Amanda Heckert: Executive Editor of Garden & Gun Magazine

Discussing topics such as career paths, editorial content, current trends and challenges, Amanda Heckert shares her perspective with Angela along with the value of creating a physical experience with a magazine.  Listen to learn about the transformation of Garden & Gun Magazine, highlighting the best of the modern South through content, events and retail.

Follow Amanda’s life and work here:
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/amandabheckert/
Garden & Gun: https://gardenandgun.com/author/amanda-heckert/

Indianapolis Monthly: https://www.indianapolismonthly.com/
Atlanta Magazine: https://www.atlantamagazine.com/
Working Man’s Tavern: https://workingmans-friend.weeblyte.com/#google_vignette
University of South Carolina: https://sc.edu/
Newcomer: http://www.newcomeratlanta.com/
Keith Phillips: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-phillips-61796a1
Emmis Publications: https://www.emmis.com/
Tony Rehagen: https://tonyrehagen.com/
Rebecca Burns: http://rebecca-burns.com/
Pat Conroy: https://gardenandgun.com/issues/spring-2007/
Distilled: https://gardenandgun.com/distilled/
Retail Field Shop: https://ggfieldshop.com/?utm_source=gardenandgun.com&utm_medium=topnav&utm_campaign=hp
Books: https://gardenandgun.com/articles/books-editors-garden-gun/
Society: https://gardenandgun.com/ggsociety/
Garden & Gun Club restaurant: https://gardenandgunclub.com/at-the-battery-atlanta/
The Battery: https://www.batteryatl.com/ 
Stitzel-Weller Distillery:  https://www.stitzelwellerdistillery.com/
The Whole Hog podcast: https://gardenandgun.com/collection/whole-hog-podcast/ 
The Wild South podcast: https://gardenandgun.com/gg-playbook-wild-south-podcast/
G&G Reads Book Club: https://gardenandgun.com/extras/book-club/
Francis Mayes: https://francesmayesbooks.com/
Made in the South Awards: https://gardenandgun.com/feature/meet-the-winners-of-the-2023-made-in-the-south-awards/
Southern Women: https://ggfieldshop.com/products/southern-women-by-garden-gun  

Thank you for listening!  Please take a moment to rate, review and subscribe to the Media in Minutes podcast here or anywhere you get your podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/media-in-minutes/id1555710662 

Transcript

Angela Tuell: 0:05

Welcome to Media in Minutes. This is your host Angela Tuell. This podcast features in-depth interviews with those reports on the world around us. They share everything from their favorite stories to what happened behind the lens and give us a glimpse into their world. From our studio here at Communications Redefined, this is Media in Minutes. On today's episode we are talking with the executive editor of Garden & Gun magazine, Amanda Heckert. Amanda previously served as the editor in chief of Indianapolis Monthly and as a senior editor at Atlanta Magazine. She is also the editor of Garden & Guns' book, Southern Women. Amanda lives in Charleston, South Carolina with her husband Justin and dogs, Oscar and Felix. Hi, Amanda. How are things in Charleston?

Amanda Heckert: 0:54

Things are going really well. It's a beautiful spring here. Just finally through pollen season so can finally enjoy the screened in porch.

Angela Tuell: 1:04

Oh, that's so nice. I'm guessing you haven't missed Indiana's colder weather.

Amanda Heckert: 1:08

Well, you know, it's funny, actually I loved Indiana's weather because you get four real seasons. I mean winter with with no sun could get a little tough. But I remember, you know, I was an indie, almost five years. And I like the magic of snow never like lost its luster for me. I remember like one of my first edit meetings back in 2012. When I joined, I looked out our big windows and it was snowing. And I was like everyone else was like, Oh, brother.

Angela Tuell: 1:40

Right.

Amanda Heckert: 1:41

But I, we have a very, my husband and I, have a very fun, you know, place for Indy in our hearts. Yeah, I had this dream the other night, actually, that I was trying to - I was in Indianapolis and I was trying to call my old Indy Monthly co workers so that they would meet me at - all I wanted to do in the dream was go to Working Man's Tavern for a cheeseburger and a chalice.

