Magazines for home workers

New resources for home workers

Magazines are not just for relaxation and window shopping.

For home workers running a business they are a brilliant source of ideas for articles, for design* and pictorial content.

Whatever industry you’re in, it’s a good idea to know what magazines your customers read and check them out regularly to keep on top of what your audience is currently interested in.

I
used to have subscriptions to several magazines, but over the last few years I’ve become very bored with the repetitive content of the monthly glossy mags. I felt there was a big gap in the market for women’s magazines that don’t rely on a constant parade of airbrushed actresses and supermodels, and that feature women of all ages and appearances who are doing interesting and inspiring things.

So
I was delighted when I made a spontaneous first visit to the Society Cafe in Bath, following a recommendation from one of my favourite home workers, online Business Buzz Magazine diva Louise Mccarron, and found a copy of The Gentlewoman at my window seat. This issue may have Beyonce on the cover, which has apparently seriously displeased some regular readers, but this is not typical – last time it was Angela Lansbury!

The
editorial includes interviews with French fashion designer Isabel Marant, and with London’s leading podiatrist, a Gloucestershire herb farmer and actress Fenella Fielding, who’s 86 and still working. One of my favourite features is That Piece!, an in-depth written and photo examination of a Prada satin opera coat.

Having
made my coffee and pastry last longer than was polite in order to prolong my browsing, I asked the cafe owner where I could find a copy. He directed me to Found, an independent Bath boutique so stuffed with desirable items that it’s been mentioned by Vogue as one of the top 100 stores outside of London.

There
I also discovered Apartamento, a biannual ‘everyday life interiors magazine’ that features interviews with people who are influential in their own fields of art and design, but don’t have the ‘celebrity’ status required by the glossies.

These
magazines appear expensive, but are only published twice a year and have masses of unmissable content and ideas for home workers to apply to blogs, newsletters and marketing material. I’m the opposite of a collector, but even I will have trouble consigning these publications to the recycling bin.

* They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and so I’ve wrestled with WordPress to try and reproduce The Gentlewoman’s way of starting a new paragraph for this post. It’s messed up the spacing in the paragraphs, but what do you think?