Mags launch social and professional networking sites

Forbes magazine online has launched a social network through which you can chat about "any topic from stocks to wine." This comes on the heels of other networking sites in Business Week (tied to LinkedIn) and Fast Company.

Companies use sites like LinkedIn for recruitment for full-time jobs, freelancing, and special consulting. The magazine sites add to the equation by allowing execs and interns alike a place at the virtual table.  They also automatically come with the added credibility of the magazine brand.

Writing newsletters online

Freelancing.com hosts several newsletters related to freelance writing and editing, including the Ed2010 weekly scribble and others from the Poynter Institute and the American Society of Journalists and Authors. It is one-stop shopping for industry news, although the site is annoying, with lots of ads. At least they're not pop ups, though.

Freelancing 101

Media Bistro has a discussion going about the merits and challenges of freelancing—the initial question being, “How long does it take to succeed at freelancing?” The discussion deals with how to get started, the benefits of a specialty, the income you might likely make, and how to manage getting gigs.

I would add:

• The Internet makes my specialty—health and medical writing—far more possible than it would have been even ten years ago. I can find medical research that would have been inaccessible to me because I do not live in a city with a medical research university or center.

• The Internet also improves access to experts. I can find emails for major researchers, give them my pitch by email, and add a spiel about my own university experience, which gets some of them to talk with me, as most have some sort of university connection. They can also Google me. One health researcher recently told me he turns down most media requests, but I looked like I knew my way around. He might have meant I looked old, who knows. Still, a well-crafted email with biographical information, which is what I send, can do wonders for access. Far better than a phone message that is by nature pretty abrupt. Of course, some folks still do not use email, so that means I have to develop a well-crafted phone spiel.

• Gizmos like Skype make international calling cheap and easy. You sound a little like Darth Vader, but people in New Zealand are usually understanding when you explain you are calling on your computer. You can even record your conversations.

• It is really easy to get lazy. I have a home office and I get myself in here every morning just like a real job. The afternoon is easy to fritter away, though, especially if I go out to lunch. Still, I am sort of retired, so I think I should have that latitude. But I still feel lazy.

• It is far easier to take good care of yourself when you are your own boss—usually. I get in my daily yoga and my daily walks, and it is easier to schedule around myself than to work around meetings and office hours and other things that require you to be at an office in nice shoes.

• I do sort of complain now when I have to “dress up” to jeans instead of my usual sweats.

• It can be difficult to balance the too-busy times, especially if you get assignments you really want to do. I have had a couple of months that were a tad stressful, but that was because I had a problem magazine I was working with, not because I was working a lot of stories. I dumped the magazine and lost that stress. And $2000 a story. So I have a hole to fill in, or a budget to realign. That’s no way to get to Machu Picchu. But the stress of the magazine was more than I thought was healthy. (Bad editor, bad planning, bad editing, slow payment.)

• I feel less isolated now that the weather is nice. Cabin fever can be a double-whammy when you are in an office with you alone.

• If you spend too much time writing things that you do not enjoy—things that just pay the bills—you might want to reconsider your approach. Good freelancers are strategic—working their way bit by bit to the types of assignments that challenge and reward them with more than just money.

• You have to be your own IT person.  I have a son, daughter and son-in-law who introduced me to Skype and got me started with some cool electronic stuff and who can help me with my random, "What the #@!%$#! is going on" sorts of problems.  And I am in awe of the Apple geniuses at our local Apple store.   Still, nothing can match having the IT guy come in and just fix what you need while you go out for a cup of coffee.  

Tanner's Inner Ugly Betty

Tanner Stransky (2005) has just published a handy little book, Find Your Inner Ugly Betty: 25 Career Lessons for Young Professionals Inspired by TV Shows.     Tanner takes incidents from shows like Betty, The Office, 30 Rock, and How I Met Your Mother—plus his own experiences as a professional newbie—to demonstrate how to act, or not act, when you want to get a foothold on the career ladder.   It's  a helpful and concise primer on entering the workplace, full of on-target tips and real-life examples and written with Tanner's usual lively style. The Des Moines Register did an article about Tanner and the book this week.  When he in not channeling his inner Ugly Betty, Tanner writes for Entertainment Weekly.   Meet and greet Tanner during Relays week at East Village Books, 510 East Locust St., Des Moines at 5:30 p.m. April 24. He will give an author talk at 6:30 p.m.    

