Dear Nica, here is a question for ‘Ask Nica’:

My friends and I have an online magazine, but nobody reads it. When we try to get our friends interested, they tend not to react. When they do respond, it goes something like, “nice site. Hey, did you watch the football game on Sunday?” I can’t understand why they don’t ‘dig it’. How can we get people interested in our website without sacrificing our artistic integrity? I mean, seriously.

Signed,
Befuddled

Dear Befuddled,

I don’t know what the contents of your magazine are, but it sounds like there might be a mismatch in supply and demand between the producers (you and your friends) and the target demographic (your other friends). If they are really into football, or sports, chances are they would be interested in content relating to that. Or, since everybody is a narcissist at the core, if there is a section about them (even if it is making fun of them for watching football every Sunday, instead of reading your magazine, implying that they can’t, in fact, read, and posting a link to Hooked On Phonics), that might attract their readership (it may also result in their subsequent kicking of your ass). The important thing to remember is that it’s not the content that can compromise the artistic integrity, it’s the execution; so you can use whatever content you think will get people interested, without compromising your artistic goals, as long as you frame it in a way that fits in with your mission statement. A way to get people who are not your friends to read it is to post on boards and forums whose content is related to your content, and direct people to your website, preferably while engaging in conversation with them, so that they don’t think it’s spam. Finally, I’d like to look at your online magazine, so if you email me a URL link, I’ll check it out.

Best of Luck,

Nica