2002
Pamela Polston and Paula Routly, Editors/Publishers
Seven Days

VMD: How did Seven Days get started?

Seven Days: We were both working at Vermont Times and invented an arts paper for them called VOX. While we were working there, Vermont Times was sold. We didn’t think that the new owners were going to continue the commitment to arts coverage, so we decided to start Seven Days. We did it in six weeks -- the financing, the office space, the employees, all the ads and designing the paper. It was crazy, but fun. Our premiere issue was the first week of September 1995.

VMD: How has the vision of the paper changed?

Seven Days: It always changes some depending on who’s writing for us, but I think the overall vision hasn’t changed too dramatically. We started pretty seat-of-the-pants, but we did what we knew how to do best, which was arts and culture, entertainment and profiles. Basically, we cover Vermont culture, which we define very broadly.

VMD: How has the paper grown?

Seven Days: The classified section is the biggest growth area for us over the past year. Overall, Seven Days has been growing by at least 20% every year. And unlike the dailies, we’re still on a growth curve despite the economic downturn. In a lot of ways, the daily model is somewhat endangered. People don’t have that much time so they like their information packaged in a weekly product. But the numbers for alternative weeklies are actually really good right now and people are pretty loyal to them generally, so that’s good for us.

VMD: What is the paper's current circulation?

Seven Days: We print 25,000. However, the pass-on factor is 2.34 -- people bring it home and several people in the household read it. That means we have nearly 60,000 readers. Actually, our recent reader survey corroborated this figure, which we were happy to see.

VMD: Where is the paper distributed in Vermont?

Seven Days: From St. Albans down to Rutland. The whole idea is to bring people who live within an hour and a half of the city to Burlington, but also bring Burlington residents to those outlying areas where there are really great restaurants and galleries and things like that. There is a cultural community around Burlington that is fluid, and our reader survey shows that Vermonters do in fact travel an hour and a half to do things. Burlingtonians think nothing of taking that drive to Middlebury or Stowe and vice versa.

VMD: The perception of Seven Days is that it has a liberal slant. Any comment on that?

Seven Days: We don’t have an official political stance, but we believe strongly in free speech. The mission of the paper is to be an alternative to the daily and to be a forum for ideas. It just so happens that people, because they’re dissatisfied with the Free Press, have made it a forum for fairly liberal ideas, but we have no political agenda whatsoever.

VMD: What kinds of stories and events is Seven Days looking for?

Seven Days: Generally, we’re looking for quirky features, trends and offbeat stuff. We’re also always looking for the human angle on stories. For example, we’re not going to write a hard news story about health care reform. Rather, we’re going to write a story about someone who has some ailment who’s gone through hell trying to get their bills paid. We try to look at issues through people.

VMD: What is your advice to small businesses and nonprofits who are pitching you about events?

Seven Days: Again, the human angle is key. If you have a program that’s helping people, find the people it’s helping and offer us the chance to speak with them. A lot of nonprofits want us to write about the program, but what really interests us is the person whom the program is helping. People like to read about people, that’s why People magazine will be popular forever.

VMD: What about more general advice?

Seven Days: The best pitches come from people who understand how journalists think. They understand what a good story is, they read a lot and they can tell the difference between a daily and a weekly story. If you can speak the language of a reporter, then you can start offering reporters stuff that essentially they should be thinking of themselves. Those are the best kinds of pitches.

VMD: What’s the most interesting pitch you’ve ever received?

Seven Days: Didn’t someone send us emu oil once? Sometimes people do send gimmicky things to get noticed. But, to tell you the truth, that stuff really doesn’t persuade us. The verbal pitch is what is compelling. You answer the phone and somebody says I want you to do a story about such and such. If they really know their stuff and are excited about the event, we’re going to be more interested.

VMD: How do you prefer to be pitched and what are your pitching peeves?

Seven Days: (Paula) I really like to get something in writing -- a quick e-mail or even a snail mail because I like to read something first. If people call, I ask them to put it in writing so I can remember it because I get 300 phone calls a week. Also, do not pitch us when we are on deadline. The paper comes out on Wednesday, so Mondays and Tuesdays are bad times to try to speak to us about a potential story. (Pamela) I want a short message -- here’s why I’m calling, here’s my number, please call me back. We’re not monsters, but we’re incredibly busy. We have a thousand people asking us for stuff. The more you can understand what we’re up against, the more sympathetic we’ll be. Also, because we have such a small staff, we don’t have the time to get out as much as we’d like to, so the more people tell us the happier we are.

VMD: Tell me about deadlines for pitching Seven Days.

Seven Days: Story pitching is at least two weeks. A month is better. For the calendar section, the deadline is the Thursday before the issue.

VMD: Have either of you ever been in "I Spy"?

Seven Days (Paula): I was referenced in a personal, but the guy spelled my name wrong, so I didn’t respond. As an editor, I thought his spelling my name incorrectly was a sure sign it would not be a good match.

VMD: Thank you.

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