Ed Speaks

Summer Vacay

2010-06-17T13:18:00.000-07:00

These past few months have been one of the most exciting times for Ed. He's loved sharing his industry thoughts with you and hopes you gained some valuable insights about all the recent media news. In fact, as a result of writing this blog, Ed sometimes goes off on tangents about the industry during lunch breaks and happy hours. (His coworkers and friends have learned to tolerate the outbursts).

But Ed likes to share the spotlight, so he's taking the summer off to give you a whole new batch of voices to follow. Stay tuned until June 21 to hear how Ed's chosen whippersnappers will pursue their dream job while getting coffee and making copies in the newest edition of The Intern Diaries.

And if you enjoyed the blog and think you have what it takes to discuss media news, email Ed at yelena@ed2010.com.

Bye for now,
Ed

Want To Start Your Own Magazine? Here's How

2010-05-27T09:09:00.000-07:00

The famous Mr. Magazine, Samir Husni, who teaches at the University of Mississippi and whose Guide To New Magazines is still selling out on shelves, has three pieces of advice for publishers of new magazines. In an interview with Mediabistro, he said the most important factors are 1) finding a willing audience to come back and read that magazine every month addictively, 2) having a very clear and concise brand, and 3) choosing an easily identifiable magazine name.

Read his valuable quotes after the jump and then let Ed know if you agree!

You said that Food Network Magazine was the most notable launch of 2009. What are some early signs that a magazine will flourish or it will fail?

The No. 1 [determinant] is finding a willing audience who is not only capable but can afford the price of your magazine. All the magazines that are actually surviving and are doing very well, they have the seeds of addiction built in them. When the Food Network Magazine first came out, I looked for what I call the seeds of addiction in that magazine, what will get you hooked so you will want more of the same. They had two major ingredients. They had food, which is, you know, everybody is addicted to eating. And then they had celebrities. And you combine the two together, and I felt, I mean they must have a winning formula.

And of course there was like three examples [Every Day with Rachael Ray, Cooking with Paula Deen, Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade] ahead of the Food Network Magazine that told me there's an appetite in the marketplace for something like that.

The second one is how clear and concise the concept is. If you look through the pages of the Food Network, guess what? It's either celebrities or food. It has a very specific DNA. So the more specific, the better the chances are that you are going to make it.

Is that the advice you would give somebody who wants to launch a magazine? 

Definitely. From the name — you know, so many people come to me with those like whimsical names, fancy names, and I say you know what? If I am going to start a literary, political, fiction type magazine today, there's no way on earth I am going to call it the Atlantic Monthly. Because if I launched the Atlantic Monthly today, it would be a magazine about the Atlantic Ocean.

What do you think, Edsters? Would you buy a magazine every month that didn't have a clear brand? Or a name that easily defines what that brand is? Do you have plans to launch your own magazine one day?

Have You Ever Been Fired For Freelancing?

2010-05-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

A veteran reporter of the Oregonian got canned last week for moonlighting.

Lisa Grace Lednicer, who had been at the Oregonian for 12 years, was let go because she co-wrote an article for Glamour about Diane Downs' mystery daughter. (Downs is the notorious Oregon mother who was charged with shooting her children in 1983.)

Now, Ed is no stranger to freelancing on the side. Almost all of Ed's friends have done it.
And it's clear why: moonlighting is a great way to make some extra money while improving your portfolio and giving you more diverse clips. He even gave you insider tips about how to freelance (and still keep your day job).

But of course, there's a catch. Some editors have had to write under a pseudonym in fear of getting fired, while others never clocked in overtime for fear of their bosses finding out.

It turns out that Lisa broke rule number two and nine: never write about the same topic as you're paid to write about and if at all unsure, clear it with your higher-ups first.

Oregonian Editor Peter Bhatia said this afternoon the Downs piece was “a story of significant interest to the newspaper’s readers, and it should have been run past us before Lisa took the assignment.”

Ed wishes Lisa all the best, but maybe this is all for the better. One Edster was able to parlay getting fired into a sweet new job. And we're guessing Lisa weighed the odds and figured national exposure in a major women's magazine was worth the potential job loss.

