Wow! A huge thank you to the hundreds of readers who filled in our online survey over the past months as well as to the 200 who kindly left comments and suggestions for improvement. I will try to address some of your concerns and advice here (I shan’t bore you with the compliments, though they certainly have given us an impetus to continue to evolve).
The overwhelming feedback was that it was hard to find a copy of the magazine. Some suggested we start selling Citylife, others recommended printing more copies, and a few suggested we split the magazine into two – older and younger crowd; Thai and English; fortnightly. As with the other oft repeated grumble that we have too much advertising, I am afraid that it comes down to pure economics: we will print more copies, and increase content when business becomes more robust. Promise!
Other comments highlighted our own frustration at our inability to please our vast and varied readership: less focus on party scene/more about night life; more about local tourist attractions/no point having travel and tourist information; don’t turn into Cosmo/more beauty and lifestyle sections; make it bigger/don’t you think it’s a bit huge?; features should be more ornamental/stop the silly frilly stuff; more social events and bigger society pictures/get rid of hi-so pictures and have more indigenous events; no luxury end tourism, it is self indulgent/I love reading about posh resorts I can never afford to go to; try some shorter editorials that are more topical than personal/love the editorials; address the ever-aging expat population/try to attract the younger and newer expats…and so on. This has made us see the vast scope of our readership which varies in age, income, sex and interests. To that end, we have strengthened our resolve to attempt to address as many of these issues as possible in the future. Some months may have weightier features than others and some issues will address more specific interests.
Suggestions for columns and features include more book, movie and CD reviews, more local political coverage, regular historical pieces, regular updates on developments or goings on in the city, a huge demand for interviews of artists and personalities of interest, occasional spreads on health and holistic lifestyles and more outrageous and shocking stories. There were also many readers who wanted more timely events and news updates. Being a monthly magazine in today’s digital age, we will, by the end of the year, improve our online content, both on ChiangMaiCitylife.com and City-Now.com, so that you can simply log on any time to find out the latest goings on, reserving more editorial space for, perhaps, weightier pieces.
Many readers also wished us to organise more events and activities for readers’ participation, something our marketing team is working hard on (wine tastings, outdoor cinema, garden fairs, ladies’ nights, etc.).
On the layout, many readers complained at the use of inverted colours and requested larger fonts, something which we shall attempt to redress in the coming months.
So, it seems like we have our work cut out for us in the next wee while. Nevertheless, I would be so very grateful if you can keep sending any feedback, criticisms or comments to editor@chiangmaicitylife.com, so that we can continue to shape our magazine for your maximum pleasure and interest.
We have posted the names of the lucky winners of prizes up to 50,000 baht for filling in our online survey and would just like to say a sincere kob khun jao for all your feedback!
Citylife this month:
With the average person spending 10,000 days of their lives working, it is so important to have a passion for what you do. While not every little girl grows up to be a teacher or a nurse; nor every boy a fireman or a pilot, many of us work in fairly recognisable careers. Then there are those few, lucky or not, who find themselves holding down an odd job. This issue is dedicated to the people in Chiang Mai whose jobs are fascinating/bizarre/disturbing/left field and for some, unique. Check them out!
Citylife bids a fond farewell to our intern from Cananda, Brooke Lew.