An Editorial Guy in the IT World

This could be the answer to Meredith editors’ dreams: Phil Morgan (‘94), an editorial staffer with a talent for design, has joined the company’s IT department as a business analyst for content management. Why in God’s name would Phil do such a thing? He has always been a man of many hats, wearing his technology beret with as much panache as his editorial top hat (think Eustace Tilley of The New Yorker).

“I’m excited about the opportunity to be more focused on the type of work I really enjoy—database development and automation tools for editors and designers—but also nervous about working within IT, ”he says.

Phil jokes that it sometimes seems that Meredith’s IT department would like to refashion the corporation to be “a technology company with a very large publishing support group.” He plans to change as much of that as he can.

“I hope to work from within to change the culture. I’ve had plenty of first-hand experience with the current relationship between IT and editorial departments within the Publishing Group. So if I can bring a bit of perspective and a better sense of customer service, I might be able to do a little good.”

An IT guy who understands editorial and design? We see a lot of recent alums with these dual skills, but Phil has been in the workplace long enough to be at a level to really make a difference.

Big Bad Boss

In a comment on the last post, Mark Harbeke ('01) recommended Big Bad Boss, a great site that offers insights into dealing with devils who wear Prada. Check it out.

DEAR PEP: My Boss Went to Charm School with Simon Cowell

My boss is a bully. I often wonder if I have thin skin, or if he's really a bad manager. He tends to easily dismiss my ideas in front of the whole staff, mull about it for a bit, then come back later and present the same ideas as though they were his own. He harpooned me in my review, asking me if I was speaking ill about the magazine to the advertising folks at a trade show we were working. Funny though, because I had the flu and was not at the show. He is the most difficult, egotistical person I’ve ever met, professionally or otherwise. He makes others miserable as well, so it is not just me. It is amazing how we put out such a great product—it’s a pretty dysfunctional staff. I have been here only six months and I’m not sure I want to start a job search again. Should I stick it out or start looking? — NOT READY FOR AMERICAN IDOL

DEAR IDOL: People who are overly driven by their egos tend to actually have some level of insecurity. It sounds like Boss Man is a little intimidated by you and needs to put you in your place to settle his own fears. If he were confident of his own ideas , why challenge—then swipe—yours? Or make up bogus accusations in your review? What you do about all this depends on how well you can work in this environment. Ask yourself: Does he make me question my talent or my skills? Is my work suffering, so that I have less respect for the finished product? Do I feel like I am being reduced professionally rather than growing? Does he make me overly anxious? If so, it may be time to get out of there.  But remember: Always go toward something good, not just away from something bad,  so wait until you have another job that is a good match.  If, however, you like your work and are proud of it and still feel like you are developing and growing professionally, then it could be worth sticking it out a bit longer. If you do stay, you obviously cannot avoid the boss, but you can avoid internalizing his nastiness.  When he's a jerk, take a deep breath,  put on your most professional face, and rise above it.  Don't try to argue with him if he is being unreasonable, but do continue to offer your ideas, even if he steals them.  Ultimately, it will be clear that your smarts are strengthening the magazine, and that reality is what is important, not how he sees it. It is always good to have reality on your side, which you do and he doesn't.   Let your work and the rewards of the magazine  be your motivators.  Ultimately, you can control how much power he has over your thoughts and feelings, even if he does control the big red pen. This is a big challenge—it is extremely difficult to not let somebody else’s negatives influence how we see, or live, our lives. But difficult people are everywhere—too often in the corner office—so learning to deal with them is good practice. The best thing we can do is keep their bad attitude from influencing ours.  Plus, it is always possible to outlast him. Perhaps you can start sending his resume elsewhere?

