Delta Living Magazine Launched in East County

Delta Living Magazine is a new lifestyle magazine that was launched this week in East County thanks to the efforts of Charleen Earley who hopes its readers will be inspired, educated, motivated and entertained.  I reached out to Ms. Earley in finding out more about her and her goals with the magazine.

Ms. Earley is no stranger to journalism as she has been a veteran freelance writer for 13 years where she worked for the San Francisco Chronicle for five years. She also worked for the River News Herald in Rio Vista and even wrote a column for the Brentwood Press. She is currently teaching journalism at Deer Valley High School.

Earley admits she has always loved writing, teaching, inspiring, publishing and telling other peoples stories through articles—so she moved forward with the magazine idea.   The concept of the magazine is straight forward as it’s a lifestyle magazine about living around the Delta with a target audience of 30 and older.

“I came up with the name Delta Living Magazine because of the area I currently live in. It felt like a perfect fit. Not all the articles though, are tied to the Delta per se. It also includes travel and interesting, inspiring people who don’t live around here,” said Earley.

The lead story for the first issue is a sit down interview with funny guy Johnny Steele. I am not familiar with the comedy industry so I thought it was informative, interesting, and an eye opener.   As a stand-up comedienne herself, it seemed like a perfect fit as she admitted her personality shined throughout the entire issue.

“Always lead with laughter,” explained Earley. “Johnny Steele grew up in the Delta Region and has reached a level of “fame” that many of us only dream of. When passing out this issue to those around me, many said “I know that guy!” One man was his childhood neighbor in Pittsburg.”

In looking through the magazine, it has a nice layout and flow. I especially enjoyed her story about hoarding—her comedy side really does come through. Going forward, she has big plans for the magazine and where she wants to take it.

“Up into the clear blue skies, both figuratively and logistically. I want to ultimately see this could-eventually-be “global” magazine on all Delta Airline flights! Go big or go home, right,” said Earley.

Currently the magazine is a quarterly publication with 5,000 copies printed.  Subscriptions are $4 per copy or $15 per year.

“I plan to go bi-monthly after our second year, monthly the third year. We currently have 24, full-color pages, but I already see that increasing to 28 for the next, October issue,” said Earley.

Although she is excited by the launch, it has not come without push back she admits. I can feel her on that one as my blog experiences this as well.

“I get push back from those asking me if I’m insane! From a couple of my current editors who told me to “run-don’t-walk” away from this crazy notion of mine. They know and I know that there’s no money in it, but I’m not doing it for the money, I’m doing it for the love and passion of it. This is in my blood and I can’t deny it or squash it. Cue song, “I’ve gotta be me, just gotta be me,” explained Earley. “I also got negativity from some of my competitors in publishing. I won’t say who, but they weren’t exactly jumping up and down with glee over my new magazine. My philosophy is … there’s plenty of stories and advertising to go around! And being the middle-child-with-syndrome, I always say, “why can’t we all just get along?”

You have to respect someone who wants to do what they love and will make it happen.  I admire that.

Delta Living will be Ms. Earley’s second attempt at a magazine as she created and produced a comedy magazine back in 2006 which she admitted was such a narrow market that it “fizzled”. She learned that to be successful, a magazine needs to have broad appeal like Delta Living.

From what I’ve seen from the online version, this magazine is a good first issue and should evolve into something great!

You can follow Delta Living Magazine via their Facebook Page.

Here is a list of the 75 DROP OFF LOCATIONS to pick up your copy.