Go to any Wawa, 7-11 or convenience store and you'll see stacks of rags used to line the bottom of kitty litter boxes. People pick up these papers on their way out of or into the store, browse through them then almost instantly toss them as they are riddled with ads and the content is lacking to say the least.
I was in Doyelstown, Pennsylvania around 4 years ago and picked up one of these rag publications that struck my eye with it's colorful cover and unique design and I actually kept it and read it from from to back more than a dozen times. On m next trip to Doylestown I went to the same Starbucks on Main Street where i got this publication called 'The Metro Giant' and there were no papers to be scene so i went to the counter to ask when they expected the next delivery.
The young girl who turned out to be the store manager said, "that had to have been the shortest lived publication we've ever had here" she continued, "the strange thing is it became an overnight success because of all the local cultural info and music scene but the owner sold the paper literally three months after he started it and then the paper just died. It's actually kind of sad when you consider all the crap we have out there on the table of free publications".
I tracked down the original publisher, Jamie Brown and spoke to him at length on the phone about the beginning and the end of his publishing career and he responded, "Well, by trade I produce music. Hip Hop is the genre i'm most into but I love all types of music. I started The Metro Giant to help get the music acts that i was working with more exposure and i was shocked how fast the paper took off but it took me away from my job which was promoting music groups, or should I say trying to produce (laughing) i just never had that gift but hey, it is what it is."
Jamie continued, "I found myself juggling sales and marketing and trying to manage a girlfriend, don't get me started (laughing) and it was too much. A local publisher for a real estate paper offered me money for the paper and i took it, they they proceeded to run it into the ground. And that is the story of The Metro Giant.
The paper took on a strange path after the acquisition from Charlottetown to Tampa but it just couldn't stick. This rag was just in the right place at the right time and poor management took it down. Live and learn as they say!
I was in Doyelstown, Pennsylvania around 4 years ago and picked up one of these rag publications that struck my eye with it's colorful cover and unique design and I actually kept it and read it from from to back more than a dozen times. On m next trip to Doylestown I went to the same Starbucks on Main Street where i got this publication called 'The Metro Giant' and there were no papers to be scene so i went to the counter to ask when they expected the next delivery.
The young girl who turned out to be the store manager said, "that had to have been the shortest lived publication we've ever had here" she continued, "the strange thing is it became an overnight success because of all the local cultural info and music scene but the owner sold the paper literally three months after he started it and then the paper just died. It's actually kind of sad when you consider all the crap we have out there on the table of free publications".
I tracked down the original publisher, Jamie Brown and spoke to him at length on the phone about the beginning and the end of his publishing career and he responded, "Well, by trade I produce music. Hip Hop is the genre i'm most into but I love all types of music. I started The Metro Giant to help get the music acts that i was working with more exposure and i was shocked how fast the paper took off but it took me away from my job which was promoting music groups, or should I say trying to produce (laughing) i just never had that gift but hey, it is what it is."
Jamie continued, "I found myself juggling sales and marketing and trying to manage a girlfriend, don't get me started (laughing) and it was too much. A local publisher for a real estate paper offered me money for the paper and i took it, they they proceeded to run it into the ground. And that is the story of The Metro Giant.
The paper took on a strange path after the acquisition from Charlottetown to Tampa but it just couldn't stick. This rag was just in the right place at the right time and poor management took it down. Live and learn as they say!
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