Nantucket Magazine will cease publication Final issue is Oct. 27
BY MARY LANCASTER INDEPENDENT WRITER

cover of Nantucket Journal, 1989

After 18 years as the island’s premier magazine documenting Nantucket’s most important issues and rich history, profiling its many interesting and talented people, and promoting the protection of its natural resources, Nantucket Magazine will publish its last edition next month.

Though it was a difficult decision to make, the magazine’s 20 stockholders voted yesterday to preserve the publication’s integrity and respected reputation by closing the corporation rather than bending to pressure from advertisers seeking editorial coverage in exchange for their patronage.

“We are not going out of business, we are not out of money, we are choosing to close,” said Denese Allen, who became the magazine’s Associate Publisher in 1997 and Publisher in 1999. “The reason is the market has changed drastically here. Everybody is going after the same piece of the pie, and everybody’s pieces are getting smaller and smaller.

“We don’t want the product to change — to sell it, it would metamorphosize again,” Allen continued. “We’ve been told we don’t have any competition when it comes to editorial, but we’re all competing for the advertising.

“Basically, advertisers want editorial coverage for their ads, and we won’t compromise our editorial content. We are very firm about that. We would rather not publish at all than compromise our editorial product,” she said. “We have many loyal subscribers. I think they are going to be shocked and very sad, but it’s time.”

Allen said the magazine could have generated more revenue by soliciting advertising from mainland sources, but purposely shunned the idea because Nantucket Magazine has always and solely been an island-oriented endeavor.

Nantucket Magazine was started as Nantucket Journal in 1986 by Martha’s Vineyard Magazine founder William Marks. At the time, islander Mary Parker was working at Martha’s Vineyard Magazine in a number of capacities. She came to Nantucket as an advertising sales representative for the Journal’s original issue.

In December 1988, Marks offered Mary and her husband Matthew first refusal to buy the publication. The couple printed their first edition in 1989, and the following year it became a quarterly.

C.S. “Butsy” Lovelace was among the many who immediately took a liking to the style and content of Nantucket Journal. When he learned the Parkers were interested in selling it, he brought together a group of investors who bought the business and made it into a Subchapter S corporation in 1992. Mary Parker stayed on as Editor and Art Director until her first child was born in 1993.

“I will miss the magazine. Publishing was my first love,” said Parker. “I think the current staff has been doing a beautiful job capturing Nantucket and keeping the philosophy I started. I was happy with the sale and I’ve been happy with the way it has continued. I loved the magazine, and I’ll miss it as a reader, too.”

Lovelace, under whose tenure Nantucket Journal was renamed Nantucket Magazine in 1994, said being involved with the publication was one of the most joyful experiences of his life.

“We’ve had such good editors, art directors and writers over the years. I couldn’t have worked with more talented people,” said Lovelace, who retired as publisher in 2000. “It is sad news [that it is closing], but it’s a changing world on the island. There are two other very exciting magazines out there now, and just so many potential readers and advertisers. Chris Larsen did a terrific job of making the magazine profitable, and it is significant that we’re quitting while we are ahead.”

Larsen became the magazine’s president and treasurer in 1998. He said yesterday’s vote was disappointing, but unanimous, with all involved united in their determination not to sacrifice the distinguishing character of the publication.

“I felt, as the president, that this was the appropriate way to

close a fine magazine,” said Larsen. “We didn’t want to change it, we didn’t want to sell it and we didn’t want to make it of any less quality than it has been. We all made [the decision] with the sense that this was the appropriate way to close a venture that we’ve all had our hearts in for many years. It’s a financial entity, but it’s a civic enterprise. That’s the way I viewed it.”

Nantucket Magazine has seven directors and a small staff. Allen as publisher and Peter Greenhalgh as sales director are full-time employees. Jackie Peterson is a part-time ad sales representative. Art Director Robert Frazier and Editor Steve Sheppard are part-time independent contractors. The magazine has tapped the creative abilities of hundreds of writers, photographers and artists.

“I am honored that people would be saddened by our leaving,” said Sheppard, who started writing for the publication shortly after it was launched, and has been editor for eight years. He was preceded by Hobson Woodward. “I am very proud to have carried on the tradition, but it couldn’t have been done without everybody here. I especially want to thank Bobby Frazier for his vision and touch as Art director.

“We are a literary magazine,” Sheppard continued. “We try to offer thought-provoking stories and the best photography. Our writers and photographers included Pulitzer Prize winners, National Book Award winners and the most talented people on the island over the last 18 years. Eighteen years is a good run for a publication on Nantucket.”

It may have been a good run, but Elizabeth “Libby” Oldham, a part-time copy editor at the magazine for 14 years, wishes it could last longer.

“I’m just heartbroken,” said Oldham. “It has been such a joy to work with this magazine. I just feel it has gotten better and better as the years went by. I always felt appreciated and valued, and people were so proud of the work they did. They set really high standards and met them. I think everybody had a lot of fun doing it — it was a great team.”

Sheppard said he believes the magazine will live on as part of Nantucket’s record and be a useful and accurate resource for researchers. Not only has the magazine chronicled important parts of the island’s history, it stayed current with modern issues and societal and environmental changes.

“People saved us. We are like a mini-encyclopedia now, and that’s great,” said Sheppard. “We reflected, we hope, the whole island, and not just a favored portion of it. Two issues ago we reflected on the loss of the Nantucket accent. We aren’t sure whether that’s a warning sign or not, but we did take note of the cultural changes going on here and celebrated the wonders of Nantucket. We hope in some small way we made a difference.”

As it prepares its last fall/holiday issue to go on sale on Oct. 27, Nantucket Magazine carries 53 percent of the island’s magazine advertising market. The publication’s corporation will dissolve in 2006.

All the magazine’s subscribers will receive a full refund on the remaining portions of their subscriptions. According to the publisher’s statement last year, of the magazine’s 6,157 total circulation, 5,059 were paid subscriptions or newsstand sales.

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