Amy Johnson does not particularly enjoy being the center of attention.

Even after nearly three decades in publishing building magazines, managing teams, guiding editorial direction, cultivating advertisers, and helping shape the storytelling landscape of Madison-area independent media, she still describes herself as someone who loves learning and sharing stories about people. 

“I purposefully just sort of try to stay as anonymous as I can,” Johnson says. “I’m much more comfortable behind the scenes than in front.”

Johnson is the owner of ASJ Publishing LLC and publisher of Madison Locally Sourced, a city-wide lifestyle magazine that frequently features restaurants, local artists, advice, events, human interest stories, and hot topics specific to the Madison area. ASJ Publishing also publishes Second Act, a senior lifestyle and resource magazine, Madison Home, which features design concepts for local homeowners and renters, and Greater Green Lake, a guide to the greater Green Lake area of Wisconsin.

A Lifetime of Work

Johnson grew up in a Madison suburb. “I was not sure what I would do for a career, but worked from the time I was quite young,” she recalls. “I was sweeping floors, stuffing flyers into a community newspaper, fixing scoring errors at local bowling tournaments, and clerical work at WPS during the summers. I took every business course available in high school and got a full-time secretarial job at a CPA office my senior year of high school.”

Those early experiences shaped both her practical understanding of business and her work ethic.

“My sister was a role model,” Johnson says. “She moved to California when I was six and had a successful career in multiple industries. I saw her success come from hard work, which helped me feel that I could do the same.”

Another major influence was the CPA she worked for as a teenager. “She had the most influence on my business model,” Johnson says. “She was intelligent, hard-working, and caring, having the utmost integrity both professionally and personally.”

Johnson still speaks about her mentor with admiration. “Tragically, she died in a car accident. I give her credit whenever I have the opportunity.”

Nevertheless, those early experiences laid the groundwork for Johnson to eventually find her way into publishing and sales, a move she never imagined for herself.

“I am an introvert,” she says, laughing. “But I was hired for advertising sales at a hotel guest directory publishing company in 1997.”

“I was thrown in with no training, which in hindsight, likely helped me succeed. I had to find my way instead of trying to emulate someone else. My technique was common sense: Talk with business owners about reaching visitors to bring them into their businesses for valuable business growth. It was logical and successful.”

Johnson’s employer quickly recognized her abilities, and after just two years, she was asked to manage sales and production for the company when the owner personally relocated.

“The company was successful, so she let me try new things, including publishing magazines,” Johnson says. “I had no experience, the closest thing being co-editor of my high school newspaper, but I had confidence that I could figure it out. And she let me.”

The rest, as they say, is history. In 2004, the company purchased an existing Green Lake tourist publication and Amy launched new publication Madison Originals, which later became Madison Essentials, and is now Madison Locally Sourced.

“I established relationships with writers, photographers, and printers, figured out our distribution, worked with my guest directory proofreader to expand into full copy editing, and so much more,” she says.

She credits her longtime design team and editing staff for making the transition possible:

“Kudos to my talented designers who were willing and able to transition to doing both hotel guest directories and magazine productions, and later even more,” she says.

Over time, Johnson developed a publishing philosophy centered not around reviews, rankings, or click-driven headlines, but around people.

“When somebody asks me about the magazines, I always just say, ‘We tell stories,’” she says. “When we talk to a restaurant owner, we don’t do a review. We want readers to get to know that person because we know that is a strong attachment in addition to good food.”

That emphasis on human connection appears repeatedly throughout Johnson’s work. “You know, if you’re talking to a large group of people, you really are talking at them,” she says. “But I like to talk with people.”

Building Something New

Johnson spent 25 years working for the same publishing company. Then, in late 2022, the company abruptly shut down.

“My employer passed away from brain cancer in 2012, leaving the business to her daughters,” Johnson says. “But in November 2022, they decided to shut it down.”

The announcement came suddenly, Johnson recalls. “They had expressed interest in me purchasing the company, even signing a letter of intent, but then surprised me, my attorney, and their attorney by announcing to us on that Wednesday that they were closing in two days.”

For many people, losing a 25-year career with almost no warning would have been devastating, but Johnson rebuilt instead.

“I had ASJ Publishing LLC in place for consulting work,” she says. “So, I took it to full-time publishing a little over a month later in January 2023. And the team I loved working with came with me. All of them. I cannot emphasize enough that I would not have been able to transition so seamlessly without them. I trust and care about them, and they care about what we do. I have worked with two of them for more than 20 years! It is a rare gift.”

Johnson says much of the underlying editorial vision of the magazine publications came from work she herself had created over decades so she created new publications and brands to continue what she loved doing. Today, she still oversees much of the company’s creative direction herself.

“I do the sales, I do the assignments,” she says. “It’s me and my design team, copy editor, and office manager. A lot of times editorial comes just from a conversation and I start thinking, ‘Oh, this would be really interesting to talk about from this perspective,’” she says.