What do you think, Edsters? Was her editor right for firing her? How did you bounce back after getting fired? Feel free to share some moonlighting tips too!

The New A-List Cover Girl?

2010-05-20T07:33:00.000-07:00

Jacob Bernstein of The Daily Beast noticed that magazine covers are trending away from your traditional mega celebrity.

Glamour's recent cover is not Angelina Jolie or Julia Roberts. It's three relatively unknown models, one of whom is plus size. Vanity Fair has two World Cup athletes.

And the celebrity covers that do sell feature a younger, less established star. As Glamour’s editor Cindi Leive told The Daily Beast:

“I think what you’re seeing in the magazine world is a certain amount of fatigue with the same old, same old faces. One reason we had a nice sale with Taylor Swift was that you hadn’t seen her on a million magazine covers before and there was actually the hope that ‘Oh my God! I might actually learn something new.’ I think taking risks is serving people well right now.”

One magazine expert explains this trend due to the long, exhaustive coverage of these A-listers.

Or as Samir Husni, the magazine industry pundit, put it, “What else do you really want to know about Angelina Jolie? With a lot of these celebrities, there’s nothing left to show unless they actually take their clothes off. We’ve covered them from every shape, every corner. We’ve shown them with their kids, and with their boyfriends and with their girlfriends, so that’s why you’re starting to see semi-naked soccer players and a semi-naked Tiger Woods. That’s what it takes to survive in a digital age.”

With the exception of Sarah Jessica Parker, whose rabid SATC fan base isn't going anywhere, and Sarah Bullock, whose tabloid-stained marriage has everyone talking, most of the selling power has a teen following. Especially if they're associated with the Disney powerhouse or their franchise rhymes with "highlight."

As Leive says, “There is no editor who wouldn’t love to have [Sandra Bullock] on her next cover. She’s a quality actress and an amazing person but obviously the reasons for feeling your readers would relate to [her] are more complicated than that. Just being in a blockbuster movie is not enough anymore, unless it’s a movie about vampires. Then it’s enough.”

Do you agree, Edsters? Which celebrities inspired you to buy a magazine at the newsstand recently?

College Grads Can Start Celebrating Early

2010-05-17T08:05:00.000-07:00

Ed has already proposed that rumors of media's death are slowly but surely dying themselves. Ad pages have been increasing, new websites have been launching, and news of layoffs has been few and far between.

minOnline has some good news to corroborate Ed's theory.
There has been a cumulative 4.86% ad page gain in 2010 for 150 monthlies measured by the Media Industry Newsletter. This is the first quarterly increase since 2007's fourth-quarter +3.84% jump and the best performance for any period since 2004's fourth quarter's +8.04% gain. In other words, monthly magazines have ended their three-year ad page losing streak.

For all of the 2010 graduates still brave enough to pursue a career in magazines, Ed suggests whipping out the champagne a bit early. He has high hopes for you whippersnappers.

What do you think, Edsters? Have you been noticing more jobs available? Are you feeling more confidant about finding work in magazines?

Are Women's Magazines Getting Too Sexy Online?

2010-05-13T08:03:00.000-07:00

Traditionally conservative magazines like Good Housekeeping, Ladies’ Home Journal and Parents Cosmo have let their hair down online to the point where their web content is more than Delish. Advice on spicing up your sex life has found itself on those magazines’ sites.

On the one hand, this seems like savvy web strategy: everyone from Miley Cyrus to CEOs knows that sex sells. And the success of magazines like Cosmo attests to the fact that women want to find that information from a reliable source. So writing about sex problems and how to solve them will lead to more unique visitors and page views of the site, along with increasing brand awareness. Great, right?

But advertisers would disagree.
MediaWeek reports that this new sexy content does not sit well with advertisers or older readers looking for a simple decorating tip:

“Some marketers are sensitive to their ads appearing near risqué content of the sort found on the women’s sites, and some buyers found a disconnect between the online content and the publications’ chaste reputations. ‘It doesn’t seem to fit [with] holiday recipes and how to organize your closet,’ said Roberta Garfinkle, svp, director of print strategy, TargetCast.’”

