Ann Shoket Tells You How To Get a Media Job

Let's get one thing straight: Ann Shoket, EIC of Seventeen, is a fan of web and does not think it's killing the industry, according to Fishbowl NY's Media Beat interview.

"The Web is not eating our lunch. We don't have a readership problem. We are not losing our readership to the Web," Shoket told Fishbowl NY. "Girls love the Internet, absolutely, but the Internet brings us readers. We sold half a million subscriptions to Seventeen magazines online last year."

Shoket added that the Seventeen web-print strategy is to keep "Seventeen everywhere, creating content whenever and wherever our girls are." This includes the usual social mediums like Twitter and Facebook "to keep the brand vital."

In the second installment of the video, Shoket offers advice to whippersnappers looking to break into the industry. "When I'm interviewing new editors, I'm always looking for their ability to think surround — who's your partner outside that's going to help spread your word; how are you going to get your readers' social  networks to spread the word for you on Facebook, YouTube, Myspace; what are we going to do on Seventeen.com; are there other new innovations happening in the world that we need to be paying attention to," Shoket says. "I recognize not everyone has had all the experience in every single form of media, but I'm looking for people who can think like that. Because a magazine story does not resonate if it's just on the page."

Check out her tips for aspiring EICs after the jump.

Are tight budgets actually a good thing?

There's no doubt that the glory days of magazines — complete with limitless expense accounts and personal drivers — are long gone thanks to the recession. The glitz and glamour immortalized in movies like Devil Wears Prada and Confessions of a Shopaholic are more fictional than ever. Brandon Holley, the former editor of Jane, knows this firsthand.

Holley now runs Yahoo's Shine, a rapidly growing website for women, and in a NYT profile, Holley describes all of what she left behind in the ritzy pre-recession magazine world. Some of the best are outlined after the jump.

Would you pay for the news?

Anyone who reads the New York Times on their iPhones or hears the latest news on Twitter has been spoiled — no one has to pay for the news anymore (if you know how to get it for free).

And according to a new survey released by the Pew Foundation's Project for Excellence in Journalism's 2010, they don't plan on it. 82 percent of people with brand favorites said they'd find the news elsewhere if their usual sites start demanding payment. And to make matters worse, if readers are telling the truth, then online advertising is not the solution: 79% of users "rarely if ever clicked on an online ad."

Ed has to admit that he loves his NYT app and being able to read the latest headlines for free, but given that he's been paying anywhere from $10-$50 per year to subscribe to each of his favorite news magazines, paying a similar rate for the daily news doesn't seem so bad. On the other hand, aggregator sites like HuffPo or even link-heavy Gawker will definitely pay for the access and will reprint the main points for free.

What do you think, Edsters? How much (if anything at all) would you shell out to read the Times every day? 

Passed Over for That Promotion? Could be Because You're a Woman

Even though Ed's a guy, he's surrounded by women in this industry.

As anyone who's worked in the gleaming towers of Hearst or Condé knows, women make up a large percentage of the magazine workforce. And as any female who's ever worked in media knows, it's all too easy to find yourself playing one of two stereotypical roles: the office bitch or the office pushover. And there's no in between, according to a NYT article by corporate coach Peggy Claus. Even though last year was a landmark for women — coming the closest they've ever been to having a female president — the state of women in the workplace has not made much progress.

Is the Purported Death of Media Over?

Ed has been noticing a lot of good media news lately. Just in our staff alone, we've had six new full-time hires since December. But don't take our anecdotal evidence for it. Media seems to be reviving itself, as there have been a ton of new magazine and website launches, including Elizabeth Spiers' TheGloss.com and Crushable.com, the Deen Bros' Good Cooking mag, and some as-yet-unannounced "new quality print products" at Condé.

And it seems that advertisers agree.

ASME Goes Digital

The ASME Awards are shaking things up this year. Instead of recognizing digital media in a few awards rolled into the general ceremony, the American Society of Magazine Editors is demonstrating a whole new respect for online journalism.

“For nearly half a century, the National Magazine Awards have celebrated the best magazine journalism in the United States,” Sid Holt, Chief Executive of ASME, said in a press release. “This year for the first time, ASME and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism will recognize the outstanding work that appears on magazine-branded digital platforms by presenting National Magazine Awards for Digital Media in 12 categories.” 

Of the 118 magazine websites and online-only magazines that were entered, only 37 were nominated. See the top nominees after the jump.

The New Whippersnappers: Unemployed and Tweeting

The Pew Research Center came out with a wide-scale examination of America's newest generation, the 50 million Millennials. Edsters, I think this means most of us.

The good news is that Millennials are way more web savvy than any other age group (even Ed is tweeting!) and we're also set to be the most educated in American History. That's no small feat.

• Three-quarters have created a profile on a social networking site
• One-in-five have posted a video of themselves online
• Millions of 20-somethings are enrolling in graduate schools, colleges or community colleges. Among 18-to-24 year olds, 39.6% were enrolled in college as of 2008, according to census data.

But the downside of being such a talented pool of applicants is that we've also happened to graduate in a recession. The competition among us is so fierce that many of us are unemployed — at an alarmingly high rate.

The death of the permalancer?

Anyone who has looked for a job in media during the past year — one replete with hiring freezes, layoffs, and budget cuts — knows that he or she would be lucky to score any kind of paying job, be it an internship, freelance gig, or the editorial holy grail: a plum position on staff.

And then there are those who fall somewhere in between: the permalancer.

A freelance position with no end date gets all the superficial trappings of a staff job (full-time hours, your own cubicle with a personal computer and phone), but none of the actual benefits: health insurance, job security, sick days, vacation, or unemployment if you're let go. At best, you get to pursue your dream of working in media while honing your skills and earning enough to live in one of the most expensive cities in the world. At worst, you're treated like a glorified intern with your own phone extension. But hey, Ed's not complaining: getting a paid media gig is like scoring a seat on the subway during rush hour. It doesn't happen to most people.

But according to the NYT, even permalance jobs may be harder to come by in the next few years. Due to record budget deficits, federal and state officials are going to start targeting companies that "pass off regular employees as independent contractors."