Johnson says her favorite part of the work is helping ideas take shape. “If somebody comes to me and says, ‘We want to promote this,’ or ‘We want to talk about our organization, how could we do it?’ I’m good at figuring out what could be helpful and what we could do,” she says. “That is my favorite thing.”

Publishing as a Queer Woman

Johnson describes herself as open about being LGBTQ+, but not someone who has ever felt the need to formally announce herself.

“I’m not shy about saying that I am LGBTQ+ but have kind of always lived my personal life more privately because I do not feel obligated to explain it to others. At first meeting you may assume I am a lesbian. I mean, I have very short hair, glasses, and wear very casual gender-neutral clothes. It’s me. It also raises an interesting question as to why I do not encounter as much pushback and judgement as others. I recognize and acknowledge it. I have had wonderful relationships with my peers and clients.”

Her comments recognize that visibility changes the way people react, and that visibility extends to what people see in print as well.

“People form judgments on your exterior,” she says. “Without even knowing at what it is they’re looking at.”

Johnson has spent years thinking about why explicitly LGBTQ-focused publications like Our Lives sometimes receive hostility while her own publications, despite often covering similar topics and sharing similar values, generally do not.

“You didn’t even open the cover,” she says, describing reactions some people have to LGBTQ-focused media. “There’s often an assumption that we’re trying to convince people to be LGBTQ+, which is ridiculous,” she says. “That’s not the case, and never going to be.”

“For my publications, I just want people to feel comfortable exploring our stories, feeling that they have been brought into it as though they were sitting at the table rather than being talked at. We have been able to discuss things that are considered controversial without a lot of pushback.”

Her publications have covered LGBTQ+ rights, racism, discrimination, gun violence, voting, political issues, and more, but Johnson says she intentionally approaches those stories conversationally.

She recalls a particularly memorable experience involving a former copy editor who was deeply religious and politically conservative. Years ago, the publication ran a story about GSAFE. The copy editor told Johnson he felt uncomfortable proofreading the article because of his beliefs.

“So, I had a conversation with him,” Johnson says. “I finally said, ‘Don’t you think that all kids should feel safe in school?’” she recalls. “And he agreed, so we had the common ground that kids should never feel targeted, regardless of anything else.”

Johnson encourages writers to think similarly when covering controversial issues.

“I always tell them, come about it as an education piece,” she says. “You want to talk to people, not at people,” she says. “You don’t want people to feel like you’re lecturing them or saying ‘You’re wrong. I’m right.’ You want to bring them in to read the article and take the information in.”

Quiet Leadership

Despite overseeing multiple publications, Johnson still avoids calling attention to herself whenever possible.

“I can go to something and talk with people and things like that, but yeah. I’m more comfortable putting other people in the spotlight,” she says. “But I do what I do because I like telling stories. I don’t know how to do it in any other way than to put something out there that I think is interesting.”

Even so, her leadership style has created loyalty among her staff and collaborators.

“It is important that I pay my team living wages and provide benefits,” she says. “Paid vacation and holidays, and health insurance. But also that we’re not in this for the money. I can go to any of my clients and they know this is me and are accepting of that. I worked really hard, and wherever I worked, I tried to learn new things so I could do the things I wanted to do. I like that part of my job. If we see something we want to do, we get to say, ‘Okay, let’s figure out how we do it.’ And we make it come to life.”

Now 60, Johnson has started thinking about the future of ASJ Publishing.

“My hope is to grow and do more, then eventually find someone to take over my role and the business to continue the work I started and set new goals. I would like to remain involved for a while as a contributor, but gradually scale back so I can contribute to the community in other ways. I also want to ensure that my team is part of the business’s future for as long as they wish. Anyone would be lucky to work with them!” she says.

Creating Your Own Future

Johnson says the most important advice she can give to people considering breaking out on their own is to, “Create your future.”

“Do not expect others to create it for you. Be willing to enter a company at an entry level position, then be a sponge to grow while you are there. If you enjoy the work and continue to grow, it should not matter if you are at a job for two years or ten. I have had three jobs as an adult, and each one led to me being able to create my own business. I was never stagnant, and it benefitted me and my employers.”

For Johnson, success is ultimately about what you leave behind.

That philosophy feels especially urgent to her now as LGBTQ+ rights increasingly face renewed political attacks nationwide.

“I feel the push-back on LGBTQ+ rights, and we must stand together,” she says. “Our rights are human rights.”

At the same time, Johnson remains hopeful about Madison and the community she has spent her life serving.

“While the Greater Madison community is not perfect, as no community is, it certainly has support that some other communities do not,” she says. “Have the vision for what you can do, and do what you can to achieve it,” she says. “Do not rely on others to offer a path, but instead find your own path.”