“While some believe editors have more leeway online, others said advertisers don’t relax their standards for the Web. ‘Controversial content always raises eyebrows,’ said Brenda White, senior vp, publishing activation director, Starcom USA. ‘It’s still a concern online.’”

The article doesn’t cite a perfect solution except to say that print and online have different goals: the former’s is to sell ad space while the latter’s is to bring a younger audience to the brand. But Ed thinks such a divide is not ideal, because in the perfect journalism world, the web would also be a source of revenue for magazines.

What do you think, Edsters? Are you more likely to read the magazines mentioned above online or in print? Do you like the new sex-focused content on their websites? Were you surprised to see such saucy articles on their sites?

Will Newsweek Survive?

2010-05-10T07:59:00.000-07:00

2010 seemed to be a bright year for media: magazine foldings have come to a halt, layoffs have decreased, and ad sales are on the upswing. But one niche seems to still be suffering: the national newsweekly.

Last Wednesday, the Washington Post Company announced that they are selling 77-year-old Newsweek magazine. "Despite heroic efforts on the part of Newsweek’s management and staff, we expect it to still lose money in 2010, " explained Washington Post Co. Chairman Donald E. Graham. On the one hand, Ed isn't too surprised: daily papers and other news organizations have been hit hard by the internet's cheap and fast ability to cover breaking news. On the other, Ed's sad to see such an esteemed and established publication go the way of other popular magazines he grew up reading.

New York Times media columnist David Carr has a number of theories for why Newsweek is being sold. Ed gives you the scoop after the jump!

1) Unappealing price.
"At $5.95 per issue, Newsweek is hardly a bargain."

2) Out of touch reputation.
"Newsweek is your father’s magazine, and no amount of reinvention could fix that."

3) Unsustainable operating costs.
"The people at the magazine had been told that they had until the end of 2010 to figure it out, but with loses of more than $500,000 a week, the alarm clock rang on the early side."

4) Too high of a subscription base.
"Newsweek is up against the tyranny of big numbers. One of the magazine’s assets – with almost 2 million subscribers, it has great reach into the culture – is a disadvantage at a time when a general interest read of the news has become a niche activity. Part of the reason that The Economist (813,240) and The Week (517,037) have done well is that both titles have smaller circulation bases and more manageable costs."

5) The rise of real-time news reporting on the web.
"Not much needs to be said about how the news cycle overtook Newsweek, but suffice to say that daily journalism began to fold in real-time analytics and then the Web came along and annotated every event before it was hours old, let alone a week."

Ed hopes that this will not become a trend among other newsweeklies.

What do you think, Edsters? Will Newsweek survive the sale? Do you subscribe to news magazines anymore? Have news magazines outlived their usefulness?

Would You Pay $9,000 for an Internship?

2010-05-06T08:30:00.000-07:00

That's what one person paid to intern at HuffPo for free this summer. Yahoo! News' Michael Calderone reports on all the other high-profile bids for a recently closed auction to support the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.

It'll cost you $2,900 to spend two weeks interning for Vanity Fair, $42,500 for a week at Vogue, and $1,000 for a week-long gig at Esquire. Ed has nothing against raising money for a good cause, but paying large sums of money for the opportunity to work for free just feels wrong, especially given the recent controversy over unpaid internships' being illegal. Plus, auctioning off internships for charity caters to the belief that only the wealthy can succeed in this industry.

Do you agree Edsters? Or do you think this auction is pretty harmless? Share your thoughts in the comments!

minOnline's Best of the Web

2010-05-05T10:58:00.000-07:00

While the media industry celebrated its prized reporting, content, and design at the ASME Awards last week, minOnline came out with its own awards for "Best of the Web." Hearst was snubbed in the Digital ASME Awards back in March, and despite inducting Hearst Digital's Chuck Cordray into their Digital Hall of Fame, Time Inc and Conde again seem to overpower their rival.

Glamour.com won big again as Digital Team of the Year--an award they shared with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Martha Stewart won as Tweeter of the Year and Yahoo! Shine won for Community/Social Networking. (See Ed's post about Shine's EIC Brandon Holley here). Conde's Style.com won for Design and new woman's site BettyConfidential.com won for Editorial Excellence.

