Return to Roots

The following letter from Editor, Kellie Underhill, appears in the most recent print edition of Bread ‘n Molasses, available today.

Bread ‘n Molasses has never really followed all the traditional rules of publishing; we’ve always kind of went our own way. For example, most magazines start in print and then develop a website to support their publication. But we began as a website first and didn’t go into print until three years later.

The traditional publishing industry tends to believe that in order to be successful you need to focus on a particular topic or audience. But we’ve covered every topic from business news to parenting tips; published everything from short fiction to recipes. And our audience lives all over the world; men, women and even children, of all ages.

At most magazines the editors sit down months in advance to decide what stories they want to print in upcoming issues. Then they assign those story ideas to professional freelance writers or other professional writers they have on staff. But we’ve never done that. Each issue is a new surprise, even to us. Every day we receive submissions, then we pick the ones we like best, so each issue just kind of grows organically all by itself. And while we do publish many established writers, we’ve always believed that anyone can be a published writer if they’re given the opportunity, and everyone has a story to tell. So we take the time to work with people who have never been published before so they can share their stories with our readers.

One of the the first things you learn in journalism school is to chase the ambulances and fire trucks, get the gory pictures, find the worst dirt about people that you can uncover, and create those sensational headlines because “good news doesn’t sell”. But we never bought into that theory. We’ve always believed that if readers were presented with good positive things, they would only want more. And we were right. The praise for Bread ‘n Molasses that I receive from our readers on a regular basis is more overwhelming than I could have ever imagined when we first went online back in 2003. Despite breaking all the rules of traditional publishing, people simply love what we’re doing! And throughout all these years the only complaint I’ve ever heard is that readers just want more.

So now, five years after our first issues went into print, we’re going to give you more and we’re returning to our online roots to do it! Yes, this is the last issue of Bread ‘n Molasses that we’ll be printing, but don’t be sad because we’re very excited about what’s coming up. By changing our focus back to our online beginnings we’re going to be able to bring you not just more of the superb content you’ve come to expect in these pages but a whole new interactive experience. And we’ll be doing it every day!

We’ll be able to share videos, audio, and even more photos with you, and you’ll be able to share all of it in just one click with your friends. Look for more contests, giveaways and fun! You can follow us on Twitter and Facebook to find out all the latest as it happens, or even stop by to chat with us. On our website we’ll publish all the regular columnists that you look forward to reading every issue and you’ll be able to easily send them your comments and feedback. You’ll also be able to easily contribute to the website using our new submission form. Don’t worry if you’re not a professional writer, we’re still committed to helping everyone tell their stories so we’ll work with you to make it happen. And if every day is too much Bread ‘n Molasses for you, simply sign up for our email subscription and we’ll send you an email once a week to let you know the highlights.

Best of all is that we’re now going to be able to bring you all the Bread ‘n Molasses you could ever want and more! We’ve got so many plans and ideas for the new Bread ‘n Molasses online experience, it’s exhilarating! So, what are you waiting for? See you online! www.breadnmolasses.com It sorta sticks to ya!