New magazine is throwing a splashy coming out party

Monday will see the debut of a monthly city magazine titled Seattle Metropolitan, and its publisher, who also produces Portland Monthly magazine, has invited 2,000 people to a splashy kickoff party tonight at the Paramount Theatre.

The gala's budget? All publisher Nicole Vogel will divulge is that it's six figures.

"It makes me kind of sick to my stomach to throw such an expensive party, but we're asking people to trust that we are the tastemakers of the city," said Vogel, 37.

"And if we can't throw a party that makes people drop their jaws, with fantastic food and drink and music, then why should they rely on us every month?"

Seattle Metropolitan, whose 164-page inaugural issue will centerpiece "Why We Love This Town," will offer arts, food, fashion, gardening and features coverage, as well as politics, news and analysis, Vogel said. The second issue will focus on real estate.

Humorous features and deeply researched stories, plus original photography and illustrations to catch the eye, will help it compete for advertising dollars, she said.

Seattle already has at least two monthly magazines. Seattle magazine, published by Tiger Oak Publications of Minneapolis, has been around for 10 years. That same company publishes Northwest Home and Garden.

But "there's definitely room for us -- certainly it's a growing market," Vogel said.

The new magazine has a full-time staff of 18, seven of whom are editors or writers, and plans call for 24 employees eventually.

Staff members include Editor in Chief Katherine Koberg, longtime managing editor of Seattle Weekly; Managing Editor Ariana Donalds, formerly of New York City's Metropolis magazine; news editor Eric Scigliano, a non-fiction author and alumnus of Seattle Weekly; and senior arts editor Steve Wiecking, also from the Weekly.

Individual issues will sell for $4.99 at the newsstand, and 85,000 copies are being printed. One-year subscriptions will cost $15, and two-year subscriptions will go for $25. By the end of the first year, Vogel has guaranteed advertisers, circulation will hit 50,000 -- and, "I think it will be higher than that, quite honestly," she said.

Her confidence could be justified by the performance of Portland Monthly, which she co-founded in 2003 with her brother and built into the nation's seventh-largest city magazine, said Jim Dowden, executive director of the City and Regional Magazine Association.

The Portland magazine boasts paid circulation of 56,000, with 18,000 to 22,000 additional copies sold each month on the newsstand.

Newsstand sales are the closest thing to a monthly election, because people choose to spend money on a magazine -- they haven't paid in advance to get it at home, Dowden said.

"We've got city magazines that don't have the proportion of newsstand sales in 30 years that she had within two months," Dowden said. "Normally, a startup would take six months to a year to have a success. She had a success from day one."

He said many cities have two or more city magazines, with both doing well -- if they are readily distinguishable to readers and advertisers. Such cities include Atlanta, Denver, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, San Diego and St. Louis.

Before launching Portland Monthly, Vogel was a vice president at travel and real estate company Cendant Corp. and served for five years in various capacities at Time Warner.

Her success doesn't eliminate her anxiety over the debut.

"Everyone gets to see the baby on Monday," she said. "We always have the self-doubt. We torment ourselves about it."

P-I reporter Dan Richman can be reached at 206-448-8032 or danrichman@seattlepi.com.

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