Presses Stop For The Women's Times
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"It's been amazing, 18 years is a long time," she said Friday of the monthly paper's run. Readers, friends, advertisers and writers present and past had responded to her announcement with more than 100 e-mails by noontime, she said, making the reconnection with old acquaintances bittersweet.
Sills said she was ready to try something different and would pursue business opportunities in the digital realm.
"We have carried out our mission to tell women's stories and share resources for nearly two decades," Sills said in a statement released early Friday morning. "In return, a loyal community of readers, contributors and advertisers has rewarded us with steadfast support, kudos and that greatest of compliments, their time and attention. It has been a tremendous honor."
The paper had a monthly circulation of about 32,000 with two editions — Berkshires and Pioneer Valley — that were distributed throughout the region. It covered issues from women's perspectives in business, technology, education, health care, parenting, leisure pursuits and philanthropy with a dedicated readership that ranged from the professional to the stay-at-home mom.
The Times profiled well-known women, including Rachel Maddow, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Elizabeth Kolbert, Carol Gilligan, Barbara Smith and Naomi Wolf and put a spotlight on hundreds of women working within and for their communities. The paper also supported events such as 2009's Berkshire Festival of Women in the Arts and benefits for the Elizabeth Freeman Center. Its annual health issue and Breast Cancer Resources Guide, an award-winning yearly supplement to the magazine, were essential resources for many women in the region.
"Thank you for a high-quality publication and for giving women a voice, including many of the women faculty at Williams College," wrote retired Williams news director Jo Procter on the wall of the magazine's Facebook page. She was one of more than a dozen who lamented the loss, such as Maureen Scanlon, who declared "you have redefined the presence of women in regional media."
Sills said the paper had "weathered the recession" but it was her growing interest in social media — and her and her team's expanding role as strategy consultants in that realm — that clinched the decision.
"So much of what we've done in traditional publishing is relevant to social media — delivering quality content, creating community, measuring engagement," she said in her statement. "I love print, but like millions of others, I spend my days in a digital world. I am ready to make that my primary focus."
We asked Sills some questions by e-mail about the her decision and her are here answers in full:
Have you been considering stopping publication for awhile or was it a more recent decision?
I'm an entrepreneur at heart, so I like to start things. Making a professional change has been on my mind for close to five years. More recently, I realized running The Women's Times and maintaining a growing consulting business wasn't leaving me with much energy to focus on a wholly new approach to my work — and in a massively disrupted world, that is what is needed.
How did the changing media landscape and advertising environment influence your decision?
We've been waiting for more than a decade for The New York Times and other big players to figure out a sustainable online business model, and it's been tiring. Substantial declines in advertising revenue — the result of businesses marketing in new ways and the recession — have made it even more difficult. In the meantime, social media has transformed the way people get their news, form communities and organize politically, and, I admit, for someone ready to reinvent herself at age 50, the opportunities of the new world stack up pretty nicely against the old grind.
How many people will it affect in terms of jobs? Was the staff aware that the closure was likely?
Five part-time employees and independent contractors have been let go. I informed them last week that I had made a final decision, but we've been discussing challenges and opportunities for The Women's Times for over a year. Some of the team has also been working with me on consulting projects, and I hope that will continue.
Will a form of The Women's Times continue on its Facebook page or elsewhere on the Web?
For now, I hope the TWT community will continue to connect on our Facebook page, where we will keep posting. If I can forge sustainable partnerships to create new online content in the women's space, we will certainly do so.
Here is the press release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 11, 2011
Publisher of The Women's Times announces March issue will be its last
GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — The founder and publisher of The Women's Times announced today that the monthly publication's March issue, which hit stands last week, will be its last. Eugenie Sills said that after nearly 18 years, she would stop publishing in order to pursue business opportunities in the digital realm.
"It's been a great run," Sills said. "We have carried out our mission to tell women's stories and share resources for nearly two decades. In return, a loyal community of readers, contributors and advertisers has rewarded us with steadfast support, kudos and that greatest of compliments, their time and attention. It has been a tremendous honor."
Known for its monthly FOCUS topics and resource-rich content, The Women's Times covered dozens of timely, relevant issues ranging from single-sex education and citizen media to immigration and entrepreneurship. Its annual health issue and Breast Cancer Resources Guide, an award-winning yearly supplement to the magazine, were essential resources for many women in the region. Over the years, The Women's Times profiled numerous nationally and internationally known women, including Rachel Maddow, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Elizabeth Kolbert, Carol Gilligan, Barbara Smith and Naomi Wolf. The magazine also put a spotlight on hundreds of women whose work within and for their communities — as politicians, educators, activists, artists and entrepreneurs — has helped define the character of our region.
Sills said that while the economy has been challenging, her business has weathered the recession by staying lean, and the decision to cease publishing was driven by her growing interest in social media. "The Internet has turned the publishing industry on its head, and we are all still waiting for a sustainable online business model to emerge," Sills said. "In the meantime, social media has transformed the way people get their news, form communities and organize politically. I am fascinated by this realm, and want to deepen my involvement in it."
Over the past year, Sills and her team have been providing consulting services in social media strategy and content. "So much of what we've done in traditional publishing is relevant to social media — delivering quality content, creating community, measuring engagement," Sills said. "I love print, but like millions of others, I spend my days in a digital world. I am ready to make that my primary focus.”
Sills hopes some aspects of The Women's Times will live on through new publishing partnerships. "We are pursuing opportunities to deliver digital content in the women's space," Sills continued. "This chapter of The Women's Times has come to a close, but I am confident that the TWT community will endure online. We plan to keep our Facebook page active, and invite readers to stay tuned."
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The Women's Times published the premiere issue of its Berkshire edition in September 1993, and moved from a bi-monthly to a monthly schedule two years later. A second edition serving the Pioneer Valley was launched in May 1999. The publication has a combined distribution of 25,000 copies monthly. Among its honors are two American Cancer Society Sword of Hope Awards for Excellence in Print Journalism Relating to Cancer, bestowed for the publication's Annual Guide to Breast Cancer Resources. In 2009, The Women's Times produced the month-long Berkshire Festival of Women in the Arts and She’s Got Moxie! Awards, and established the Anne Sanford Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships to enable women to attend political or professional leadership training.
Eugenie Sills
Founder and Publisher
The Women's Times
esills@thewomenstimes.com