DEAR PEP: My Magazine is in Bed with the Advertisers

I just started at a trade magazine covering a relatively small industry. The publisher and sales guys run amok in terms of giving away editorial in exchange for ads. Everything from company profiles, Q&As, smaller department features, the works. So far my proudest accomplishment was convincing the publisher to let us run advertorials with the words "advertiser sponsored content" on the page. Before that, they were disguising advertorials as bylined feature stories. Is this dilemma a bigger one for trade magazines than consumer mags? How does a new editor fight it? My previous magazine worked out a compromise with the sales guys -- we relegated BOB and FOB sections for news briefs and new product announcements and let the sales guys give preferential treatment to advertisers in those departments. In exchange, the sales folks had to keep a hands off attitude about the feature well.

Should I draw a line in the sand? Am I breaking some journalistic code of honor by going along with it, to ensure I'll receive a paycheck? —AAACK

Dear Aaack:

Yes, unfortunately, this is far too common among trade publications. You have taken a great first step in getting advertorials labeled as such. This is a standard recommendation in the ASME Guidelines for Editors and Publishers.   ASME (the American Society of Magazine Editors for long) includes business publications as well as consumer. The introduction to the guidelines says:

“For magazines to be trusted by consumers and to endure as brands, readers must be assured of their editorial integrity. With that core conviction in mind—and the overwhelming support of its members—the American Society of Magazine Editors for over two decades has issued guidelines to make sure that the difference between advertising and editorial content is transparent to readers and that there is no advertiser influence or pressure on editorial independence.”

What’s more, ASME says, “Advertisers should not pay to place their products in editorial pages nor should they demand placement in return for advertising. Editorial pages may display and credit products and tell readers where to buy them, as long as those pages are solely under editorial control.”

The American Business Media has an  Editorial Code of Ethics  that also covers advertising-editorial conflicts. Under their “general editorial code of ethics,” they pledge to, among other things:

•Avoid all conflicts of interest as well as any appearances of such conflicts.

• Maintain an appropriate professional distance from the direct preparation of special advertising sections or other advertisements.

• Show the distinction between news stories and editorials, columns and other opinion pieces.

• Accept as their primary responsibility the selection of editorial content based on readers' needs and interests.

Plus, there's a great book out that covers all this. 

So, I suggest providing your boss with a copy of the ASME Guidelines and the ABM Code in a nicely-worded presentation, acknowledging the magazine’s (unfortunate) tradition and the (equally unfortunate) economy but suggesting you work together to make some minor (for now) modifications to be more in line with professional standards.

Then change bit-by-bit, one small battle at a time, one advertiser at a time. Don’t try to completely reinvent the rules overnight—although that would be great in an ideal world. In this real world, you make more progress if you look less like a threat to a cozy status quo. Promote the idea of special FOB and BOB sections, as you did on the previous magazine. That was for the same company, so there is corporate precedent there. Do one department a month or so, so the change seems small. You’ll see the progress over time. Sort of like paving a road—you do it one stretch at a time and pretty soon you have an interstate. Then watch out for raccoons.

On Platform Agnostics and Disappearing Gatekeepers

Mary Stier, president and publisher, The Des Moines Register and Paul Leavitt, Washington News Editor of USA Today, were also on the Task Force on the Future of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. (See post on the task force .) Their comments related to newspapers, but they were pertinent to what is happening in today’s magazines. Leavitt and Stier have since moved on to different pursuits.

Stier said that discussions at The Register about the changing nature of the newspaper industry revolved around the following concepts:
• From process to platform: Information is not merely a story that goes through numerous editors and then is published, but it’s “platform agnostic” and can be used in media from newspaper to magazine and online.
• From us to them: It’s all about the consumer, not the communicator.
• From me to we: Readers want to participate in the discussion through virtual communities.
• From monologue to dialogue: The media are no longer the gatekeepers.

Leavitt said that the “new paradigm” at USA Today is: Write for the Web, update for the newspaper.

Will Magazines Float in The Sinking Economy?

