News
For Connie Cathcart-Richardson, becoming the publisher of Style 615 magazine was supposed to be a dream come true. “Since I was a little girl I dreamed of working for a fashion magazine,” she wrote in the first and only issue of the publication. “I never thought I could live out my dream without leaving [Nashville], but that’s exactly what I’ve been doing….”
Style 615 was touted as a high-gloss showcase of Nashville’s burgeoning fashion scene, featuring Vogue-like photo spreads and in-depth profiles of local designers. For one fleeting full-color issue, it was exactly that.
But a few weeks after Cathcart-Richardson wrote those words, her girlhood dream turned into a professional nightmare. Last month she and her staff resigned in anger as freelancers’ checks started bouncing. Meanwhile, the magazine’s founder was dodging phone calls from skittish advertisers who’d signed long-term contracts. And copies of the magazine itself were nowhere to be found.
In December 2006, Marc Palmer of Style Publications Inc. hired Cathcart-Richardson to build the foundation for his company’s next and newest quarterly magazine, Style 615. The company—which has offices in Charlotte, N.C.—also owns the Tennessee lifestyle magazine Chattanooga Style.
“My job was to conceive and direct the magazine and get it to the printer on time,” Cathcart-Richardson says. She hired a sales team and put together a production and editorial staff, often working 90-hour weeks in a race against the calendar to create a fall fashion issue. “I worked harder than I ever had in my life,” she says.
She wasn’t the only one. Suzie Miller, a former sales rep for Nfocus—a monthly society magazine published by City Press LLC, which also owns this newspaper—sold advertising for Style 615 and says the sales team was particularly strong. “We worked hard to build trust with advertisers, and it really was paying off,” Miller says.
Chuck Arlund, a Nashville photographer who shot the issue’s nine-page fashion spread and cover shot, sweated through 100-degree heat to get the right images. “It was one of the best things I’ve ever worked on,” he says. “Everyone was excited and proud of the project.”
Nine months after Cathcart-Richardson was hired, she and her team had produced a publication that began to have everyone talking.
“The (Style 615) launch party was a blast,” says Peter Nash, whose photos of celebrities’ dogs were featured in the inaugural issue. “When you walked in, it was all models and no one over 30. I felt like Father Time…. There was a lot of rubbernecking and free vodka. What’s not to like?”
Unfortunately, the party would be the magazine’s last hurrah. A source close to Style 615 says that only 1,000 copies of the magazine were printed for the launch party and that a 25,000-copy print run of the magazine was supposed to ship out to bookstores and subscribers the following week. But the 25,000 copies never materialized.
“I found out [from the printer] that printing had been postponed,” Cathcart-Richardson says. When she attempted to contact Palmer about the holdup, “He never responded to my questions about delivery.... It was really a cause for alarm.”
What happened next is still unclear. “Several other things occurred that were very disturbing that I just personally did not want to be a part of,” says Cathcart-Richardson, who declined to be more specific, citing advice from her attorneys. Miller, somewhat less circumspect, says, “We were forced by the circumstances to resign because it became apparent that there wouldn’t be widespread distribution of the magazine.”
It was around this time that Chuck Arlund sent an invoice to Style 615 for his work on the issue. He received a check, but when he tried to deposit it, it bounced. “I got a letter from my bank,” Arlund says. “It said ‘insufficient funds.’ The check had been canceled. That put up a red flag.”
Advertisers were also beginning to worry. Stacey Rhodes, owner of the Stacey Rhodes Boutique in Franklin, says she had no idea the magazine would be so hard to find. “That distribution is not nearly wide enough for what I paid for the ad.” She says she also paid for future ads.
Beth Buchanan, owner of the custom invitation shop Buchanan Ink, says she’s already spent about $1,200 for an advertisement that appeared in the fall issue and had agreed to run an ad in each of Style 615’s next four issues.
“Unfortunately, [Style 615] has our credit card number,” Buchanan says, adding that she and other advertisers made arrangements to make monthly payments. “They’re taking our money out every month.”
Buchanan says Palmer assured her that her money would be returned if the ads don’t run, but she’s having trouble reaching anybody at the magazine. “They wouldn’t return my calls,” she says.
It’s no wonder. The number listed on Style 615’s masthead is “temporarily disconnected,” according to a recorded phone company message.
Miller, who sold most of the ads in the magazine, says that she feels terrible about how her clients have been left hanging and worries about her professional reputation. “The advertisers trusted us and put their faith in our product,” she says. “It’s terribly degrading and personally humiliating for me as a professional.”
According to the magazine’s masthead, Marc Palmer runs “business development.” He also claims to be the publication’s founder. Last week, he sent an email to Style 615 advertisers about the nearly nonexistent distribution of the magazine. The message said the publication soon would be available at a number of local Barnes & Noble stores as well as a location on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, which wouldn’t do much to help Nashville advertisers. Palmer signs off the email with this: “More locations and details coming later in the week. I’m currently on the west coast but if you have any questions or concerns regarding the future of the magazine please fill [sic] free to contact between 12pm—7pm EST.”
Reached by phone in British Columbia, Canada, Palmer says his lawyer has advised him not to comment on the past, present or future fate of Style 615, asking that the Scene instead send him any questions via email. There has been no response to those queries.
Most puzzling about this mess is that, according to many who worked at and with Style 615, the magazine was a success. The content was finished on time and had the high gloss look it aimed for; advertisers were under contract for multiple issues; and employees liked their boss and were enthusiastic about the product.
What went wrong?
“Well,” says Cathcart-Richardson, “that is the $6 million question.”
|
---------------------------Advertisement---------------------------
|
|
---------------------------Advertisement---------------------------
|