Reinventing your publishing career

Getting that next great position may mean acquiring new skills, looking beyond traditional publishing fields or recasting yourself.

By Lee McDonald, New York Chapter President

Magazines and Web sites reinvent themselves routinely. So do publishing   companies. Why not editors?

That was the focus at a recent meeting of the New York chapter, where a leading Web editor, an editor who moved to publishing director and an editorial recruiter outlined paths available in the move from print editor to what comes next.

Transferring Skills

"Reinventing yourself is a great thing to do," said Kevin McKean, executive editor at Forbes.com. "Most of us will do it at some time during our lives, either proactively or reactively."

McKean started as a newspaper reporter in Chicago, then moved to the Associated Press and later Discover magazine. He entered national financial journalism when he joined Money magazine in 1987.

McKean’s technical proficiency eventually attracted enough attention that he was tapped to help launch Money’s Web site, www.money.com, in 1995. That site later won the first National Magazine Award given to a Web site. In the summer of 1999, McKean moved to Forbes to become executive editor of Forbes.com, the on-line wing of Forbes magazine.

McKean has reinvented himself several times: as a magazine science writer, as a financial journalist and as an on-line editor. "Nearly everyone who goes through the process emerges stronger and better as a result," he said.

Those in the "dot-com" movement may seem a breed apart, but the skills and knowledge of journalism are transferable. "Increasingly you’re seeing a greater demand for words and pictures. That’s what journalism is."

In fact, many e-commerce Web sites are discovering that editorial content is an essential ingredient — and are out looking for journalists who can help develop that material.

McKean outlined a host of observations and tips for editors looking to expand into electronic journalism:

• The field is wider than just publications. Knowledge gained by journalists can be used in other areas as well. McKean related the tale of a friend who was a travel writer, then ultimately joined an on-line travel site.

• As the clutter of information increases, journalists will be more prized for their ability to serve as yardsticks or filters, not just as information-gatherers. He compared the promise of an Internet in which readers created their own content to the empty, early promise of the paperless office. "We’ve seen what happened there."

• However, a large portion of the best content does come from readers, particularly through chat rooms and message boards.

• Editing for the Web really is different, and the best on-line creators think interactively. "Often, you’re not producing a story, you’re producing a database," he said.

Even the choice of verbs is different. "You program for the Web, you don’t publish for the Web. There’s a very strong element of broadcasting. For instance, you probably want different content on your site the first thing in the morning than you would late in the evening."

McKean said editors hoping to move on-line by developing their HTML and programming skills are wasting their energies. "You hire people to do the programming, designers to do the designing," McKean said. "We’re looking for people who have expertise in the fields we’re writing about."

From Words To Numbers

Moving from editor to publishing director doesn’t mean becoming a super salesperson, but it does mean learning to speak the language of sales and corporate finance, Toni Apgar said.

Apgar is vice president and group publishing director for the Healthy Lifestyles Group at Primedia Enthusiast Publications, Stamford, Conn. During her tenure as editor, Vegetarian Times won the James Beard Foundation Journalism Award.

After years of editing publications, including Folio: and Direct, Apgar made the move to publishing director. "I never held the title of publisher," she said. "I’m not sure this is how I planned it, but I should have."

Moving from editor to publishing director means making more public appearances, overseeing broad editorial policy, setting budgets and directing marketing strategy. While many publishing directors are former publishers, and most of those are former salespeople, Apgar doesn’t consider the lack of selling experience to be a handicap.

"Any editor is perfectly positioned to take the magazine to the next step," she said. "Editors are good at strategic thinking; publishers are good at selling."

Apgar’s advice for those considering the move up the corporate ladder:

• Make Excel your friend. Getting to know Microsoft's spreadsheet software is a must. "Words used to be my currency, now it’s numbers," she said.

• Get to know and love ratios. Use those spreadsheet skills to track ratios such as revenue per employee; revenue per editor; editor expenses to revenue and more.

• Get to know circulation. "You need to go to your circulation department bearing gifts: premiums, lists, ideas."

• Read the reader-requalification card. "Then ask what it means."

• Read Harvard Business Review. "The people you’re working for do."

• Lose the arrogance. "Business types are scared of editors. They’re afraid to put things down on paper continued from previous page because we intimidate them."

• Get invited to strategy sessions. "If you’re not invited, ask. If you’re asked, go."

• Ask questions relentlessly. Take notes. Ask to attend important meetings.

• Never lose touch.

In selecting publishers for publications, Apgar said there are three areas of expertise from which to draw: those with backgrounds in editorial, circulation or ad sales. "Editors who know circulation are my first choice," she said. "You know what readers are thinking and ad sales doesn’t."

Marketing Yourself

Therese Gallagher, a recruiter with Howard Sloan Koller Group, New York, said editors don’t have to wait for their next assignment to begin the process of reinventing themselves. The best candidates have proven expertise and track records, but don’t have to wait to develop their on-line or entrepreneurial competencies.

For instance, editors can:

• Create their own personal Web sites, which will demonstrate that they are at least comfortable and not strangers to the Web world.

• Spin off a newsletter or other limited publication that shows their ability to launch a project and explore new revenue areas.

• Oversee new feature sections, which demonstrates their ability to lead projects and help publications evolve.

• Help organize and run conferences and gatherings in their publication’s field, which shows their ability to operate in one of the faster-growing areas of the publication industry.

• Pick up an advanced degree, such as an M.B.A., which will demonstrate that an editor is serious about moving ahead in management.

"Mentor or shadow your current publisher," Gallagher advised. "Pick his or her brains. Get the P&L statements and learn what they really mean."

"Editing and writing skills are still important in the dot-com world," Gallagher said. "But two or three years from now, it will be a shortcoming if you don’t have electronic expertise."

The best way to find those new online opportunities is to put together your own marketing campaign, including conducting your own research. "Find the new companies coming up by reading Red Herring, the Industry Standard, Business 2.0," she said. "Keep your răsumă current and sharp, keep up your personal appearance and market yourself like you’re marketing your own publication."

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