Letter From the Publisher

March Edition

By A. Govea

alberto@holatexas.us

On our last date, I mentioned we are heading into 12 years of publishing, and we are here. Before I completely moved on from some of the history in our 12-year run. I thought I would pull back the curtain a little on that experience.

Primero (first), as most people know, I have had plenty of people tell me why it would never work. Especially starting a Latino theme print publication, “nobody reads print anymore,” “Mexicans don’t read,” “people only read online,” and on and on.

All this talk was not surprising to me, Pero when things they (the naysayers) didn’t know was this was not my first Rodeo for lack of a better saying. In my other life (as a young man), I had started and managed multiple retail stores, a car lot, a restaurant, and more.

In fact, this was not my first attempt at publishing a Latino-theme publication; my first two were Teleguia and Hispanic Golf. Teleguia was basically a free weekly T.V. guide in Spanish, which I started when I lived in the Midland/Odessa area.

The other Hispanic Golf was a glossy magazine that I mistakenly thought could attract larger advertisers as opposed to the mom-and-pop businesses. Pos (well), it didn’t work because I had most advertisers say, “Do Mexicans play golf? Or I didn’t know Mexicans played golf. So, it could never attract the advertising dollars to sustain it. Now, as far as subscribers had them all over the Southwest, Pero once again, not enough to sustain it.

As for Teleguia, I think it was a little before its time and probably would have done better in a bigger market.

All this to say that when I started Nuestra Voz, Hola Texas, I had the benefit of real-life experience. Plus, I said before, this was a passion project, and if it made money, that would be a real plus. Don’t get me wrong, any business requires money to survive, and especially to reach its full potential.

To the untrained eye, people might look at publications like ours and think there should be no big deal to produce.

As said before, pulling back the curtain, the hard costs are as follows: layout, printing, distribution costs to cover D/FW, website hosting, content management, freelance writers at times, y mas. And at times we must deal with some racist folks that trash our racks or complain to our few advertisers that we promote racism (which is rich).

To be clear, I am not complaining or trying to get you to donate to our cause, Pero, just sharing with you, our readers, what is involved in getting Hola Texas to you.

All this said, we have a lot to cover in the coming months, on the political front, immigration, and other Raza stuff. On a personal note, I want to congratulate LULAC Council 4568 on thirty years of service in the Fort Worth area. As you may know, I am the council president; however, make no mistake, it is our members who keep us going. So, to our members, a much-deserved public Mil Gracias!