Welcome to "Are You Engaged?"
Welcome to Are You Engaged? This is not a newsletter about weddings. The title is a bad Jimi Hendrix reference crossed with one of the buzzwords in the industry I work in.
This is a weekly newsletter where I share some of my (hopefully interesting!) observations about what publications and media organizations are doing in the realm of audience development, as well as my periodic general thoughts on the media industry.
But who am I, and why would you subscribe or read this newsletter? Great question! If you aren’t here because you know me directly, I’ll give you a little background.
My name is Matt Domino, and I’ve spent about 10 years working in the publishing industry. I got my start working under managing editors at two different Condé Nast magazines, then moved on to a role as an assistant editor at Kirkus Reviews, and for the last five years I’ve worked at Artsy—first as Managing Editor, then as Director of Editorial Operations, and now as Editorial Director.
Artsy is a primarily marketplace for buying and selling art, but I oversee our media arm and specifically pay attention to what our audience reads, how we measure different levels of success across our articles, and how we structure our coverage to do more of what works best for us. I’ve spent a lot of time looking at numbers and working with writers and editors, and I’ll relay stories from my own experiences from time to time.
Overall, though, when it comes to publishing and digital media, I firmly believe what the legendary screenwriter and novelist William Goldman once said about Hollywood: “Nobody knows anything.” I’m hoping this newsletter will be helpful for those that find it, but I’m just another guy trying to figure things out.
In the meantime, tell your friends!