Month / August 2014

by Magdiaries

Better than rock ’n’ roll

Thirty years in magazines – from puppy-keen teenager to grumpy middle age – and I have never spent two days doing exactly the same thing. Even rock stars sing the same songs but we never write exactly the same article twice.

And now we have infinite variety in the way we deliver our content too. Tweet a thought, write a blog, post a video. Infinite variety, endless learning opportunities and the chance to work with fabulously creative people.

I’m not surprised that puppy-keen teenagers are still queuing up to launch a career in magazines – it’s better than  rock ’n’ roll.

Sally Hampton | Editor-in-Chief, My Weekly and The Scots Magazine



Grub Street Journal
by Magdiaries

Three things creative people thrive on

Publishing is built on three things that creative people thrive upon: boundaries, cycles, and newness.

Boundaries present us with a framework – dimensions, pagination, themes, budgets and schedules. They challenge but don’t inhibit us.

Cycles keep us interested in the world. We blitz through to deadline with stressful days and late-nights – and then we pause again for breath and move onto the next issue.

Which reminds me of the seasons. We yearn for shade at the end of a hot summer, and pray for light in the final weeks of a dark winter.

Really all we’re craving for is newness.

 Danny Miller | CEO, Human After All



Grub Street Journal
by Magdiaries

Show them the dinosaurs

The first time I saw a dinosaur, a Formula 1 car and a supermodel in a bikini they were on the pages of a magazine.

There are many people eager to discover things on our planet and I believe magazine know-how can play a part in their journey. Human curiosity needs expert guidance. It needs informed, organised surprise. Magazines stand for both.

Publishers around the world just need to learn how to use all the new tools the digital world offers, like our children do these days.

It’s funny, such a simple recipe: Follow the children… And show them the dinosaurs!

Fabrizio D’Angelo | CEO, Burda International; Chairman, FIPP



Grub Street Journal
by Magdiaries

Dealing with human beings

Write something for publication and you’re exposing yourself to people.

Express an unpopular opinion, as you inevitably will sometime, and those people are perfectly entitled to say terrible things about you.

The way to deal with the intestinal discomfort which mockery causes is to understand yourself better. You are there to supply information. But you are human, and other humans think differently to the way you think. Don’t worry about it.

Magazines are a great place for this illuminating process to occur because they are beautiful and ephemeral.

Tensions run high between the writer and the reader. ‘Twas ever thus.

Joel McIver | The UK’s “most prolific rock & metal author“



Grub Street Journal
by Magdiaries

I’m not a magazine person

I am not a magazine person. I make conferences for magazine people.

I’ve made all kinds of conferences before; when it came to magazines, it was just another job. It’s very abstract work. You learn all the trade secrets, but barely understand a word anybody says.

Six months: I spoke to everyone and they told me everything. They were transforming content strategies, building new ad products, and following their customers everywhere.

One fine day I was invited to see a magazine CEO. What were these rectangles lined along the wall?

That was the day I learned what a magazine was.

Dan Williamson | Strategy Manager, TheMediaBriefing



Grub Street Journal