The Good Life is both for and about the people of Central Texas who live and work in the five counties (Travis, Williamson, Hays, Bastrop and Caldwell) that make up the Austin metropolitan area. The Good Life is exclusively a local publication. We do not publish articles about folks who don't live in this area. All the articles we publish must have a local focus and cite local sources. Writers living elsewhere have rarely been able to produce suitable articles, because they're usually not able to get the local flavor and local sources that are needed for the magazine.

The Good Life premiered in October 1997 and has gathered an impassioned, involved readership. We aim for educated readers and our desire from the beginning was to smarten up the coverage, not dumb it down. Despite all the distractions that life has to offer we think that the Austin area still has plenty of people who want to read something meaningful, something that enhances their relationship with the community. While we do of course want to entertain and enlighten our readers, above all we strive to convey substance with style and to make an emotional connection with our readers. Through education and experience our readers have gained knowledge and wisdom that we respect. It's a challenge to meet their high expectations. To that end, we do not publish canned copy. No pabulum, no clichéd material aimed at the lowest common denominator. We hire the best writers and photographers to produce something original, something fresh, work of real value.

We publish a wide range of feature stories, from hard-hitting articles about weighty topics to pieces designed for sheer entertainment. Activism, the arts, the community, education, the environment, family, fitness, health, investigative reports, nature, neighborhoods, outdoor activities, parenting, participatory sports, pets, politics, profiles of interesting local people, recreation, renewable energy, sustainability, transportation, urban living, wellness, and many other topics--from the extraordinary to the off-the-wall--are good topics for features in The Good Life.

The features we publish must be written in the style of journalism, that is, to include multiple points of view from a variety of knowledgeable sources.

What all the people we have profiled in The Good Life have in common is that they are high achievers. They are people who have helped to make Austin the fabulous city that it is. They are people who recognize that while Austin is not perfect they nevertheless value what this city has to offer and they work to make it better, just as this city helps them to be better people.

We do not publish fiction. We do not publish reprints. We do not publish travel articles. We do not publish question-and-answer interviews. We do not publish stories about businesses (except in our regular short monthly feature called Austin Originals; these pieces are scheduled months in advance and are written by a regular contributor). We do not publish essays except those produced by our regular columnists. We have a talented team of regular columnists covering a variety of topics and we do not envision adding more columns.