Check out all the other winners here (and the reasons why they won here).

What do you think about these major winners? Are you fans of their sites? What other websites do you think deserve some industry recognition?

The Freelancer Dilemma

2010-04-29T09:22:00.000-07:00

Many Edsters end up freelancing, whether by circumstance brought on by the job hunt or by choice brought on by dreams of becoming the next Carrie Bradshaw.

But according to a survey released last month by the New York-based Freelancers Union, about 40% of freelancers had trouble getting paid in 2009. The average amount due? $6,000. And with national unemployment still around 9.7%, it's not like freelancers can just fall back on getting a job.

In addition, half of laid-off positions will go to freelancers and temps in 2010, Littler Mendelson, a San Francisco-based employment law firm with 49 offices nationwide, told the WSJ. This means more potential for paperwork, bills, and payments to get lost in the bureaucracy.

And sadly, freelancers can't turn to federal or state labor departments for help. The only option is to go to small claims court which can cost you a ton in emotional hassle and time spent preparing your case.

On the bright side, the Freelancers Union is taking action into its own hands and created a list of companies who have a reputation for not paying.

What about you, Edsters? Have you ever been stiffed? What did you do to finally get paid? Share your stories in the comments!

Are You Pleased with the ASME Awards?

2010-04-26T21:34:00.000-07:00

The Ellies are in! I doubt many were surprised that New York magazine took home the most awards (4) Thursday night, including victories for general excellence (250,000 to 500,000 circulation), magazine section, personal service and leisure interests.

Si Newhouse must be doing something right, since Condé was the other big winner of the night: Glamour won the top honor, Magazine of the Year, a new category introduced this year that "honors publications that successfully use both print and digital media in fulfilling the editorial mission of the magazine."

Other Condé winners included long-time victors National Geographic (3), The New Yorker (3) and Wired (2).

See the full list of winners after the jump.

General Excellence, Print
Recognizes overall editorial achievement at six circulation levels.

Under 100,000 Circulation
San Francisco
Bruce Kelley, Editor-in-Chief
For April, August, December Issues

100,000 to 250,000 Circulation
Mother Jones
Monika Bauerlein and Clara Jeffery, Editors
For July/August, September/October, November/December Issues

250,000 to 500,000 Circulation
New York
Adam Moss, Editor-in-Chief
For April 20, October 5, October 26 Issues

500,000 to 1 Million Circulation
GQ
Jim Nelson, Editor-in-Chief
For June, September, November Issues

1 Million to 2 Million Circulation
Men’s Health
David Zinczenko, Editor-in-Chief
For September, October, November Issues

Over 2 Million Circulation
National Geographic
Chris Johns, Editor-in-Chief
For May, September, December Issues

Design, Print
Honors the effectiveness of design, typography and artwork in support of the editorial mission of the magazine
Wired
Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief
For March, May, August Issues

Photography, Print
Honors the effectiveness of photography, photojournalism and photo-illustration in support of the editorial mission of the magazine
Vanity Fair
Graydon Carter, Editor
For March, September, November Issues

Photojournalism
Recognizes the informative photographic documentation of an event or subject
National Geographic
Chris Johns, Editor-in-Chief
For “Shattered Somalia,” photographs by Pascal Maitre; text by Robert Draper, May

Photo Portfolio
Honors creative photography and photo illustration, including portraiture
The New Yorker
David Remnick, Editor
For “Portraits of Power,” photographs by Platon, December 7

Single-Topic Issue
Recognizes magazines that have devoted an issue to the in-depth examination of one topic
Wired
Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief
For “The Mystery Issue,” May

Magazine Section
Recognizes the excellence of a regular, cohesive front- or back-of-back section
New York
Adam Moss, Editor-in-Chief
For “Strategist,” April 20, May 25, October 26

Personal Service
Honors the outstanding use of print journalism to serve the readers’ needs and aspirations
New York
Adam Moss, Editor-in-Chief
For “For and Against Foreskin,” by Chris Bonanos, Michael Idov and Hanna Rosin, October 26