Angela Tuell: 2:09

Wow, that's hilarious. And for those who don't know, as she, as Amanda's just sort of mentioned she was the editor in chief at Indianapolis Monthly magazine. So lived in Indy, for five years. So you have to come back and get your coworkers together and go there.

Amanda Heckert: 2:23

Absolutely.

Angela Tuell: 2:25

So I, you know, something I've been curious about is did you always know you wanted to work in magazines?

Amanda Heckert: 2:31

I did not. I kind of had a circuitous path to magazines. My father was a broadcast journalist and worked for our NBC affiliate in I'm from the upstate of South Carolina, near the Blue Ridge Mountains. And so journalism had always been a big part of our lives. In you know, we always had the TV or the, you know, the TV tuned to the news, we had, my dad still has, you know, a stack of magazines just like ready to topple next to his chair, multiple newspaper subscriptions, back when there were multiple options. And so it was always a part of our lives, but it just never really occurred to me that it was, it would be something that I wanted to do. I really loved to write, and I really loved art. And so I but I was interested in so many things. And it was really hard for me to decide, even a major in college. And so I was just taking all kinds of different, you know, film classes and Italian classes, and just everything and then they were like, okay, you know, really, you need to pick a major.

Angela Tuell: 3:43

Before you graduate, right?

Amanda Heckert: 3:44

Right, exactly. And so I ended up picking

Angela Tuell: 3:44

Right. I can see that. advertising, which was under the journalism school at the University of South Carolina, which is my alma mater. And it was great. I, you know, I it, it was a lot of writing and like marrying that to art. And so I enjoyed that creative process, I still use a lot of those skills that I learned in the

Amanda Heckert: 4:04

Yeah. And, and so, which I always tell you advertising school. You know, we think about even like an opening spread to magazine features is almost like an ad for the story you're wanting to get people interested and roped them in with the visuals and the language. And so, you know, that was really gratifying. I did take you know, some other journalism classes, some basic journalism classes, but I had some internships and some I really enjoyed some I kind of got to see what it would maybe be like, you know, working in advertising on a day to day basis, and it didn't seem like it was maybe going to be as fulfilling as for me personally, as I had hoped. know, students I talk to now, you know, at internships are just as good for figuring out what you don't want to do as they are for figuring out what you do want to do.

Angela Tuell: 5:01

Yes, the more internships the better, I feel

Amanda Heckert: 5:04

Absolutely because they give you a window as well. Yes. into, you know, even if you're not going to end up in that industry, a window into how it operates. And so, you know, our final, I did always love magazines, you know, I grew up in the, I was coming of age in the 90s, when you had, you know, Sassy and Jane and Seventeen. And, like, I just, you know, gobbled them up. And we had to create an advertising a final

Angela Tuell: 5:16

I love that about broadcast as well. Yes. project for ourselves. And I created a magazine for our, for myself and said, you know, started to think that maybe magazines were that sort of marriage of writing and art that maybe I was looking for in advertising. So very naively, I sent my resume and to, you know, some magazines around the southeast. And I got a call back from Atlanta magazine, they were looking for interns, and they were like, you know, send us your clips. And I was like, Absolutely, I will. And then I went, when I went and Googled, What are clips. I did, I had some things I had done from for class, and, and some creative writing, which I was, you know, clear, this is creative, but just to give them a sense of my voice. And that got me an interview, which got me the internship. So it was actually, almost 20 years ago, next week that I moved, and started my internship at Atlanta Magazine. And Atlanta Magazine, you know, just like Indianapolis Monthly, it's a city magazine, its general interest, and just immediately I fell in love with what they were doing, you know, that I was like, oh, you know, journalism, obviously, you know, is for people who are interested in so many different topics, it definitely feeds that ability to be a constant learner and to have that curiosity sated and, and ask people questions. And, you know, I loved you know, working at a general interest magazine, you know, one day, you know, a lot of my internship was fact checking, but like, one day, you could be fact checking a story about, you know, a murder trial, and then the next day, you're getting sent to a spa for a service piece, and I just love it.

Amanda Heckert: 7:07

And, you know, so that sent me on my path, like, I was like, Yes, this is exactly what I wanted to do. That experience ended, you know, ended with me, freelancing for a little while. And then that opened the door to a position at a smaller magazine in Atlanta called Newcomer, and it was just me and the publisher. And, you know, I was sort of like a crash course in how to put out a magazine because he was selling the ads. We were, we were farming out the design, or working with a freelancer for the design, thank goodness, but like, I pretty much did everything else. So assigning of stories, coming up with lineups, writing them, editing, you know, the ones that came in, fact checking, copy editing, doing the invoices, actually physically taking the copies and distributing them. So it was, it was amazing experience, especially for someone who, you know, didn't have a typical journalism, you know, experience in college and those great internships.

Angela Tuell: 8:25

You got to jump in and do it all.

Amanda Heckert: 8:26

Yes, I did a lot of learning on the job and was grateful for as hard as much hard work as that Newcomer experience was, I was so grateful that, you know, he had given me that opportunity that really had come from freelancing for the magazine, and he'd like my voice, and, you know, it was, it was an opportunity, you know, you'd kind of never know where, where things will lead. So that actually, I stayed in contact with my colleagues, my former colleagues at Atlanta magazine, and when something came open there, I came back on staff there. And, you know, just kind of worked my way up at, you know, editing sections, writing features, editing features, and I pretty quickly saw, like, I think one day, I may, like, you know, down the road, I made like to be an editor in chief, and in my editor in chiefs, they're like, took me under their wing and kind of let me you know, see what some of those meetings I would normally be in or look like, and, and so eventually, when the opportunity came open at Indianapolis Monthly. I went for it, even though I was, you know, not from Indiana. And it was a completely new experience as far as you can only know so much about what it's going to be like once you're in that position, because it's not only at that point, you know, the editorial vision of the magazine, but it's also managing people, managing workloads, managing budgets, and -

Angela Tuell: 9:54

You were a little bit younger than maybe I don't know if there is a typical editor age. But you were a little bit younger in your career to be an editor in chief, right?

Amanda Heckert: 10:04

Yes, I came in. I was 30. So yeah, that was, you know, so that was, you know, what I looked at as my, one of my biggest challenges that, you know, I wanted to, you know, overcome going in. Or as my publisher, Indy Monthly, Keith, would say, opportunity. You know, I was younger, I was not from there, and I didn't want to come in, you know, like a Rube and have everyone be like, Why is this person here? So I did a lot of homework beforehand. You know what, back at that time, Indianapolis Monthly was owned by Emmis Publications, there in Emmis Publishing, they're in Indianapolis, and, as was Atlanta magazine. So I've been reading into monthly for years, obviously, one of our friends, mutual friends, Tony Rehagen had been working there. So always read his stories, of course, but I went back and read like a decade's worth of Indianapolis Monthly. Because, again, city magazine is a great window into, you know, what's going on in a city, taking the temperature, getting the ethos of a place. And so I tried to do my homework, so I wasn't coming in, you know, pitching ideas that they'd already done 10 times. And then also, you know, I, when I started Indy Monthly, I took everyone on staff out for one on one lunches, coffees, that sort of thing. So I want to hear from them, you know, and what, you know, their vision was, what they thought maybe needed improving, you know, what they thought was working well, so that, you know, I could get insight. And also, you know, truly let them be a part of the process of someone new coming in, and, you know, really working together. So, you know, I knew I needed to gain their respect as much as I could. And it honestly, was an amazing experience. And the people there, I mean, the staff there at that time, I mean, I worked with, I mean, there's some of the best journalists I've ever worked with still.

Angela Tuell: 12:12

Absolutely, yes.

Amanda Heckert: 12:12

Absolutely.

Angela Tuell: 12:13

Yeah. So then you went to Garden & Gun. Tell us a little bit about that and -

Amanda Heckert: 12:19

I did.

Angela Tuell: 12:19

You are there now obviously, even how you got there. Which some people still say, what is Garden & Gun,

Amanda Heckert: 12:22

It's funny. So when I left South Carolina, there really weren't any magazines period, much less a national magazine. And I remember sitting in our conference room in Atlanta magazine back in 2007. And my editor in chief Rebecca Burns coming in with this magazine, with Pat Conroy standing in a fountain on the cover, and she said, look at this new magazine Garden & Gun and we were like, I know. You know, but I started subscribing. what is this? right? And it definitely, you know, the night if you aren't familiar, the name certainly raises eyebrows as it did for me that day. But you know, the name was meant to evoke a love and relationship to the land. And it also, a little fun side note, back in the 80s the essentially Studio 54 of Charleston, where we're located here in South Carolina was called the Garden, the Garden and Gun club. So it's a little bit of a wink to that bygone club here in Charleston. So Garden & Gun, you know, we cover the best of the modern South is kind of how we were definitely a lifestyle magazine. You know, the food, drinks, arts, culture, literature, land, traditions, style and design, the sporting life, yes. But you know, conservation. So it's funny, we're not we're not exactly a magazine about gardens or guns. In fact, we get we get confused letters sometimes, like, why aren't there more gardens, why aren't there more guns? But that's, you know, it's the name was really meant to evoke that that love of the land. And you know, really what I remember about that issue and then subsequent issues is I became a subscriber was, you know, the magazine has has changed and evolved by leaps and bounds since then. But you know, that first issue had such great writers and great writing and you know, some of the South's biggest voices and you know, that's still true today. It's really the foundation of the

magazine: 14:25

are. you know, we try to get the best storytellers possible across the south to contribute. And we value that sort of literary nonfiction tradition, you know, true stories told in that sort of big, beautiful literary fashion. And, and really, the visuals too. Like we have an amazing photo team here and it's just this really gorgeous I mean, I think gorgeous magazine. So you know, that's, that's Garden & Gun. It, it's about the modern south and the print magazine is bi monthly, and it's been around for 2007 But we have, you know, obviously just like everyone else, our website and social presence has totally, you know, grown by...exponentially. Since even since I've been here. Even in the last few years, our social and web team has expanded. We have a ton of events, we throw our partner in more than 50 events a year, maybe more about to head up to Kentucky actually tomorrow for an event series we're doing that centered all around bourbon called Distilled, so...

Angela Tuell: 15:32

Oh, that's great.

Amanda Heckert: 15:33

Whenever they asked me a few weeks ago...

Angela Tuell: 15:34

Hard job, right?

Amanda Heckert: 15:35

I know, I was like, uh...if I have to come drink bourbon in Louisville. So, you know, we have newsletters, we have a retail field shop. We have books, and we have a Garden& Gun Society. So some of those members, you know, we sort of offer exclusive access to events and a concierge service. We have the Garden & Gun Club restaurant at The Battery in Atlanta. There were the Braves play. And we also have a bar in Louisville at the Stitzel-Weller distillery and a podcast that we're about to launch. We had one sort of a culture podcast called The Wild Hog. We're about to start a new one called The Wild South. And we started the G&G Reads Book Club last fall.

Angela Tuell: 16:19

Wow - you're not busy at all.

Amanda Heckert: 16:20

So it's you know, it's funny, you know, as I

Angela Tuell: 16:21

Do you do a lot of digital articles as well, or came from monthly magazines and Garden & Gun, obviously, by monthly, I was like, what do they do all day? Are they just just for print? eating bonbons? Like, what? And then, you know, but really,

Amanda Heckert: 16:31

I do. So I mostly edit print. But I also it's, in addition to having more time to plan and develop ideas, like, in between that and either soliciting or taking freelance it's really, you know, we're still a relatively small team. You know, with everyone on the edit side, including digital and social. You know, we're right under 20 people. So it's, we all wear a lot of hats, and we all contribute to different areas of the magazine and that sort of umbrella of Garden & Gun. pitches for digital stories, editing them writing some myself. And so that is all happening, you know, in the background of print deadlines.

Angela Tuell: 17:25

Okay. Okay. Is the typical audience still? I mean, I know your focus is South is the typical audience still from the south? Or are you starting to see more of national readership?

Amanda Heckert: 17:37

Oh, yeah, it's funny. I mean, you know, occasionally they'll, you know, share with us here are the top 10 states, you know, with subscribers, and in its usually there's at least two to three states that are in the south in the top 10 of subscribers, California is always one, New York's always one. And so, you know, we know that there's a lot of expats, you know, that are wanting maybe that taste of home. But, um, we do do stories outside the south too. If, you know, we kind of say does the story, have our DNA in it? So, you know, obviously, like a lot of our sporting stories like fishing and that kind of thing, you know, we really will go all over the world telling those stories. How we have, we have a lot of international stories in that regard. And, you know, but occasionally we'll do travel stories or art stories, that someone's doing something outside the south that either has roots here or sort of reflects sort of our southern ethos.

Angela Tuell: 18:36

Okay, that makes perfect sense. What states do you consider the South?

Amanda Heckert: 18:40

Well, this is very controversial, Angela.

Angela Tuell: 18:42

I know. I would love your opinion.

Amanda Heckert: 18:45

We have a very, like here at the magazine, we have a very liberal view of what we consider the south. And, but then if you were to ask people in that state, you know, even depending on where in that state they live, they have a very different opinion. But we as far as our coverage area, we cover all the way up to from, you know, on the eastern side, you know, Washington, DC, Maryland. We cut across obviously, we scoot into West Virginia some, across Kentucky, we'll dip down into Arkansas, and over to Texas. We occasionally will include Oklahoma, there is a lot of southern roots in Oklahoma as far as you know, just hit unfortunately history but like a lot of people in Oklahoma have southern roots. We do a lot of travel stories in say the Caribbean and Mexico because there's you know, it's it's obviously very accessible to us down here. So and then occasionally we'll go even farther we did for this upcoming issue June July. We did sort of a shorthand The South Outside the South, so like stories or travel destinations with sort of a southern accent. So Francis Mays, who wrote Under the Tuscan Sun, she wrote a beautiful. She's from originally from Georgia, but spends half her time in North Carolina now. And it has her time at Brahma Solei, in Tuscany, and she wrote about what it's like to straddle that line of having your heart in two places, both North Carolina and Italy. And so, you know, beautiful sort of included lots of travel tips for her area and that sort of thing. So anyway, just example of how we, you know, go beyond our region. But yeah, if you ask, if you ask some people, if you're, you know, sitting in Maryland, they may may or may not

Angela Tuell: 20:51

Right. I was in college in Maryland, so I do know that. They almost a tiny bit with Indiana, those who are in very south of Indiana.

Amanda Heckert: 20:59

I mean, that? Absolutely, I definitely southern Indiana, like I think, you know, definitely has some of that Southern DNA. And yeah, and, you know, my husband is from the boot heel of Missouri, and, like the Cape Girardeau area, and he's like, it's southern down here. You know, my grandma made grits my, you know, she said, warshcloth. They're definitely, you know, the, the way people have migrated over the years, there's definitely sort of like, like I said, that sort of DNA and other other places beyond those bounds.

Angela Tuell: 21:35

Yeah. So as the executive editor, give us a little idea of I'm sure there's not really a typical day, but what your role and responsibilities are.

Amanda Heckert: 21:45

Yeah, there really is not a typical day, which, you know, going back to that conversation about what I love about magazines, that's certainly a part of it. I am, as executive editor I am responsible for I would say like, most specifically I edit, several or top edit several sections of the magazine. So I directly edit a lot in our Talk of the South Arts and Culture section, I top edit, which means that our Good Hunting section, which is like home, style, gardens, and that means that I sort of oversee, you know, the writers and editors of those lineups, and directly edit some of those pieces. And then I'm usually editing a feature or our service package or two per issue, as well as I edit most of our columns and colonists. And so I you know, but then as Executive Editor, I'm also reading every piece of copy that comes in after it's been edited by the direct editor and giving any notes before you know, it goes to the editor in chief for final sign off, but at that point, it should be in final, final. So yeah, that's, that's my primary sort of responsibility. But like I said, I'm very involved on the digital side, and, you know, some of our other endeavors here. But that's, that's my main, my main role.

Angela Tuell: 23:21

Okay, so do you help determine editorial content as well? Are you someone that PR professionals should reach out to with story ideas?

Amanda Heckert: 23:30

Absolutely, absolutely. And, you know, what I would tell someone in PR is often similar to what I would tell like a freelance, you know, pitcher, a writer, which is, you know, we have a lot of recurring rubrics in what we call rubrics in the magazine. So if you look in our sections, you know, there's always going to be, you know, Talk of the South, there's always going to be an interview, there's always going to be an arts page, there's always gonna be a sporting thing. There's always so we are sort of filling those holes, every issue. So if you it helps, you know, obviously, for a, someone who's pitching us an idea to be familiar enough with a magazine that they can kind of help, you know, I always say for freelance writer make it as easy for the editor to say yes, as possible. Which means, you know, I can see this in the Good Hunting section in the collections, you know, or if you pitched it this way, it could be an arts piece. And so helping the editor go, oh, yeah, that's yeah, I can see, you know. And, you know, we get a lot of pitches, you know, because we do have such a big geographic range. You know, like, I'm making this example up, but we get a lot of like, new hotel pitches, because we do have a hotels page, and we do a lot of hotels and travel coverage online as well. And so, getting so many of them, it helps to know like, what and I tell this to writers too - like what is the X Factor? Like if you were sitting with someone at a, you know, having a cocktail at a bar, and you're like, oh my gosh, this new place just opened and they, you know, have this amazing X. Like, what are you going to lead with? What is what is it that makes it so special that we should cover it? Versus like the 10 other hotel openings that we've gotten? So...

Angela Tuell: 25:17

Great advice. I also want to ask about it's time for Garden & Guns Made in the South awards. Is this something you work on? Do you have any insight for those who may want to apply, you know, for themselves or clients?

Amanda Heckert: 25:29

Absolutely. This is one of my favorite things we do all year. Because it because I have seen that it changes lives and livelihoods. You know, we have an extremely loyal readership here at Garden & Gun. They really do, you know, building that trust, having them trust us as a as an honor. And so when we feature someone in the magazine, whether it's an artist, or you know, someone making a new food product or something, we kind of have to prepare the runners up and winners have Made in the South like Are you ready for the onslaught? Because I mean, that it's real, that it's, I was just speaking to a former winner the other day at an event and he said, I measure my life, you know, from before and after, you know, November 13, 2021, or whatever it was, because that was the moment that, you know, my whole career changed. And so it's, so we have six categories, home, style, outdoors, crafts, food and drink. It's so fun to work on, you know, on the day we're judging the drinks, we have, we have, we have guest judges, but all of the staffers come in too, and we you know, sample and their days, always fun. And so we're really relying on the expertise of our guest judges, but it's also we're very hands on and experiencing the products as well. And this year, we've boosted the award for the or the the prize for the overall winner to $15,000. It's usually two. Because it's our 15th year of doing this. And so, yeah, I would say if you have - the product has to be made or assembled in the south. But if you have an artisan, that you think I mean, absolutely send, send it in we, it, the same goes for all these rules are Madeinthesouthawards.com. But you know, the again, we have a very liberal view of which states are included in that. So the states I mentioned today, you know, are most of those are included in there. And yeah, it's just, it's so cool to see the creativity happening across the south.

Angela Tuell: 27:52

That's great, we will definitely link to that in our show notes as well, as well as the other things that you've mentioned, too. But I also must mention, you are the editor of Garden & Gun's book, Southern Women. We'd love to know a little bit more about that. And it was it your first time as a book editor?

Amanda Heckert: 28:07

It was. So that book came out in the fall 2019 right before the pandemic, and we probably spent maybe two years on it. And it was, so it was so much fun, but it was definitely eye opening for me, as far as you know, how book editing is different from magazine editing, how the design process is different. But it was, it was just, you know, editing the book, it was, you know, we were looking for the same sorts of like, organizational principles that we, you know, bring to the magazine as far as like, you know, including women from sort of across our what we call pillars, the, you know, the food and drink the arts and culture. And so, you know, that was a part of it was, you know, saying which 100 Women are we going to include and then and then, and then making sure that there was that, you know, diversity in every way of experiences and backgrounds and geography. And then coming up with like, well, how are we going to include their stories or present them. And so some of them were interviews, like Q & A, like Q and A's with the women, some of them were ode's to the women written by other great writers. Or, for one part of the series, we had a southern woman sort of share an object that meant something to her and tell the story behind it. And so anyway, we had, you know, all of these different formats, which we, you know, are always looking for in magazine storytelling as well. But yeah, just the the pace of it and the editing of it were obviously a lot different, but it was it was really great to be able to sort of expand on really sharing the stories of these incredible women from across the south.

Angela Tuell: 30:05

And to see what it's like, as a book editor as well, right? Going back to magazines a little bit, what trends are you seeing in the magazine industry now? You know, I know at one time, there, so many were going digital, and unfortunately, you know, canceling the print publications, but now we are luckily seeing some sort of a reversal or somewhat of a reversal, we'd love your

Amanda Heckert: 30:27

You know, it's, it's a little bit of a mystery insight. to us who are sitting in the industry. But I have to say that, so Garden & Gun is, the print is still our bedrock in that our subscriber base, you know, is like, incredibly loyal as far as like renewals. It's, it's definitely from, you know, our, our insight, what people want, they want. And that's why we also still emphasize even though paper costs are, you know, going nuts. Still, you know, emphasizing like a heavier stock, you know, so that really, really can highlight the beautiful photography. So it feels like something you want to keep, and you know, that you want to display on your coffee table, and you want to keep and reread and use the recipes. And so making it that experience, physically. And, you know, in on the advertising side, too, it's you know, is we've diversified. Incredibly, when it comes to what, you know, how you can advertise. As far as you know, there's obviously, print ads, there's sponsored content, there's digital sponsorships, and social and all that good stuff. There's still, you know, a lot of advertisers want to be in the print magazine, which is wonderful. And so, you know, the magazine itself, the physical magazine is our bedrock. And you know, it's interesting, you know, seeing what magazine, which magazines are having good luck in that regard, and which ones you know, still hearing, like magazine startups, and it seems like the ones with more of a specialty focus and, and emphasizing that physical experience are doing well. It goes back to that, like creating a physical experience with a magazine that makes you want to keep it versus saying, Well, this is, you know, just something I could get online.

Angela Tuell: 32:31

Right. Right.

Amanda Heckert: 32:33

So again, I have no crystal ball. But I will say that it. I do think that even though we have stories that expand and resonate beyond the south, the the fact that we are providing something about the region that you're not quite getting anywhere else, that sort of specialty focus, I do think benefits us.

Angela Tuell: 32:58

Yes, definitely. And you've been there almost eight years now, right?

Amanda Heckert: 33:02

Yes, it's incredible.

Angela Tuell: 33:04

So this might be a hard one, but what do you hope the future holds for you?

Amanda Heckert: 33:09

You know, I am really very happy here. And it's, it's funny, I was talking the other day. Just, I still feel challenged and invigorated here. You know, I usually tell people, whether it's, you know, a younger colleague, or one of my, one of my former colleagues told me, this is like, every five years, you should do something that scares you. And, you know, as far as -

Angela Tuell: 33:35

I like that advice.

Amanda Heckert: 33:36

It doesn't always have to be like work related, but you know, something that kind of shakes you up in a way that you know, can help you grow. And, you know, when I got the opportunity to come back to my home state, I mean, I loved being in Atlanta, I still love Atlanta so much I loved being in Indianapolis. But it was funny, it was almost like when I crossed that line and my family is still here which you know, as you get older that just means more and more. But, you know, it this South Carolina feels like home. And it's just as complicated you know, and I and maybe every other state, you know it has its for betters and for worses, but it's this is home and so as long as I can keep doing what I love and feeling invigorated here, I mean, I'd love to stay in my home state.

Angela Tuell: 34:31

This has been so insightful, Amanda. I have to ask, how can listeners connect with you online?

Amanda Heckert: 34:36

On most socials, including Tik Tok - I'm not making Tik Toks but I do enjoy consuming watching. On most social platforms, I'm @Amanda BHeckard. Amanda, B as in boy, Heckert. So just all one word Instagram, X formerly Twitter, Facebook, it's just Amanda Brown Heckert. Of course, if if anyone wants to reach out with pitches, I'm at AHeckert@Gardenandgun.com.

Angela Tuell: 35:06

Thank you so much for your time. This has been wonderful.

Amanda Heckert: 35:09

Oh, Angela, thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

Angela Tuell: 35:14

That's all for this episode of Media in Minutes, a podcast by Communications Redefined. Please take a moment to rate, review and subscribe to our show. We'd love to hear what you think. You can find more at CommunicationsRedefined.com/podcast. I'm your host, Angela Tuell. Talk to you next time.