Forum Topic

Your views on the Westside magazine

I am part of a 2 strong team who run the Westside magazine and website and I am interested in getting some feedback on the publication.  We are looking to see if any of our regular readers have any comments or suggestions that we can use to make the magazine better. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Westside, it is a monthly glossy local lifetsyle magazine delivered to 47,000 homes in Ealing, Chiswick, Shepherds Bush, Hammersmith and Kensington with a real focus on local people, local business and local events.If you want to see a copy of the magazine, it is available on the following link (http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/launch.aspx?pbid=9ff68b3e-21fe-4b77-b6b2-de5da4149483)Please feel free to comment on anything; editorial, advertising, distribution, the website.Thanks in advanceMathew

Mathew Hance ● 6389d13 Comments

A 2 strong team eh?Does that mean the pair of you do all the editorial, ads, website, sales, circulation, layout and all.No wonder the articles seem a tad wordy and unfocused and it is all pretty unpegged.Not bad for a free- sheet though and the ads are fun.

Sara Nathan ● 6388d

Sara, give the guy a break. He and his colleague are operating in a very tough commercial environment and the fact that they putting out a magazine at all is to their credit. They don't have the luxury of the relatively unconstrained taxpayer funded budgets you would have been used to at the BBC and Channel 4.If you are going to give him a hard time why not for the apparent refusal to acknowledge the existence of Acton?

Andy Jones ● 6388d

I wasn't giving him a hard time - just incredulous that two people were doing all that.He ASKED for feedback and i gave him an honest response on what I had noticed about his editorial....which nobody else has done so far. And he gets the benefit of my opinion as a local resident and a professional journalist. That's quite good going. Lucky man!You will note I said it was pretty good for a free sheet - that's praise indeed.I assume Acton isn't his target audience/demographic and he thinks coverage of this patch will alienate those in others. Of course, being so tightly staffed, he may just not got around to being aware of our existence.

Sara Nathan ● 6388d

The focus of my post wasn't on the number of people working on the magazine, but I was refering to the 2 of us who are tasked with getting ideas together to make changes to the magazine. As for your comments on the journalism, I believe we have a great team of writers who work very hard on a freelance basis to write articles which we feel our readers want to read.What I was actually looking for was constructive feedback and some ideas which would help us and I felt this would be the forum where I could find that.

Mathew Hance ● 6386d

What you said was:"I am part of a 2 strong team who run the Westside magazine and website"It seems reasonable to infer, from that, that there are two of you running  Westside magazine and website. How would others interpret it?I enjoy pieces that are accurate, well-written, taut and about something interesting - and I NEVER enjoy ones in a Q & A format - which I think lazy.

Sara Nathan ● 6386d

Re  And he gets the benefit of my opinion as a local resident and a professional journalist.           xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx          how wonderfully placed to offer your services, gratis of course, but would have the advantage of putting you in the minds of local people?.

Tony Price ● 6386d

Why would I want to be in the minds of local people? I'm neither standing for election nor seeking local employment.As so often, Tony, I don't see what you are driving at.

Sara Nathan ● 6386d

Westside.Is it  glossy heavyweight paper magazine that hits my doormat one a month? Further identifying features - half full of estate agent adverts for houses of which most recipients couldn't afford even if they clubbed together, reviews(?) of over-priced shops and services available to well-heeled denizens of Chiswick High Road, mention of any place that is outside W4 and W6 area had been studiously copied from a council hand-out, etc. If this is not Westside (west of what? Shepherds Bush Road?) then my apologies but I can't check as Ealing Council contractors remove my recyclables (and rubbish) once a week.

Alan Brainsby ● 6386d

Re  Why would I want to be in the minds of local people?            xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  well as you seem to post on every Forum and under most threads thereon, I  in my innocence thought maybe if you were to post in a local Mag, it would help your image as it were? with the " locals ". Plus in view of your expertise, help and advice to those running the Mag. Other than that, not a brick wall hopefully ?

Tony Price ● 6386d

Acton, Chiswick and here - with an occasional nod at Shepherds Bush where one post lasts a month. That's it. Probably fewer than you do - not that it matters. Aren't there seven or eight or more?I do it when I am available/interested/ want to be distracted. There are many threads on this forum in the past few months on which I have not posted at all.But, as an engaged local resident, I am interested in many things.

Sara Nathan ● 6386d

That sounds like it. I quite the glossy ads for houses I can't afford...but I could read the Lady and Country Life for that sort of housing porn I suppose.I particularly like housing ads with plans and layouts so if the Westside chaps want to take that on board, swell.

Sara Nathan ● 6385d

Re  Probably fewer than you do        xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx      only Ealing and Acton with the latter only when the feeling takes me. I don't know enough about the other areas to be able to add informed comments.

Tony Price ● 6385d

I might be wrong but isn't this magazine published by Archant Life who are the largest publisher of regional newspapers in the UK?It looks like all your other local mags.

Faith Wardle ● 6384d