Leisure Interests
Recognizes excellence in service journalism focusing on recreational activities and special interests
New York
Adam Moss, Editor-in-Chief
For “The Great New York Neoclassical Neapolitan Pizza Revolution,” by Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld with Michael Idov, July 20-27

Public Interest
Recognizes magazine journalism that illuminates issues of public importance
The New Yorker
David Remnick, Editor
For “The Cost Conundrum,” by Atul Gawande, June 1

Reporting
Honors the enterprise, skill and analysis that a magazine exhibits in covering an event or problem of contemporary interest and significance
The New York Times Magazine
Gerald Marzorati, Editor
For “The Deadly Choices at Memorial,” by Sheri Fink, August 30

Feature Writing
Honors the stylishness and originality with which the writer treats her or his subject
Texas Monthly
Evan Smith, President and Editor-in-Chief; Jake Silverstein, Editor
For “Still Life,” by Skip Hollandsworth, May

Profile Writing
Honors the vividness and perceptiveness with which the writer brings his or her subject to life
Esquire
David Granger, Editor-in-Chief
For “The Man Who Never Was,” by Mike Sager, May

Essays
Recognizes the writer’s eloquence, perspective, fresh thinking and unique voice
National Geographic
Chris Johns, Editor-in-Chief
For “Top Ten State Fair Joys,” by Garrison Keillor, July

Columns and Commentary
Recognizes excellence in short-form social, economic and political commentary, including humor
Newsweek
Jon Meacham, Editor
For three columns by Fareed Zakaria: “Worthwhile Canadian Initiative,” February 16; “The Way Out of Afghanistan,” September 21; “Theocracy and Its Discontents,” June 29

Reviews and Criticism
Honors the knowledge, persuasiveness and original voice that the critic brings to her or his reviews
The New Yorker
David Remnick, Editor
For three reviews by Elizabeth Kolbert: “Green Like Me,” August 31; “Flesh of Your Flesh,” November 9; “Hosed,” November 16

Fiction
Recognizes excellence in fiction published in magazines
McSweeney’s Quarterly
Dave Eggers, Editor
For “Memory Wall,” by Anthony Doerr, October 1; “Raw Water,” by Wells Tower, October 1; “Further Interpretations of Real-Life Events,” by Kevin Moffett; March 3

Magazine of the Year
Honors publications that successfully use both print and digital media in fulfilling the editorial mission of the magazine
Glamour
Cynthia Leive, Editor-in-Chief; Jill Herzig, Executive Editor; Geraldine Hessler, Design Director; Glamour.com: Ben Berentson, Online Managing Director
For April, September, November Issues

What do you think, Edsters? Are you happy for the magazines that won? Or do you feel that some publications got snubbed? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

What is People StyleWatch's Secret?

2010-04-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

Time Inc. has a goldmine on its hands. Surprisingly, the magazine with merchandise on its cover is topping both circ and ad numbers when most of the industry is falling behind. According to the NYT, "in the second half of last year, StyleWatch’s circulation rose 8.6 percent, to about 802,000, as the industry average dropped 2.2 percent. [...] StyleWatch increased its pages by more than 24 percent, to 629 pages. In the first quarter, consumer magazines lost 9.4 percent of their ad pages on average, but StyleWatch’s grew by about 130 percent, and the magazine is profitable."

Ed breaks down the reasons for its success after the jump!

1) They feature affordable brands.

“Topshop and H&M pump out stylish, low-cost items meant to be worn for a season, then thrown away. Those mass-market clothes are the basis of StyleWatch’s coverage.”

2) They’re inclusive, marketing towards the everywoman.

“Where Vogue presents itself as an elite insider in the fashion world, StyleWatch throws open the doors. It defangs intimidating trends (“Would you wear ... super-slouchy harem pants?”), running pages of under-$100 clothes, and reassuringly shows celebrities wearing the same item over and over.”

3) They make celebrities feel accessible.

