Avoiding the Usual Formula
Several years ago, we launched a magazine for African women. We took the usual formula-more sex and celebrity articles, spiced with a few home-making tips. On the cover was a picture of a well known TV woman personality whose story was briefly told inside.
A glossy paper with that kind of story mix, we were certain, was the stuff that would pull the circulation of our magazine upward before we could finish counting fingers on our hand. But there was no movement in the readership of the publication.
Frustrated but still optimistic, we again went to the drawing board and reasoned that the cause of our failure was the glaring lack of politics - women politics-in the magazine. We got hold of a photo of the most active and famous woman in local politics and stuck it on top of our magazine. Against the photograph in the inside pages we ran a wonderful and perceptively written analysis on women politics. Again, there was no movement in the readership of our magazine.
It was actually by a combination of chance and sheer determination that we came upon the type of stories that eventually formed the basis of the new formula for our magazine. And our circulation soared.
Here is brief list of the type of stories that we found the African woman wants to read:
Self-Improvement
In this category, we are not talking about grooming-nice hair and nice clothes (although that is welcome spicing). We are talking about serious, psychologically-based articles that analyze human emotions. A typical article would be discussing what negative emotions such as anger and hate do to the human body. A good example would be “Stress: Understand and then cope with it”.
Family Issues
The average African woman values a successful family. In fact when the family is threatened, all else is threatened. She wants an improvement in relations with her husband, children and even immediate relatives. You should tell her not only how to please her husband but also how to bring up her children.Many working women feel guilty about “abandoning” their children to the house help as they go to work. They are concerned about the psychological effects this has on their children and how to minimize the effects.
Health Issues
Writing on health in Africa isn't just writing about improved diagnosis of diseases and more effective medicines. The average African woman believes in an all “inclusive treatment”. That is why they flock into churches where preachers have made themselves modern day “diviners” and medicine men. If your article follows the example set by these preachers, you will be on the way to creating a strong and faithful following among African women readers. Many travel far and wide - and spend a good fortune, too - seeking faith healing.
Under health issues, you may want to add contraception and infertility. The later can be surprising in a continent with many unwanted, poorly-cared-for children. There are, however, also many totally infertile women and women who become infertile after only one child or a few children of the same sex. These women fill up the “consulting” rooms of “medicine men” and “priests”. They are desperate for information. In one issue of our publication, we ran a story on, “How to Choose the sex of Your Child” detailing techniques that can increase the chance that your next child will either be a boy or a girl. The magazine briskly sold out and remained one of our most sought after issues.
Humor
Don't forget humor. But you must understand the humor of the African woman. It is what you might call “serious humor”. Once we carried an article under the heading: “Why I kicked my Husband out of the House”. This was a light -hearted article about a small family squabble where the husband “walked out” on his wife. Essentially, the article contained plenty of practical ideas regarding husband-wife relationships. To our surprise, this was one of the most successful articles that we ever published.
