Mile High!

Mile High represents my previous location and also how high my feet have been off the ground the last 2 days. On Sunday I flew out to Denver to attend the Niche Magazine Conference. It was quite a trip and involved unloading from the original plane a couple times due to bad weather, making an emergency landing due to an electrical fire, watching fireman walk up and down the aisles while we had to stay on the plane, waiting for a new plane, missing a connecting flight and on and on. I really wondered if I would ever get there. I tried to cancel the whole trip but they wouldn't give me my luggage back. I rarely make an uneventful trip.

However, the trials and tribulations of the trip all paid off. There are half a dozen awards given out at this conference to niche publishers. One of those is the "Best New Niche Launch" and went to a new publication. In order to qualify, you had to send several copies of your publication along with your business plan, promotional material, etc. We had done that earlier this year just to see how we might fare against the competition.

This conference is attended by over 150 niche magazine publishers and editors. Many of those publications are bridal magazines, lifestyle, business and computing mags and many other high end magazines. Tractor magazines weren't quite "understood" out there. Most comments were "Who collects tractors? How much can you possibly write about a tractor?" They really didn't get it. But in the grand scheme of things, the judges understood.

On the last evening of the conference, the awards are handed out to the lucky recipients. It is the highlight of the event. I had learned earlier that we were a finalist but that's all I knew. I stood in the back of the room not expecting to hear my name and then the words "Heritage Iron" were ringing in my ears. I gasped, jumped in the air and don't have a clue what happened next. The next 5 minutes is a total blur. I don't even know how the trophy got in my hand. I was in complete shock!

Last year I attended this conference with Oliver Heritage. I had someone from the panel judge my magazine and he told me it was HORRIBLE! I went home with my tail between my legs, convinced I didn't have any business in the publishing business. But I took what I learned from that conference, applied it to Heritage Iron and now we're the BEST NEW MAGAZINE OF THE YEAR!!! Woohoo!!!

It has been an unbelievable 48 hours and I'm not sure my feet are on the ground yet. I have talked so much that I've lost my voice. Thank goodness you can still hear me on the keyboard.

I met some great people in the publishing world and although they weren't quite sure about a "tractor girl", I showed them that Heritage iron means business. And we won!!!! Now I have to get busy on the next project because I learned even more this conference. Besides, there are a few more awards that I'd like to set on the shelf next year.