“There are the blog-influenced notions that celebrities should be accessible and information concise, so StyleWatch runs paparazzi photos of stars — no expensive fashion shoots or negotiating with managers — accompanied by brief captions on imitating the fashion.”

4) They feature advertisers in their editorial.

“It has tossed out old-fashioned ideas of what magazine editorial pages should contain, and is baldly selling products — some from advertisers, some not. As the line between marketing and creative functions blur in fields like television and film, magazines are starting to follow, and that is a trend that StyleWatch understands well.”

5) The discounts in the magazine guarantee retailer (aka ad) satisfaction.
“The StyleWatch staff also arranges reader discounts for featured products, part of what advertisers find so appealing about the magazine. ‘It was obviously happening in retail anyway,’ Ms. Kaufman [StyleWatch’s editor] said of discounting. That lets the publishing side brag to advertisers that readers shop StyleWatch’s pages: RevolveClothing.com sold $1.4 million of merchandise after a 2009 StyleWatch offer, for instance.”

What do you think, Edsters? Should other magazines copy StyleWatch's techniques? Do you think it's ok for magazines to blur the line between advertising and editorial?

Will the iPad Save the Magazine Industry?

2010-04-08T08:01:00.000-07:00

With its sleek design and cool page-turning features, the iPad has been pegged as possibly saving journalism and publishing in one fell swoop. And by selling an estimated double of the predicted amount last weekend, the iPad seems well on its way.

Many magazines are eager to jump on the bandwagon, with Condé Nast titles like Vanity Fair, Wired, and GQ are rumored to be working on an app, while magazines like Interview, Time, Men's Health, and Popular Science already exist for purchase. But this is where Ed begins to have his doubts.

Too many customers seem to be dissuaded from buying a magazine app because of the steep price. Both Time and PopSci are charging $5 per issue, the same as their newsstand price. We all know how exorbitant pricing played out in the recession...

Though the graphics are supposed to be amazing, the iPad itself can't replace a magazine's lightweight feel in your bag. As the NYT notes, "You can’t read well in direct sunlight. At 1.5 pounds, the iPad gets heavy in your hand after awhile." Unless magazines publishers decide to give iPad users a yearly discount like they would with their print subscriptions, Ed doubts that the iPad will have a large impact on media.

What do you think, Edsters? Are you planning to buy an iPad? If so, would you pay newsstand prices to read magazines on the new device?

Are your unpaid interns illegal?

2010-04-05T08:39:00.000-07:00

Given the lack of paid internships and the overwhelming amount of aspiring magazine editors, Ed can pretty much bet that every whippersnapper has had at least one unpaid internship. In fact, sometimes it seems that media wouldn't be able to survive without a bevvy of unpaid interns to transcribe, research, report, write, photocopy, and sometimes make a coffee run.

But it turns out unpaid internships may be illegal. According to the NYT, "when the jobs are mostly drudgery, regulators say, it is clearly illegal not to pay interns." States like California and Oregon have already begun fining employers for violating the law. (Ed gave his own two cents on the topic in an Ask Ed years ago). But now the federal government plans on cracking down on what many people consider to be 21st century slave labor. Even internships with college credit are not exempt.

Federal regulators say that receiving college credit does not necessarily free companies from paying interns, especially when the internship involves little training and mainly benefits the employer.

The article cites an unnamed fashion intern who "spent an unpaid three-month internship at a magazine packaging and shipping 20 or 40 apparel samples a day." Another Edster blogs about being Ivy Leagued and Unemployed after spending years as an unpaid intern during college.

Ed admits that unpaid internships can benefit the employer more so than the intern. Good luck telling that to your employer and still getting a great recommendation...

And often, these opportunities cater to the wealthy who can afford to take a semester off from making money. But at the same time, Ed highly doubts that the magazine industry has enough money to start paying the thousands of interns it employs.

What do you think, Edsters? Do you think the government crackdown is a good thing for the industry? Share your own unpaid intern stories in the comments!

Former Condé Nast EICs Turning to Web

2010-04-01T08:29:00.000-07:00

Ed already told you about Brandon Holley's post Condé life as the online editor of Yahoo! Shine. It turns out she's not the only former print EIC to transition to web.

