Case study: Discover Crystal River
The magazine they brought back.
We turned Citrus County’s visitors guide into an award-winning travel magazine. When budget cuts brought back a simpler brochure, the county’s tourism partners asked for the magazine again. In 2025, the bureau called us.
- Custom Publishing
- Advertising Sales
- Design & Illustration
- Print Management
The partnership at a glance
Award-winning. And worth coming back for.
Discover Crystal River is Citrus County’s official visitors guide. The tourism bureau hands it out at its welcome center, mails it to travelers who ask for one, and carries it to travel shows around the world.
- 2016 Our first edition Won through an open bid
- 2× Best Visitor Publication Florida Magazine Association
- 3 Covers every edition One magazine, three front doors
- 1 Team, start to finish Ads, design, print, delivery
The story
Ten years, one pause, and a comeback.
Every Discover Crystal River we’ve published, side by side. The gap in the middle is part of the story too.
- 2016
- 2017
- 2018
- 2019
- 2020–21
- 2022
- 2023–24 Brochure-style guide
- 2026 Three covers, one magazine
Swipe to see every edition.
-
2016
From brochure to magazine
The bureau’s guide was a brochure. They put out a call for a publisher who could turn it into a real magazine, and we won the bid.
-
2016–2022
Building an award winner
Edition by edition, the magazine grew. The Florida Magazine Association named it Best Visitor Publication two years running, and it kept going through COVID.
-
2023–2024
A leaner approach
When budgets tightened, the county went back to a simpler, brochure-style guide.
-
2025–2026
The call back
In summer 2025, the bureau asked us to bring the full-size magazine back. Its tourism partners wanted it, and the 2026 edition launched with a party at the welcome center.
What we do
Turnkey, start to finish.
The bureau sends us stories and photos. We send back boxes of finished magazines. Everything in between is ours.
The bureau
What they bring
- Most of the stories, written by their team
- The photography of their destination
- Final approval before anything prints
Akers Media Group
Everything else
- Advertising sales
- Editorial planning, page by page
- Copy editing, plus features of our own
- Photo illustration
- Custom illustration
- Design and layout of every page
- Three regional covers
- Print management with our longtime printer
How it works each edition
-
Plan
We map out the editorial layout together, page by page.
-
Gather
The bureau sends stories and photos while our team sells the ads.
-
Create
We edit, illustrate, design, and lay out the whole magazine.
-
Proof
The bureau reviews every page and signs off.
-
Deliver
We prep the files and handle the printer. The magazines arrive at the Crystal River welcome center.
Inside the 2026 edition
Made to be kept, not tossed.
A visitors guide has one job: make someone want to come. So we treat every spread like a magazine feature, with big photography, bold type, and pages people actually stop on. Tap any spread to see it larger.
- Feature opener The Face of Time A full-bleed manatee portrait sets up the story of the county’s most famous resident, with a pull quote and the Manatee Capital of the World mark.
- County overview Citrus County Oversized type over aerial photography introduces the whole county in one spread.
- Infographic Manatees by the Numbers A page of facts and figures turned into a spread people read start to finish.
- Photo illustration 2026 Events A photo mosaic turns the year’s events calendar into one of the most fun pages in the book.
- Food & drink Bites & Brews of Citrus County Big, airy type across a waterfront sunset opens the local food and drink feature.
Launch night
The covers went up. So did the frames.
The bureau threw a Hollywood-themed release party to celebrate the relaunch, complete with searchlights, red-carpet attire, and a cover reveal at the Discover Crystal River welcome center. All three covers went up like gallery prints, and partners went home with framed sets. One now hangs in the Paddletail Lodge lobby.
- “What an exciting night for Crystal River and Citrus County!” Paddletail Lodge
- “Such an exciting debut.” Mertailor’s Mermaid Aquarium Encounter
Let’s work together
Ready to talk?
Have a big idea we can help with? Call us, send a message, or stop by our Leesburg office. We’d love to hear what you’re working on.