Editor in Chief Lisa Matte and her fine staff were at it again! Oh, it all seems innocent enough, but believe me, they love to challenge the distributors.

It all started with the very first issue of Global Traveler (which was five years ago, if you haven’t been reading the last month’s worth of blogs). Back then, Lisa was firmly on our side. The covers were appealing right from the very start. As my fellow distribution specialist, Louie Atsaves, said in his recent blog, “We had never seen such mass acceptance of a new magazine in our many years of experience.” In the highly competitive publication industry, the cover design is very important.

As GT grew, Lisa and her staff continued to set the bar higher. This was still very good for the distributors. For instance, for the February 2006 issue, the cover featured a beautiful underwater scene. It was outstanding. Hotel concierges and other recipients would see the cover and comment on how artistic, breathtaking or awe-inspiring the pictures were.

However, this is when Lisa and her staff took an evil turn. Oh, they couldn’t leave well enough alone. They had to keep pushing that bar higher, ultimately challenging the very distributors whose lives were made easier for the previous many months.

The March 2009 cover is a perfect example! No longer do the distributors simply get a big smile and a compliment on the aesthetic covers. No, now we also get questions. “Wow . . . that is awesome. What/where exactly is it?“ “Oooooh look at that. How did your photographer get that picture?” “How did you ever find that particular shot (or scene/architecture)?”

Do you see our current headaches? We can no longer simply accept their praise and thank them. We have to actually do some research before we deliver so we can answer their questions properly (we are full-service distributors). Additionally, these questions usually develop into several-minute conversations, thus lengthening our work day. Where does it end?

Lisa and her staff are probably already conspiring on another artistic endeavor for the April issue as I write this blog. I guess I have no recourse but to deal with it. The covers seem to continually improve. The reactions seem to continually be more excited and inquisitive. This snowball rolling is too big for me to even try to slow down. Maybe the best I can hope for is a big frosty Coke the next time she sees me!

-John Wroblewski, distribution specialist