Middleton-based Sustainable Times thrives while other newspapers falter
Nearly four years ago, when Sustainable Times was in its infancy, editor and publisher George Zens and a couple of friends stood at different corners of the Dane County Farmers' Market and handed out the newspaper to everybody who walked by.
They used that approach for the first issue in October 2004. And they were back when the outdoor market opened again the following spring. But by the end of 2005, the number of distribution locations had grown, and Zens didn't have enough papers left to do that anymore.
The paper is still available at the market, but it's no longer distributed by hand. It can be found instead on the Friends of the Dane County Farmers' Market table near State Street.
Sustainable Times is also available free each month at more than 350 locations, including the Willy Street Co-op and many coffee shops in Madison and throughout Dane County. Its biggest distribution location is at Whole Foods on University Avenue. Sentry Hilldale and the Middleton Public Library are other major points of distribution.
The paper is the only publication in southern Wisconsin to focus exclusively on sustainability -- the idea that resources should not be used faster than they can be replenished or regenerated -- and possibly one of the few in the country. Zens says there are similar publications in other states, but they tend to have a narrower focus, like holistic health, renewable energy or organic agriculture. As far as he knows, Sustainable Times is the only publication that covers such a wide range of interests, including food, farming, health, energy and conservation, construction, transportation and land use.
What makes the paper's growth all the more impressive is the timing. While other newspapers are suffering financially due to falling ad revenue, Sustainable Times has seen its advertising climb 50 percent since last year.
"Green is a growing market still," Zens says. "When I first started the Sustainable Times, I went after that market, which pretty much had to be developed. A lot of businesses were becoming interested, but it wasn't mainstream as much as it is now."
Zens targeted small, independent businesses instead of corporate accounts. And his ad rates were reasonable, Zens says. "And I think they still are."
Ads take up half of most pages in the 32-page August issue, with seven pages completely devoted to ads. It's how he makes his living, says the 46-year-old Zens, who works out of the Middleton home he shares with his wife, Andrea Zens, and three children, ages 6, 11 and 13. Andrea works at Standard Imaging in Middleton.
Zens, who has been a journalist for about 25 years, writes most of the stories himself. In the current issue, he penned eight articles, including the editor's note headlined "In praise of expensive gas." The paper's contributor list has 31 other writers.
A native of Luxembourg, Zens has a degree in journalism from the University of Brussels in Belgium, where he minored in economics. He worked as a foreign correspondent in Brussels and then as the environmental and agricultural editor for a news magazine called REVUE in Luxembourg for 12 years.
Zens came to Madison for the first time in 1979 as a foreign exchange student, graduating from West High School. He met his wife, who is from Middleton, here. They moved to Europe and lived there for 12 years. After moving back in 2000, Zens spent three years as editor of the Middleton Times-Tribune, a weekly newspaper.
He says he has always been interested in the environment and such issues as renewable energy and farming. "I noticed when I was here that there was a lot of awareness for anything that had to do with sustainability," he says. "There's a huge farmers' market, there's a lot of effort going into renewable energy and so on, but there was no publication here covering it consistently."
Zens thought there might be a demand for it, and he was right.
His first print run of 10,000 copies was ambitious, but the number of distribution outlets grew fast. While his first few issues were only available in 50 businesses, that number has grown seven-fold.
Circulation stands at 12,000 copies a month, according to Zens.
Until January 2007, Zens did almost everything himself: writing, editing, advertising sales, administration, invoicing, layout and photography. And for the first 18 months he did all the distribution himself.
Now he has an advertising manager, Tricia Reed; a sales rep; and people who help him with distribution in Dane County and Jefferson County. He still does some of the deliveries himself, including to Mount Horeb and Paoli.
"And I've kept some strategic locations for myself, like Capital Brewery and the Roxbury Tavern and the Malt House," says Zens, chuckling. "That's editor's privilege, publisher's privilege."
Adding staff has allowed him to concentrate on the editorial duties, which is what he ultimately wanted to do. Zens says he enjoys what he does, so it doesn't really feel like work: "There's 24 hours in a day, and somehow it always all gets done."
He doesn't get sick or take long vacations, he says. When he went back to Luxembourg for 10 days in May to visit his parents, the June issue of Sustainable Times came out a few days late. The Zens family had its last vacation in May 2002 before he started the paper. Instead of leaving for extended periods, the Zenses now take short trips in Wisconsin, and the kids spend a lot of time at the Middleton pool or skate park.
Zens is gratified that his paper is thriving while the rest of the newspaper industry is in turmoil. But he says he is keeping a watchful eye on the economy.
"There are businesses that used to advertise with me that don't exist anymore -- that went out of business. I can see the recession, the economic situation, as well in my advertising. So far we are still going up."
The paper has been at 32 pages for several months and starting next month will go to 36 pages. In comparison, the weekly Cap Times and Isthmus are generally 44 to 48 pages.
Zens also runs the Sustainable Times' Web site, www.sustainabletimes.net, which for a long time was a glorified placeholder. Now the whole paper is available online, along with articles and press releases that would be out of date in the monthly print edition. The Web site also has a popular events calendar.
Michael Vickerman, executive director of RENEW Wisconsin, an organization that advocates for sustainable energy options, says Sustainable Times acts as a clearinghouse for sustainable businesses, avocations and activities.
The advertising is also important, says Vickerman, who is a contributor to the publication. "You know right away who the businesses are that identify with the whole sustainability ethos because they advertise in that paper, and that is what supports the paper," he says.
Greg Dixon photo
3 total imagesview them here
George Zens has been publishing Sustainable Times out of his home office in Middleton since 2004.
