According to the About page on the HRM website, the idea for the magazine came from the difficulty that authors face in trying to promote themselves on the Internet. The About page specifies that "the blog-o-sphere has become so competitive" that it is difficult for any individual author to stand out. The same is also true of Facebook and other social media. Having a magazine serving a particular sub-genre or niche seemed like a good way of addressing this challenge for authors.
Given that its inspiration came from the frustrations of individual authors dealing with social media, it is not surprising that HRM already has a Facebook page. As of now, the HRM FB page has 110 Likes and 112 folks are following it. Currently, there is a poll asking what method of "informal communication" should the magazine use when communicating with readers, a private FB group or email. As of now, fully 71% of respondents, including this writer, picked email. Another poll asked readers what kind of covers they would like. There is also a private FB group devoted to the magazine. Additionally, the folks at HRM have made connections with other groups with similar interests as shown by a link of the FB page to the Historical Romance Review FB page of blogger Regan Walker.
One interesting aspect of this website is the fact that it has a reader's survey. The purpose of this survey is to gauge reader's interest in the concept of a magazine specializing in historical romance as well as to discern the interests of the magazine's potential readers. Combined with the polls run on the FB page this input from readers should give the magazine's staff the information and insights needed to make it a success.
All this leads to the question of just who is behnd this venture and what qualifications do they bring to it? For the answer to that, go to Part III.