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Magazine makes splash
By Jay Corn
Published:
Monday, April 26, 2004
The spirit of entrepreneurship is by no means a novel one to Americans.
Twenty-year journalism veteran Mike Nistler has put his experience and know-how into a new project that may transform the way Minnesotans enjoy their hobbies of gardening and home improvement.
"Two years ago my partner Dianne Wimmer and I started exchanging e-mails about putting together a magazine that would present home and garden in a high-quality way that we just didn't feel the niche publications we saw were doing," Nistler said. "We wanted a glossy magazine with good photography and design that would provide people with some good ideas and insight into home and garden."
Nistler's idea has become reality after two years of planning, and the inaugural March/April issue of Minnesota Moments officially brought Nistler's dream to life.
Minnesota Moments is a bi-monthly magazine billed by publishers as a "unique, creative and informative lifestyle magazine" that covers a broad range of lifestyle topics. The next issue of Minnesota Moments will be available on most magazine newsstands this week, and will include some feature stories Nistler said will exemplify the top-notch journalism Minnesota Moments will continue to pride itself on.
"In this next issue we'll be doing an interesting feature on a Little Falls couple that recently bought a 100-year-old house and are currently in the process of restoring it," Nistler said. "We'll also be doing a story on Daniel Mondloch. Dan is an SCSU art student that has started his own business selling his paintings and doing commission work and has really been successful."
Mondloch, 21, has been impressed with what he has seen from Minnesota Moments after just one issue, and was equally pleased to be featured in the magazine's second installment.
"I had some paintings on display in St. Cloud Hospital, and Mike (Nistler) approached me about possibly doing a story on my paintings, style, background and stuff like that," Mondloch said. "I was happy to do it, obviously, and am looking forward to being included in a quality magazine like Minnesota Moments.
"I'm really impressed with the quality of the magazine; you can tell just by looking at it that it's one of the most well-put-together publications on the shelf."
Whatever the overall quality of the magazine, the driving force behind any business is money, and Minnesota Moments is no exception. Any print publication relies on advertising revenue to keep its head above water, and Minnesota Moments has impressed advertisers enough to sell over 50 ad spots in its debut issue. Despite being a brand new magazine, Nistler's reputation and experience were enough to sell advertisers on the new magazine, and judging by the early results, they will continue to purchase space.
"We printed about 15,000 copies of the first (March/April) issue, and really concentrated on getting the magazine into people's hands," Nistler said. "We handed out about 8,000 copies at the St. Cloud home show last month and have really gotten some positive feedback. We've gotten about 1,000 subscriptions since the first issue came out and our goal will be an additional 1,000 subscriptions each issue."
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Good story about this exciting business ... (4/26/04)
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Congratulations Mike and Diane (note the... (4/26/04)
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