How To Pitch: Inside Jersey

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Background: Launched in October 2008 by the Newark Star-Ledger, Inside Jersey ventured into the general interest magazine space to provide substantive news, entertainment and lifestyle content specifically for Jersey readers. A few months after the inaugural issue, editor-in-chief Mary Yanni left and Rosemary Parrillo, an assistant managing editor at the newspaper, took her place. Says editor-in-chief Parrillo, "The magazine's most typical reader is a smart, involved New Jersey resident between 35 and 55. We aim to reach all kinds of people across the state, and like many magazines, maintain Facebook and Twitter pages to try to attract younger readers." Parrillo says most of the 100,000 copies of Inside Jersey land in Star-Ledger subscribers' mailboxes in central and northern New Jersey (Essex, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Morris, Somerset, Union, Mercer and parts of Monmouth counties). The magazine is also available at Barnes & Noble and other bookstores and grocery stores throughout the state. "We're a state magazine with guts and many talented contributors, some of whom work as reporters for the Star-Ledger," says Parrillo, but the talent pool is also open to freelance contributions for many of the mag's sections. "Along with producing high-end style, food and consumer features, we publish bold covers and stories that are not the usual Jersey-magazine fare: a wide-ranging interview with former Gov. Jim McGreevey, a feature about a finishing school for cross-dressers; a news piece about the medical marijuana debate; a look at the world of practicing vampires; a conversation with Meryl Streep. We also have published a summer read -- an excerpt from a work of fiction by a Jersey author -- and plan to do more of that," says Parrillo. ...

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