In this current economic mess, I have often thought about how our over-consumption has caused us such grief. Yet, that consumerism is what drives many magazines, so it is a little difficult to be too critical of spending patterns that keep our careers going. Still, moderation is a good thing, and I hope we have learned that overbuilding and overspending have serious consequences.

We see more and more green products advertised, so that gives me hope for the industry and society as a whole.  How nice it is to be supported by products that do good.

Yet, spending is embedded in the American psyche and few of us are so holy that we don't fall into the "I gotta have it" trap, and the goods of our desire are not all that good for anything or anybody.   I just bought a pair of jeans and am really pleased at how they look—they do a nice job of showing off all the weight I have lost. And my reaction to this pleasure? I think I need to get another pair.

That is not moderation, is it? Advertisers love that about me, though.  Until they realize I am way too old to be demographically significant. No matter my age, my desire to have more and more helps stoke the economic engines quite nicely.  As long as I have the money to buy, I will continue to stoke, but I have always been a tad stingy, so the Madison Avenue had better not depend on me too much.  I am more generous in green expenses. I spend an inordinate amount on organic food and we're planning to beef up the solar power at our cabin--and get a new compost toilet. 

The economy also got me thinking about how magazines have weathered these types of storms in the past. During the worst economic downturn this country has seen, the Great Depression, magazines continued publishing—some even were started then. Esquire magazine began publishing in 1933, during the depths of the Depression. The New Yorker started in 1925, four years before the stock market crash,  and continued throughout the Depression. In fact, it had a shaky start and didn’t really gain momentum until the 1930s.

The Atlantic and Harper’s continued giving readers perspective on their world throughout the Depression. In 1932, The Atlantic published an article by John Maynard Keynes, titled, “The World’s Economic Outlook.”

The economy, then, can even help magazines by providing content about...the economy.

Naming names: When is an editor not an editor?

What does a magazine editor actually do in today’s multimedia world? Is the title—editor—still appropriate, given the varied responsibilities these folks carry on their shoulders? Meredith publishing vice president Jack Griffin doesn’t think so. Griffin recently told Folio: magazine that Meredith now hires “content strategists” rather than editors.

This may be a case of language being a little late in naming change, with editors having long ago taken on more varied, demanding, and complex roles while their titles have remained the same. Editors know their days of “only” managing copy and sending the book off to the printer disappeared with Murphy Brown, if they ever existed at all. Yet the title "editor" has endured. When Meredith advertises, its job listings call for editors, just as it has for nearly 100 years, and it is not likely to change that title. Nevertheless, the reality has vastly changed at Meredith and at publishers across the country.

Here’s some of what today’s editor juggles:

• Working with the publisher to manage the brand, which means presenting to current and potential advertisers and, often, dealing with media requests as varied as being on TV to overseeing special events. This includes some role in developing ancillary products.
• Maintaining the title’s budget, often a 7- or 8-digit responsibility.
• Managing the staff.
• Overseeing the editorial and design production—at all levels—of the magazine and, often, its Web components.
• Creating some content on her own, which may be limited to an editor’s letter, but might also include a feature or two or a blog.

Much, perhaps all, of this is stategic. It is also creative, intuitive, and socially and culturally engaged. That's today's editor.

Last year, the SJMC had a discussion with industry leaders about the future of journalism as part of the Task Force on the Future of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. At our first meeting in September, 2006, Don Peschke, president and founder of August Home Publishing, said that for many years his company thought of itself as a magazine publisher, but he soon realized it is a multimedia company.

Peschke says August Home hires people who are specialists in producing content but also generalists who are adept at thinking of a variety of ways to communicate that information. The challenge of these people is in establishing and understanding the interconnection between all media so that readers, viewers, and listeners can get the information they want the way they want it, he said.

This means that editors are now editors-plus—as those of you whose jobs have grown far beyond a 40- or 50- hour workweek know all too well. Editors still must be well versed in the old-fashioned values of writing and editing within an ethical framework, but they also must have a broad understanding of all media and their audiences.

Peschke said new graduates must specialize in some specific skill—writing, editing, design, Web production—when they start their careers, but as they move into leadership positions, they must become generalists who can see the big multimedia picture.

