130 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10011
212/242-8000 212/886-9610
http://www.BlackEnterprise.com
Published since 1970, Black Enterprise reaches over 400,000 subscribers each month, with a total readership of some 3.3 million African-American professionals nationwide. The
pub enjoys penetration of 23 percent of black households with incomes of $73,500 or more. Readership evenly splits between men and women; the average subscriber is 42-years-old
and college-educated. Initially offered as a "how-to" book for African-American entrepreneurs, the magazine has recently evolved to offer a broader mix of business news and
financial advice. The current overriding theme of "financial empowerment" is designed to help upscale readers accumulate and hang onto wealth, according to Senior Editor Monique
Brown.
Contect/Contacts
Six different editors oversee the magazine's eight departments: "Newsprint" offers cutting-edge information to help guide financial decisions; "Moneywise" presents investment
advice for new and seasoned investors; "Enterprise" focuses on small-business owners, with a mix of business opportunity articles and success stories; "Techwatch" offers resources
to help businesspeople make the most of technology; "Powerplay" gives career advice; "Motivation" features stories of personal empowerment and triumph-over-tragedy tales;
"Shopsmart" promotes savvy consumer spending; and "Lifestyle" presents readers with exciting ways to spend their newfound time and money. Each section editor manages his/her own
department, and it is important to pitch the right editor, says Brown. Go to http://www.BlackEnterprise.com for detailed contact
information on the "Meet the Editors" page.
Pitch Tips
Since all the editors have their own preferences, the best bet is to start with email. Each "can let you know what to do from there," Brown advises. "I hear from a lot of
public relations people who think that just because it is a black magazine, everything African-American will fit. We get pitches for feeding the homeless, for new toys -- all
those kinds of things. While those are important, we are a business magazine, geared for the African-American professional. [So] why do I get press releases about new toys?" Keep
in mind, too, that just about everything from the book appears on its companion Web site, and remains in Web-based archives. Web versions of stories also include added commentary
from the Web editors.
Comments
It can take some juggling to find a good fit for a story in Black Enterprise. On the one hand, "investment has no color," as Brown puts it, so most stories related to finance,
investing and consumerism will at least have a chance, but there must be an African-American tie-in somewhere, ideally in the form of an actual person. "It's very important for
the readers to feel as if they can identify with the subject says Brown. "We don't feature strategies that don't work for African Americans. So if there is an investment strategy
and we can't find any African American who has succeeded using that strategy, that isn't a Black Enterprise story."
In The Pipeline
Black Enterprise does not stick to a rigid editorial calendar, but certain themes repeat. The upcoming January issue, for example, features a guide to financial empowerment. In
February, the magazine will look at career topics. The March issue highlights technology. April's book focuses on investing. The Black Enterprise Top 100 African-American
Companies always dominate the June issue. Though Brown won't even hint about specific upcoming stories, she says that a review of the previous year's issues will give PR
professionals a pretty good sense of what kinds of stories are in the works, and what types of sources will likely be needed.