N&O pursuing female readers

New Web site, magazine recognize 'women make a lot of the buying decisions'

The News & Observer Publishing Co. is hoping to attract more female readers with two new projects it is introducing this spring.

The first, Skirt. a free monthly publication, will be introduced to readers April 1.

The second, a Web site specifically for mothers, is expected to debut in March.

The N&O's decision to focus on women is logical, said Sandy Fain, director of niche publications and new business development.

"It is a targeted market, but as we all know, women make a lot of the buying decisions," she said. "We say about 75 percent. So this is a market that our advertisers want."

On the first day of each month, 30,000 copies of Skirt will be distributed in more than 300 racks throughout the Triangle, Fain said.

The News & Observer pays a licensing fee to publish Skirt and also has a revenue-sharing agreement with the company that licenses Skirt, Fain said. She declined to provide financial details.

The national content in Skirt is produced in Charleston, S.C., where the publication was founded. But Morris Publishing Group of Augusta, Ga., holds the licensing rights and has struck the deal with the N&O.

The publication is currently distributed in 12 markets, and each distributor adds local content to the national content provided.

The N&O has hired an editor and two salespeople to handle the ads and local content for the Triangle.

The N&O's other upcoming project, Mom2Mom, will be an interactive Web site. It will provide mothers in the area the ability to share photos, post messages on blogs and network with one another, said David Feld, the N&O's senior product manager for interactive media.

"As we go forward, we're going to add other functionality, such as the ability to review places and services in the Triangle," Feld said.

Adding niche products that target a specific audience follows a broader trend in publishing, said Jock Lauterer, lecturer and director of the Carolina Community Media Project at UNC-Chapel Hill.

"You walk down a magazine aisle in any grocery store and count the magazines that are in there," he said. "If you are a NASCAR car collector or a coin collector or a stamp collector, there is a magazine for you."

However, in this market, there are already several publications for women. Lauterer said that newspapers can damage their reputations if they don't fully commit to such projects.

"The worst thing you can do is start something up and then just abandon it, which major metro ... [newspapers] are famous for doing," he said.