-time who claim they don’t get our magazine. This happens, in spite of the fact that we pay $200 to our mail house every single issue in return for the absolutely current list of all Brentwood addresses. The Post Office actually admits that they have a 5% fudge factor, which includes magazines that remain undelivered, for whatever reason. However, every issue of 110° Magazine is mailed to hundreds of people who are receiving it for the first time. Nothing in the world is perfect, I guess, and that includes the US Post Office.

At least based upon my own personal experience, our mail service is actually doing a pretty good job. I bought a new home last year and we moved in immediately following construction. The first month of mail delivery to our new place included a copy of 110° Magazine. I was really excited to see that thing because it meant that at least sometimes the system really works. On the other hand, even after six months we still are not receiving some of the other monthlies that claim to be mailed to every address in Brentwood.

The only way to know the truth of the matter for a magazine’s circulation claims is to examine a publication’s postal statements. Who has the time and inclination to request copies of those things? I’m including in this issue a copy of the current postal statement for 110° Magazine, which shows that we really are mailing to every single Brentwood address (excluding postal boxes). The postal statement is the guaranteed assurance that the magazine is being mailed exactly as advertised. We keep these things on file in case anybody should raise a question about our past performances.

Besides blanketing Brentwood, 110° Magazine reaches subscribers throughout the East County area, plus readers in outlying areas, such as Lafayette, Livermore, and Walnut Creek. In addition, our magazine is now available in Barnes & Nobles vendors throughout the United States. So now we have people reading 110° in locations ranging from New York to Sacramento.

Good News for Residents in Discovery Bay & Byron
We mailed a copy of 110° Magazine to every address in Byron and Discovery Bay for three issues. After more than a year we continue to get comments from residents of those communities such as, “Your magazine is wonderful! I used to get it at my house but it stopped coming.” We have good news for those people — beginning with the next issue we’re going to send the magazine free to every address in those two communities. This will increase our total circulation to 23,000, which means that more than 52,000 readers will be reading our magazines.

110° Magazine Online is becoming a powerful resource. Check out www.110mag.com. You can read past articles in our archives and check out online advertisers. During the month of February the site recorded 68,000 hits. One of our advertisers, another publication called Greenlight Magazine, told us that they received 2/3 of their total online subscriptions through their spot on our website.

Magazines such as ours have the wind at our back in the competition for advertising dollars. The City and Regional Magazine Association reported that local magazine advertising revenues rose 11% in the year from January 2004 to January 2005.

We believe more strongly with every issue that 110° Magazine is the right product, East Contra Costa County is the right place to be, and now is the right time to be doing what we do.