We’re All About You
F
ive days a week for the past fi ve years, I’ve
been putting together the lineup for the Dai-
ly Feed, Professional Builder’s email newsletter
for our readers. At the end of each day and the be-
ginning of the next, I peruse the feeds of publica-
tions from around the country to fi nd news stories
and reports that, hopefully, will provide you with
insight into the issues of the day on topics as wide-
ranging as legislation, demographics, industry sta-
tistics, building codes, and consumer trends. (Want
the skinny on kitchens? Quartz countertops, white
cabinets, and wood-look porcelain fl ooring. But
check back again next month.)
Believe it or not, I scan nearly 1,000 headlines
each day to come up with the six or seven stories
we run in the newsletter. The daily news cycle be-
ing what it is, many news outlets carry stories on
the same topic with, perhaps, a bit of a twist to
make it their own. Some of these articles even draw
opposite conclusions from the same set of facts,
but interestingly, these neck-snappers often have
good arguments for doing so. On some occasions,
I include both versions, so readers can decide for
themselves which of the stories makes more sense
or come to their own conclusion that the truth falls
somewhere in between.
The thing about the daily news is that it’s in-
valuable for alerting us to what’s going on in the
moment and letting us know what we should pay
attention to and what to be wary of. But it takes
time and perspective to see the full picture and
gauge what the ramifi cations of an event might be.
Which is why I love magazines. They offer a lon-
ger view, not the quick jolt you get from an email
or a tweet that serves the same purpose as an
amuse-bouche at a fancy restaurant; that is, quick
hits that heighten your senses but leave you hun-
gry for more information. Magazines are not like
books, either, which may take years to write, gen-
erally require an enormous amount of research
and, ideally, provide all sides of a story. Most im-
portantly, books offer an opportunity to delve
deeply into events and draw conclusions that will,
with a bit of luck, stand the test of time.
Instead, magazines portray a moment in time,
but in a much more comprehensive way than news
pieces. As with books, there’s a lot of research in-
volved in magazine writing, but it focuses on what’s
happening currently—on a particular subject oc-
curring around the country, for example, in lieu of
isolated incidents.
The best and perhaps most useful part of a maga-
zine story is often its accompanying art, which tells
the same story as the text but as a visual presenta-
tion. What would a how-to story be without illus-
trations showing exactly how a project is executed?
What writer could suffi ciently describe the beauty
of a home’s design without those perfectly lit and
framed photographs of its spaces?
Magazines are the ideal conduit for the kinds of
articles that readers—especially of business pub-
lications—want and need. But, as you may know,
the physical form of that content is currently
undergoing a metamorphosis. Websites, e-news-
letters, video, and social media are becoming the
preferred, and sometimes only, delivery vehicles
for many, some of them
venerable, publications.
And why not? Readers
no longer have to wait for
a monthly to come in the
mail; content automati-
cally appears in the medium most of us engage
with every day: our email. Older articles also can
be easily found online, with no hunting through a
pile of past issues.
But Professional Builder wants to be wherever our
readers want and need us to be, whether that’s our
print issue, digital edition, website, newsletters,
videos, social media, or our in-person events. We
want to give you the ability to decide where and
how you receive and consume our content. Our
relevance depends not on how we present that
content to you, but on how valuable it is to the
continued success of your business.Denise Dersin, Editorial Director
[email protected]We want to give you the ability to
decide where and how you receive
and consume our contentProBuilder.com Professional Builder 13
[EDITORIAL]