#MediaMonday – David Tyda
Each Monday, we are posting a blog to help our readers get to know the media just a little bit better.
With a TWIST!
No, we aren’t posting story pitch tips or media lists, but instead great stories from the media themselves about their lives, their work and other little known facts! Think of it as your first “networking” opportunity of the week!
Today’s #MediaMonday comes to us from David Tyda, Co-Founder of EATERAZ.com and Affordable Food Festivals, LLC.
So, David, time to share!
What do you want to tell the blogosphere about yourself today?
The past eight months have been wild. In December 2009, I was approaching year number six as Editor in Chief of Desert Living Magazine, and then the mag went out of business. At DL, my time was spent saying nice things about artists, designers, and architects, almost none of whom noticed or cared that the publication devoted to them was gone. It always amazed me that people wouldn’t shell out the eight bucks to subscribe to Desert Living, you know?
Just before it went away, I began saying what I really felt about the restaurant scene (and often the people who market it) on my personal food blog, EATERAZ.com. But EATERAZ turned out to be the most fortuitous of creations, and here’s why.
On April 10, I co-produced the Arizona Barbecue Festival–a national BBQ contest in Scottsdale. Unlike a magazine party, there was no champagne, no dress code, no house DJ. Here were nearly 10,000 people from all over the Valley, and I knew only about 100 faces in the crowd. Everyone had spent $10 to get into something that lasted only a few hours. Whereas people wouldn’t shell out $8 to read what I felt was a very decent magazine. Ironic, right?
I have a huge group of friends who showed up to support, don’t get me wrong. But these food festivals (we’re doing a Taco Festival in October) help me remember that outside of our media circle, there are thousands of everyday folks who don’t care about design, fashion, or some other high-end bullshit. They just want a good day out with family and friends, a cold beer, and a bouncy castle for the kids. I want to give it to them.
So here’s why EATERAZ is important. Besides satisfying my need to write and speak my mind, it has become a built-in publicity tool for the Festival business, with arms that reach into social media, video content, and e-newsletters. Since the Festivals make the actual money for us to stay alive (my biz partner is Rick Phillips, founder of ITEM Magazine and co-founder of Desert Living), EATERAZ helps spread the word.
Yep, it’s been a wild eight months in the post-print-magazine world.
