[...] While working at the black-owned Supreme Life Insurance Co., where he started as a clerk, Johnson founded Johnson Publishing Co. in 1942. Its first magazine was Negro Digest, a journal that condensed articles of interest to blacks and published the poems and short stories of black writers.
Johnson used Supreme Life's mailing list to offer discount charter subscriptions of the digest. To persuade a distributor to take the magazine, he got co-workers to ask for it at newsstands on Chicago's South Side. Friends bought most of the copies, convincing dealers the magazine was in demand, while Johnson reimbursed the friends and resold the copies they had bought.
The tactic was used in New York, Philadelphia and Detroit, and within a year, Negro Digest was selling 50,000 copies a month. The magazine is no longer published. [...]
| That's from Herbert G. McCan's Associated Press (via Washington Post) obituary "Ebony, Jet Publisher John H. Johnson Dies"
Also useful: Diana Ransom's New York Daily News article "At 60, Ebony mag is branching out," A.K. Cabell's BusinessWeek Online article "Magazines Circulate Their Brand Licenses: When done right, magazine branding may be one of the most effective ways to strengthen the relationship with readers," Michael H. Cottman's Black America Web's two-parter "Keeping Our Word, Part One: Blacks in Nation's Newsrooms Still Scarce" and "Keeping Our Word, Part Two: Ebony Magazine Fetes 60 Years of Success," the Kellogg School of Management's Black Management Association conference profile on Linda Johnson Rice and National Association of Black Journalists president Herbert Lowe's warm, heartfelt President's Corner column "NABJ Helps Hometown Salute John H. Johnson"
posted in articles on August 8, 2005 4:15 PM | t (1)
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First Peter Jennings, then Ibrahim Ferrer, now this...
Quit dying, people! My RSS feeds are getting depressing.
The world is spinning off its axis madly so much so I missed this. How he got started is one of the most inspirational stories for anyone who wants to be in publishing or attempt anything with the odds against him or her you can hear, more so for people of color. But then I wonder do we care enough about each other anymore to buy and push a brother or sister's good product? Or perhaps readers receive so many quality writers for free now via the web, earning money in publishing is more difficult now for newcomers. Speculation aside, growing up with knowledge of the John H. Johnson story, I have been inspired me to do many things I may not have had the guts to do otherwise. God bless the maverick. Thanks for the post.
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