Bonjour Royal Friends!
Welcome to my blog, a ‘tongue-in-chic’ happiness lifestyle guide from a funny princess point of view!
Today from my palace desk is another post in my series, “Enchanting Discoveries…People Places Things.” I’ll be interviewing the local publisher Annie Lurie. I met Annie at an East Brunswick Regional Chamber of Commerce meeting where we struck up a conversation and realized we have a common love of writing. I realized immediately that Annie is a special and unique gem with an incredibly intriguing way of moving through the world. I was impressed by her independent spirit and her incredible work ethic, something that supports her success as a publisher. Annie has an interesting blend of mystery and authenticity that is quite compelling. Read on to learn more about Annie and her journey as an entrepreneur in the publishing business.
PDvB: Let’s start off by telling us what is it that you do.
AL: I brand local businesses like the big ones via their own, industry-specific lifestyle articles, flanked by customized ads, in glossy, hyperlocal magazines. I also purvey copywriting and proofreading services to a hand-picked clientele.
PDvB: What do you love about it?
AL: I love that it is a publisher’s prerogative as to who and what belongs in a magazine. I pick the resident that is depicted on the front cover each month. I write the accompanying feature story. And I decide whom to confer exclusivity by listing them on the masthead as the irreplaceable expert in their specialty in the locality. I can use the magazine to restructure the milieu by privileging certain businesses and residents at the expense of others.
PDvB: What do you find challenging about it?
AL: Attracting business without appearing solicitous. It entails much investment in the form of joining chambers of commerce and networking venues. Being selectively permeable while there. I have to project an image that others find covetable but approachable.
PDvB: How about a little background about you. Where did you grow up? What did you do before? A little about your life’s journey that you’d like us to know.
AL: I worked as a language informant for a former professor, supplying him with linguistically analyzable data on morphology and syntax. I then moved into editing private clients’ monographs and manuscripts at the syntactic, lexical, and stylistic levels.
PDvB: How did you get interested in publishing?
AL: I deem it an accretion of my writing and editing endeavors. I find magazines imminently archivable. With formidable content, they can accede to ethnographic artifacts.
PDvB: Do you have any future dreams and goals?
AL: I want to be a museum curator. Writers need to dialogue with artists of differing but related disciplines to obviate the writing-about-writing formalistic rut. I want to curate the installations and write the concomitant wall text.
PDvB: What inspires you?
AL: Print. The pleasurable aspect of tactility. Visual and verbal content harmoniously arranged on the page. Minimalism.
PDvB: Are you ever short on inspiration? If so, what do you do to get back in the groove?
AL: I read dense, academically oriented text. Literary theory with practical import. I leaf through fashion magazines. I look at photographs. I engage in mental free play. I travel. I defamiliarize.
PDvB: How do you find ideas for articles?
AL: I model the feature stories after autoethnographic accounts. I focalize the story around a salient part of each subject’s life, be it his/her art or struggle. The Expert Contributor articles are authored by the business owners and edited by me. The community submissions are written by the residents and edited by me. I ask for elucidating articles that evince technical proficiency rather than fluff. We look to content-centric lifestyle magazines and cultural essays.
PDvB: You have a wonderful entrepreneurial spirit; can you tell us about that?
AL: I never wanted to execute anyone’s vision. I didn’t want to exalt celebrities or engage in political debates; hence, my refraining from applying to the likes of Vogue or New York Times. I view things from an Epicurean distance, savoring by noting their strengths, shortcomings, and framings. I also wanted to prospect for artists and businesses that circulate in relative obscurity. I’ve been deploring the proliferation of technology, which, for all its merits, can be depersonalizing. I liked the idea of emplacing businesses and residents in a mappable community, allowing for corporeal interchange.
PDvB: Any obstacles you had to overcome to get where you are today?
AL: Dispensing with absolutist notions of exceptionalism. Every town has a skilled photographer or writer. Foreground that person’s work. Bedding myself in my environment and using it as a point of departure rather than trying to transcend it.
PDvB: Any advice to others thinking about doing what you’re doing?
AL: It’s difficult to launch a magazine or e-zine sans infrastructure. Sometimes even with it. The literary magazine, Astra, despite an ample budget and a list of eminent contributing writers, went out of print after two issues. The publisher failed to cultivate a readership that upheld the magazine’s translocal ethos. I partner up with Best Version Media, which designs, prints, and delivers the magazine to homeowners with expendable income. A primary demographic has been pre-allocated and proof of concept and models of success established. It is one of over 1,000 town-specific magazines in North America. I’d advise aspiring publishers to start out as independent contractors. It grants access to proprietary tools (in my case, a back office) while permitting sufficient latitude for their preferences.
PDvB: Do you have any hobbies?
AL: I enjoy travel, poetry, hot springs, erotica, cutting-edge theory, photography, and fashion.
PDvB: Any fun factoids about you you’d like us to know?
AL: No. I’d rather exude some sort of mystique.
PDvB: Speaking of fun, here’s a few “fun stuff” questions I like to ask: a. If you were an animal, which one would you be and why? b. What’s your favorite color and why? c. What’s your favorite food and why?
AL: I’m averse to nearly all animals, save for birds and fish. Maybe a parakeet. They’re vivacious. I’m almost always clad in black, which lends me an aura of inscrutability, piquing curiosity and prompting engagement. I’m partial to spanakopita. It tastes good to me and marks me of Mediterranean extraction.
And there you have it! I send a big thank you to Annie for taking the time to share her interesting story and a bit of her life journey with us!
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Dame Diane Uniman, Aka Princess Diane von Brainisfried, is an attorney turned motivational speaker, certified positive psychology life coach and award-winning writer. She wrote Bonjour, Breast Cancer-I’m Still Smiling…Wit, Wisdom, and Optimism for Beating the Breast Cancer Blues.