There are few strictly print editors anymore. Most at least have some Web responsibility—blogging, creating linked content, writing and editing online pieces, developing value-added information. No matter what we call them, editors have to manage a multitude of content types and do so strategically. And creatively, intuitively, and with social and cultural engagement.

Those of us who love words prefer the title “editor,” of course, partly for its graceful simplicity, but also for the legacy it implies. We want those who head today’s magazines to follow in the steps of history's great editors like The New Yorker’s Harold Ross or Glamour's Ruth Whitney.

Titles aside, today’s editors will leave their own unique footprints in the magazine history books— most likely a mass of varied tango-like steps, representative of the media complexity that requires them to dance lively just to keep up. No matter what they are called.

Wonder Magazine Dogs

I am extremely proud of and impressed by the Drake men's basketball team, which the local media are calling the Wonderdogs, for those of you living elsewhere.    They're doing a great job and it is marvelous to see them on ESPN and, this afternoon, CBS.

Still, where are the national media when Drake magazine students consistently win top national awards?  I suppose televising an editing session just wouldn't sell, huh?  DeSchepper lops off a dangling participle!  Collins follows by replacing a passive verb, but Walters challenges her with a full sentence recast.  Nelson tries a gerund, but the group blocks "ing" words. Stransky throws a free association!...

Ask PEP: How do I survive an acquisition?

I found out today that my magazine is being shuttered because of our recent acquisition. They want me to be considered for a senior/managing editor job for a sister publication based out of the same office. The editor apparently likes my work and wants to give me latitude to add some life to the magazine. It's called Dull As Dirt•, and it's as dull as it sounds. It would be a pay raise, though. And I'd get to stay put and at least job hunt later if I don't like it. I just really, really loved my current boss and the hot air•• industry and all the perks and bonuses and junkets that went with it. I'll have to find out if there's a way to get around non-compete policies and maybe freelance for the other hot air books just for fun. Or maybe I'll just have to take up a fun new hobby, or pursue other areas of journalism in my free time. 

Is the rest of the publishing industry in the tank right now too? Are editors often thrown into completely foreign beats? Successfully? How long do I give it before I jump ship? I guess it's a good way to diversify my resume.

I think I'm going to look for some wine!  —Not Dull in Illinois

[• I made that up: PEP. •• And that.]

PEP: The industry is, in fact, in quite a flux. The Web is taking over more and more; the economy has publishers frightened; advertisers are too often allowed editorial control and have never been known for the publishing acumen; and all this had led to the death of some formerly strong magazines. Conde Nast, in fact, just announced the final death knoll of the venerable HG, which had been struggling but was finally killed off because of Conde Nast’s acquisition of Architectural Digest. This was a bit of a twist—usually the magazines that are acquired are the most at risk, not those already in the publisher’s line.

Anyway, hang on for a while and see how the dust settles. You are right to check into the non-compete and see what freelancing is out there.  It is always good to have another outlet.  I think that is one reason blogging has become so popular.  It has a quicker turn-around than gardening and doesn't give you poison ivy.   It stinks when something wonderful goes sour, so you have my sympathies. I am truly sorry to say that you are not alone, however.   

Still, this is far from hopeless. It sounds like you are well respected in the company, and that is nothing to take lightly. I mean that very, very seriously. And, yes, editors are often thrown into completely new territory. Some thrive, some settle, some founder. It just depends on a variety of things, but you seem to have the ingredients there to thrive. If not, you have an enhanced resume that helps you go elsewhere. Don’t move too quickly, and especially do not move out of fear. Try to make your moves toward something exciting and challenging rather than away from something unpleasant.

And consider meditation or yoga rather than wine. Namaste.

Alum to alum: National Geographic Traveler Promotes TrustyPony

In her National Geographic Traveler blog , Katie Knorovsky (06) highlighted Berit Thorkelson’s Web site, TrustyPony. Katie had read about Berit’s site on PEP Talks. A nice blog-to-blog move. Sort of three degrees of separation in the blogosphere.