We updated the media kit.

Trading advertisement for sacks of potatoes is fun.  Here’s our new media kit.

The fine line between corporate transparency and giving away the store

People, by their nature, are curious.

Over the past few years, I’ve been given the unique opportunity to speak to individuals getting into the media business.  From that lot, nearly all of them have questions about how we do business.  Of those questions, nearly half involve how we very specifically do business.  I had a similar conversation this week, and I thought I would contrast corporate transparency with teaching strangers how to use InDesign.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m pleased that the next generation of media moguls takes time out of their busy day to ask my advice.  As it stands, I’m only a very small media mogul at best and am still learning many of the ropes as I go.

Although I’m sure Rupert would give me a hand up if I asked nicely, for the most part I’ve had to learn how to run this business myself.  I’ve made a few smart decisions (mostly involving the brilliant people that write the words we sell), a number of resonable decisions (mostly about our cover prices), and a number of really dumb decisions (too many to list).  The point is that we, as a company, had to make those decisions on our own.

I expect you budding media moguls to do the same.  Not because I fear the competition you’ll create, but because learning to do it yourself is key to running a successful business.  Although you might appreciate me writing your business plan for you, and showing you exactly how we pre-process files for the printer, in the end I’m going to retire and you’ll have to do some of the work yourself.  It would be better for everyone if you start now.

My title is misleading.  Corporate transparency is a customer facing concept.  It give our readers a glimpse into the inner working of the business, but at the same time it doesn’t give away all our precious, precious secrets.  Empire Consolidated stands behind corporate transparency because we believe it’s good for the customers, and what’s good for our customers is good for us. It’s like magic!

So next time you ask how exactly my business is run, don’t be offended if I introduce you to Google.  It’s for your own good.

PTD Magazine available in newsstands across NY.

We nailed down distribution in the Big Apple last month, and like the distributors in our HQ state, we’re still waiting to get a list of locations. Once we get that list, we’ll add them to the map.

Our next stop is sunny L.A., which should be getting their first batch of indie goodness this month. After that, who knows? If you have a location you’d like us to secretly infiltrate, drop us a line!

PTD 3.0 ready to slice.

As most our readers know, we’ve been working around the clock to roll out a new web presence for PTD Magazine that will consolidate sections in an easier to navigate fashion. We’ve shown you a few mockups and remixes, and have finally finished up the last of the three designs that we needed to get the template made.

We’ll be tweaking the design a bit this week, then we’ll move it to the sandbox to get it working in WordPress. I’ll link the sandbox when it’s up.

Here’s the final three pages: