A war between business magazines was declared this month when Vicki Vowell, publisher of the Little Rock based monthly AY magazine for 26 years, started Arkansas Money & Politics.
For two years, Vowell’s Vowell Inc. published Talk Business Arkansas, a magazine owned for the six years of its existence by Roby Brock, a business reporter who works in every media imaginable - television, radio, publishing, the Internet and social media.
Vowell and Brock had a publishing arrangement for Talk Business Arkansas,Brock said. Vowell published the magazine in 2012 and 2013 and Brock was responsible for the editorial side, although he retained ownership, Brock said.
The two parted ways at the beginning of the year after a “disagreement over the financial arrangement ofour publishing partnership,” Brock said.
Now he views Arkansas Money & Politics as a rival publication, Brock said.
The partnership with Brock “just didn’t work out,” Vowell said.
“Our business is totally different from what that company produces,” Vowell said. “We wish them well. This is a different vision, a different look and a different feel.”
Both statewide magazines are free to readers and publish six times a year. Another Little Rock-based publication, Arkansas Business, is a weekly business journal.
Vowell said she hopes to change Arkansas Money & Politics to a monthly magazine in the future.
“We really feel like we have developed a Forbes-like magazine for Arkansas,” Vowell said. “That’s why we have developed this product. It’s never been done in the state. I’ve been very pleased with the reception we’ve received so far.”
Vowell said she mailed 12,000 copies of the first edition - with Gov. Mike Beebe on the cover - to “decision makers” across the state, she said. Brock said he mails Talk Business Arkansas to more than 14,000 individuals and places 1,000 more in limited spots in central Arkansas.
Both business publications use some of the same freelance workers, including writer Benjamin Hardy and photographer Beth Hall.
“I don’t think you’ll see any of that going forward,” Brock said. “I think a few of those folks were not completely aware of our split when they made some of their commitments.”
The overlapping contributors were aware of the split in the partnership, Vowell said.
Vowell said she believes Hardy and Hall will be working for Arkansas Money & Politics in the future.
The March-April issue of both magazines - four-color, 60-somethingpage issues -have articles on Beebe’s final legislative session. Arkansas Money & Politics’ article was written by Steve Barnes with the headline “The Long Goodbye: Gov. Mike Beebe” and Talk Business Arkansas’ article, “The Victory Lap Begins,” was written by Hardy.
There are other similarities - articles on tourism in Arkansas, commentary by business executives and panels of business leaders discussing business topics.
Arkansas Money & Politics has 11 full-page advertisements this month and Talk Business Arkansas has 10. They include identical Chenal Valley ads and Deltic Timber ads in each magazine as well as similar ads from Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas.
“She’s using close to the same editorial calendar that I had already produced,” Brock claimed. “She’s calling on many of the same advertisers that have advertised in my publication.”
Vowell disagreed.
“Will there be some advertising overlap?” she asked. “Yes. There has been. But I think [Arkansas Money & Politics] is a totally different product [from Talk Business Arkansas].”
Brock said he’ll let the market decide who wins.
“I feel very confident,” Brock said. “I’m experiencing a tremendous amount of support from additional advertisers. I’m very pleased with our profitability and our product.”
Is there room for the two similar publications in the same market?
“There is only so much business to be reported on in Arkansas,” said Tom Larimer, executive director of the Arkansas Press Association.
“Is it too much?” Larimer said. “I don’t know. If the market will bear it, more power to them. I don’t have a clue how they both may survive in this market, but they may.”
Warwick Sabin, a state representative, was publisher of the Oxford American for more than five years before resigning last year to become executive director of the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub.
“It is definitely not cheap to print and distribute a magazine of that quality,” Sabin said. “But if these publishers didn’t think they could put out a product at a price that was affordable and turn a profit for them, I’m sure they wouldn’t be going into the business.”
Business, Pages 73 on 03/23/2014