According to the New York Observer, Pilar Guzman—the popular editor of the parenting magazine Cookie (which folded in October), is creating web site momfilter.com—a lifestyle site for the modern mom to be launched in the fall.

Deborah Needleman, the editor of Domino, which folded in January 2009, told the Observer that she’s working on her site with Ken Lerer, the chairman of the Huffington Post.

“It’s a commerce site—with a Domino-like sensibility—that makes it easy and pleasurable to decorate and shop for a home,” she wrote in an email to the Observer.

And though she doesn't have a site of her own, Ruth Reichl has been actively tweeting since Gourmet folded last October.

But before everyone starts frantically learning how to tweet and code in HTML, you should know that other EICs are taking the traditional route of writing books about their experiences. Reichl is planning to write a memoir of her Condé days, while Dominique Browning, former EIC of House & Garden, published a book about her post-EIC life that's due in May.

Are you surprised by this Edsters? How many of you work in print and how many of you work in online? Do you agree that you need web savvy even for a print job?

Ann Shoket Tells You How To Get a Media Job

2010-03-25T07:52:00.000-07:00

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.

"I'm always looking for editors who are hungry and who want to move beyond just what their job is. Obviously, there's a lot of work and there's more work than ever for mid-level and junior editors. That's the nature of our business these days," Shoket begins.

"But I'm always looking for that spark, that ability to go beyond, to do more, to want to do more, to think bigger, to take on challenges. And it doesn't mean stay late. I don't want to see people at the office just for the sake of being at the office late. But I'm always looking for smart thinking, bringing fresh ideas — don't think of the same old ways to fill your pages, think of new column ideas, new everything that could be dynamic. You should always be looking for new opportunities to help your brand grow."

Are tight budgets actually a good thing?

2010-03-22T08:59:00.000-07:00

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.

When she was the editor in chief of Jane, Condé Nast’s [now-defunct] monthly for young single women, she had a big office in the company’s Times Square headquarters, a driver and a lavish expense account. She sat in the front row at the Paris and Milan fashion shows. She was invited to fabulous parties by Hollywood publicists. Sometimes, a stylist did her hair in her office while she was on the phone.
She once dispatched what she calls “crazy photographers and insane stylists” to Aruba and commissioned lengthy articles from investigative journalists. Now, she spends much of her time trying to figure out ways to get Shine’s visitors to contribute their own unvarnished thoughts on the site by blogging and posting reader comments.
She used to relish going to work with her sharply dressed employees in Midtown Manhattan. Now, says Ms. Holley, who lives with her musician husband and toddler son, she spends much of her day in her nightgown, communicating with her staff almost entirely via instant messages.
Yet the Hollywood press agents who wined and dined her when she was at Jane seem to have lost her telephone number. “It’s almost like I’m in hiding,” she said. “Nobody calls me anymore.”

Ed misses the days when he didn't feel nervous expensing a lunch, but what if this bare bones approach is really a better strategy? Maybe more Edsters would be able to find (and keep) jobs if they worked in their pjs every now and then, because companies would have more money to spend on new hires. On the other hand, industry workers are so notoriously underpaid that Ed wonders if the perks help boost morale for whippersnappers who work long hours for little pay.

What do you think, Edsters? Is this the direction women's magazines are heading? Would you still be interested in working for a glossy without the glitz?

Would you pay for the news?

2010-03-18T07:31:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-15T09:14:00.000-07:00

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.

Claus cites a study from Carnegie Mellon and Harvard which says that women who are perceived as pushy are less likely to be hired. In the Times piece, she elaborated on the two roles women are allowed in the office:

Women must still deal with a well-entrenched double standard when it comes to gender-acceptable behavior. Because of that, they often fall victim to self-defeating actions that can undercut their careers. They may assume a strident command-and-control approach or else turn passive — by clamming up, being indirect, failing to ask for what they want or need, and refusing to delegate junior-level tasks and responsibilities.

Even though women now make up the majority of the workforce, Claus writes that the women she worked with "across various industries, job levels and generations" were worried about being labeled a "bitch," to a degree she hadn't seen since the 90s, perhaps as a result of the recession where pressure to keep your job is at an all-time high.

