 I find it hard to believe that two years have passed since Bloom Magazine made its debut. To say that I am filled with gratitude that we are still here (and thriving) is an understatement. According to MagazinePublishers.com, only one in ten magazine launches succeeds.
 So how did this happen? Before I moved here from New York where I had worked as an editor for 30 years, I laid out my plans to a number of publisher friends much wiser than I about magazine economics. “Bloomington, Indiana!” they exclaimed (and often a sardonic laugh followed). “Really bad idea.” They said that Bloomington was too small, that starting a magazine was too expensive, and that maybe I should use my limited resources on therapy instead.
But I had fallen in love with Bloomington and wanted to move here. And I wanted a magazine of my own—one free of the avaricious constraints and demands of a big media company. Besides, I figured, maybe I would get lucky.
So I packed up the car and headed west. Although, unlike Blanche Dubois, I have not routinely depended on the kindness of strangers, I was counting heavily on making new acquaintances who could help me along.
Little did I know that I was heading right into a hotbed of latent journalistic talent. First I “discovered” Christine Barbour, political science professor and, at the time, food columnist for The Herald-Times. Christine “got” the Bloom concept right away, gave up her gig at The H-T, and signed on. Through Christine, I found Patrick Baude, law scholar and wine blogger, and Elisabeth Andrews, yoga teacher and prolific freelance journalist.
One talented person continued to lead to another talented person and then to another. By the end of the first year former National Geographic photographer Steve
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Raymer, screenwriter Angelo Pizzo, novelist and essayist Scott Russell Sanders, jazz dj and author David Brent Johnson, novelist Michael Koryta, and writers Lee Ann Sandweiss, Jeremy Shere, and Moya Andrews, as well as photographers Jeffrey Hammond and Ben Weller, were all on board.
On the production and design side, I found Mediaworks, a little company with big-time creativity at the corner of 8th Street and Walnut. Owners Michael and Cheryl Budd have become true partners in this adventure.
Meanwhile, back at the office, the Bloom staff tripled in size from one (me) to three, with the addition of Associate Editor Ron Eid and Associate Publisher Pat Bailey. I’d be lost without Ron, who is good at everything that I am not. Pat, multi-talented and instrumental in getting Bloom off the ground, is leaving Bloomington for San Francisco. I am grateful for her contribution and wish her much success.
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New Associate Publisher
Erin Kirchhofer |
Picking up the torch is new Associate Publisher Erin Kirchhofer, fresh from service in the marketing department at the IU Jacobs School of Music. Prior to that, she was alumni relations coordinator at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Erin brings a new energy and perspective that I believe will further enrich the magazine.
Finally, Bloom would not be in your hands now if it were not for the support of our advertisers. And we would not have that support if it were not for the faithfulness of our readers.
I am deeply indebted to both. Without this wondrous symbiotic relationship, I would not have the privilege of living in Bloomington.
Malcolm Abrams
editor and publisher
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