This morning, Juiced.GS hosted a focus group at KansasFest. Less a presentation and more a roundtable, the session was an opportunity for editor and publisher Ken Gagne to talk with the Apple II community about how its last remaining print publication can better serve its (potential) subscribers.
Four areas were covered:
- Format: Juiced.GS is facing the same issue as the rest of the publishing industry — print or online? We debated the pros and cons of hardcopy versus PDF.
- Design: If magazines are supposed to freshen their look every 3-5 years, Juiced.GS is well behind the curve. Some suggestions for minor touch-ups were given, but the consensus was that Juiced.GS doesn’t need to look better than the (non-existent) competition and should focus on content and readability.
- Content: After outlining the kinds of content commonly found in each issue, suggestions were taken for new topics and archetypes. Some would not be timely for a quarterly publication, but several ideas aimed at new members of the community were enthusiastically received. Candidates for future interviews were requested but none were made during the session.
- Web site: This site was redesigned this year and is now easier to update and expand. How can we take advantage of that? Several attendees felt an online forum for readers and writers to converse and collaborate would be a valuable addition. This blog is the result.
Already the fruits of this dialogue can be seen here. How else would you like to see Juiced.GS evolve? What articles would you like to see published? Feel free to respond here, or email us. Both venues may be considered for publication as letters to the editor.