Her advice for beating the double standard? Connecting "through a compelling combination of warmth and strength." She also recommends "being conversational, conveying a message in a specific and succinct way, and using humor, direct eye contact and a firm voice."

What do you think, Edsters? Have you had any recent anecdotes that made you feel like it's harder for a woman to be in a position of power?

Is the Purported Death of Media Over?

2010-03-10T15:34:00.000-08:00

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.

According to Outsell's annual advertising and marketing study, overall spending on marketing and advertising will be $368 billion this year, an increase of 1.2 percent over 2009.

In addition, for the first time, money spent on digital advertising will exceed that spent on print by 2.2 percent thanks to a a 9.6 percent boom in digital advertising in 2010.

But wait, it gets better. According to Forbes.com, ad spending for magazines will rise this year by 1.9 percent, to $9.4 billion. That number reflects a spending boost of 4.2 percent for consumer titles and 1% for B2B.

Happy job hunting, Edsters!

Do you agree that more jobs are popping up now than in the past two years? Do you feel like the industry is growing again? Share your own experience in the comments!

ASME Goes Digital

2010-03-07T17:16:00.000-08:00

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 multiple nominations went to: National Geographic (5); New York (4); The Atlantic (3); Sports Illustrated (3); The Daily Beast (2); ESPN The Magazine (2); IEEE Spectrum (2); Mother Jones (2); The New Yorker (2); Newsweek (2); Runner’s World (2); and Slate (2).

You can see the complete list of nominations here and for all you aspiring web editors, the specific posts or sections that got recognized are listed here. Though all the nominees must be thrilled, there are some upsets as well. As WWD points out, Hearst received only one nomination, while Condé Nast and Time Inc. tied with six and Rodale got three. Tina Brown’s The Daily Beast got two nominations, but Arianna Huffington’s The Huffington Post didn't receive any.

Ed's thrilled that ASME is finally recognizing digital media as a category of its own. As any job-hunting Edster will tell you, most available gigs are coming from the online sphere. And most print editors on staff have been required to contribute to the web as part of their job description. In fact, HTML is as necessary a skill on your resume as InCopy once was.

The awards will be presented March 18th. Ed can't wait to see who wins!

UPDATE: Check out the print ASME nominations here.

What about you, Edsters? What are your predictions?

The New Whippersnappers: Unemployed and Tweeting

2010-03-04T08:46:00.000-08:00

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.

At the moment, 37% of 18- to 29-year-olds are unemployed or out of the workforce, the highest share among this age group in more than three decades. Research shows that young people who graduate from college in a bad economy typically suffer long-term consequences, with effects on their careers and earnings that can linger as long as 15 years.

Newsweek reported on a few struggling whippersnappers, including 24-year-old Adrian Muniz who moved to New York after graduating from Brown University in '07, "expecting to easily find work at a magazine." He's been expecting to easily find work at a magazine for the past three years while interning and working in retail.

We've all been there: working dead-end jobs while trying to build up our resumes, make some connections, and maybe one day earn a paycheck with the golden ticket: a name on the masthead.

The one piece of inspiration you can take away? It seems like the times are changing in our favor. President Barack Obama is looking for an official Twitterer. Get on it, Edsters!

How long have you been on the job hunt? Share your tales of down and out (or short and sweet) unemployment in the comments!

The death of the permalancer?

2010-03-01T07:10:00.000-08:00

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."

President Obama’s 2010 budget assumes that the federal crackdown will yield at least $7 billion over 10 years. [...] One federal study concluded that employers illegally passed off 3.4 million regular workers as contractors, while the Labor Department estimates that up to 30 percent of companies misclassify employees.

While media jobs weren't cited in the article, companies ranging from Hearst to MTV are notorious for hiring permalancers. With media still recovering from the recession, Ed doubts that all of those permalance jobs will ever become staff. Heck, we'll be lucky if they don't turn them into paid internships.

What do you think Edsters? Will cutting down on permanent freelancers make it harder for whippersnappers to break into the industry? Share your own permalancing tales in the comments!