Formula for Success?

The Writer's Almanac did a little profile of the editor of The New Yorker, David Remnick, today, that was enlightening:

When Remnick took over in 1998, the magazine was in financial straits. But it's remarkably profitable now, with greater advertising revenue and the highest renewal rate of any subscription magazine in the country. But Remnick said, 'My principle in the magazine -- and I am not being arrogant -- is that I don't lose sleep trying to figure what the reader wants. I don't do surveys. I don't check the mood of the consumers. I do what I want, what interests me and a small group of editors that influences the way of the magazine.'

The principle is, I think, that if the editors find it interesting, the readers will, too.