| He’s
known for his quantitative analyses of editorial performance,
a vast in-house training program, his calls for corporate editorial
director positions, and a consultancy geared to help editors do
their work more effectively.
Howard Rauch,
editorial consultant to business-to-business magazines and former
vice president/editorial director of Gralla Publications, is the
2002 Lifetime Achievement Award honoree of the American Society
of Business Publication Editors.
Rauch is the
ASBPE’s third honoree of the award,
which was first given in 2000 to Bernie
Knill of Penton Media’s Material Handling Engineering
magazine, and last year to Vernon
Henry, corporate editorial director for Advanstar.
Rauch accepted
his award and spoke at ASBPE’s national
Awards of Excellence Banquet on the evening
of June 20 at the Mid-America Club in downtown
Chicago. The awards banquet was held in conjunction
with ASBPE’s
national Business Publication Editorial Conference.
Recognized
for his accomplishments in 40-plus years in editorial, editorial
management, and consulting, Rauch developed extensive programs
for in-house editorial training, quantitative evaluation of editorial
performance, recruitment, competitive analyses, and editorial
marketing while at Gralla (which has since been absorbed into
other publishing companies).
Consulting
Presence
In June 1989,
after an overseas publisher acquired Gralla, Rauch took his editorial
skills and launched Editorial Solutions, a B-to-B editorial consultancy.
With almost 13 years in business since then, Rauch has worked
with more than 38 clients while, he says, “perfecting my
competitive analysis system” and providing a host of editorial
services, including marketing and competitive analyses, training
workshops, startup strategies, and development of editorial director
positions in growing companies.
|
“If
you ... speak up for editorial rights,
you earn the privilege to stay on the
team.” |
His clients
have included Bobit Publishing; Joe
Hanson, founder of Folio: magazine; Jim
Prevor, publisher of Produce Business; and Shore
Varrone (now part of VNU Business Publications USA).
Rauch began
work with Bobit, his long-standing client,
in November 1989. President Ty Bobit wanted “a high level of editorial content.”
Rauch said. “In 1990, I did my first workshop for the Bobit
editorial team; that relationship has continued until now, and
I’ve always been treated as a member
of the family rather than an outsider.”
Rauch said
his Bobit relationship is “my best example of success: longevity!
If you’re a consultant who works enthusiastically
to help clients reach a higher editorial
level, but speak up for editorial
rights in the process, you earn the privilege
to stay on the team.”
More evidence
of the respect Rauch has in the business-publishing
community is the numerous times he’s
been a speaker at the Folio:Show and the
ASBPE national Editorial Conference, at
publishing companies,
and at universities. He has also judged editorial
contests for ASBPE, the Neal Awards, and
at individual publishing companies.
Early Career
Rauch began
his career in 1959 as an assistant editor
covering variety stores and restaurants
in Lebhar Friedman’s Chain Store Age
group. At this early stage, three experiences shaped his future:
1) The
written test based on a field visit. When
applying for an editorial position at Lebhar
Friedman, Rauch said he had “to
visit a variety store ... and then write an article based on interesting
merchandising trends I observed. In my later management years,
I frequently used the field visit as part of the screening process
”when he was hiring prospective employees.
2) The
importance of travel. “Even as an assistant editor, I
was required to constantly visit stores, talking to managers,
and taking photographs of interesting displays,” Rauch said.
“It sunk in pretty quickly that without
these field trips, how could you really know
[about your industry ]?”
3) The
need for multiple skills. “Shortly
after joining the Chain Store Age Variety Store Edition, I was promoted to
a desk editor job on the Restaurant Edition, which eventually
became the powerhouse known as Nation’s
Restaurant News.
My job involved copy editing and layout.
“While
I already had found that business magazine
writing was a challenge, the prospect of
doing layout was absolutely daunting. But
I had
a great teacher! He had lots of patience
with my bumbling.
| “Without
travel, how can you know [about your
industry]?”
|
“Within
a few months, I discovered that, for whatever the reason, I had
an eye for graphics and was soon laying out and pasting up—remember
pasting up?—most of the magazine.”
In later years,
Rauch said he met many editors who never had graphics exposure.
“Because
of this shortfall, they lost out on management opportunities,”
he said. “At the same time, these editors
were happy in jobs that were 100-percent
writing. So they wore one hat well, but
that was the end of it.”
But his teacher
at the Restaurant Edition was a role model
who taught Rauch the
importance of being willing and able to train
others, “a
principle I bought into forever.”
After briefly
holding positions as a newsletter editor for Prentice-Hall, in
public relations, and as a freelance writer, Rauch became managing
editor at Vending Times.
The 16-page
tabloid served a market he had some knowledge of because he had
written for it as a freelancer. Rauch was there for four years,
and the magazine grew from the number-three book in the market
to number one.
| Rauch
says the importance of training others is “a principal
I bought into forever.” |
“There
was travel galore!” Rauch said about
his experience at Vending
Times. “It was not unusual for me
to spend eight or more consecutive weekends
at regional association meetings.
“Again,
I must salute the importance of travel. I
became acquainted with people all over
the country, had dinner with them and their
families,
and we got to know each other as friends
rather than editor and source!”
Vending
Times was known to have a copy deadline two to three days
before printing and mailing, Rauch said.
“It was
like closing a monthly on a weekly schedule.
Compare that to modern times, where lead
times of 30 days or more are the order
of the
day for hapless monthlies battling the eternal
problem of editorial timeliness. Makes
you wonder sometimes about the alleged
benefits
of modern technology.” Gralla
Days
Rauch joined
Gralla in 1968 as editor and associate publisher of a startup
tabloid serving the retail sporting goods business. It had tough
competition from two other magazines that had veteran and well-respected
editors on staff and another publication also coming into the
field.
“At
Gralla, which was to be a 21-year stop, I firmed up the view that
a capable business magazine editor acquires expertise in any field
if he or she works at it,” Rauch said. “On
the other hand, it may be harder for professionals
with extensive industry
knowledge to join a magazine in an editorial
capacity and fulfill creative obligations
effectively. The experienced editor versus
the experienced professional question is
an interesting debate
that may never be resolved. But now you know
my position.”
| “A
capable business magazine editor
acquires expertise in any field if
he or she works at it.” |
Over the next
several years, Rauch was editor or publisher of four other magazines
before being named vice president/editorial director in 1976.
The company was then launching its 12th magazine. During his tenure,
Gralla grew to 20 magazines staffed by more than 100 editors.
It was as
editorial director that Rauch refined many
of his editorial concepts and developed
programs incorporating his principles.
The corporate
editorial director, he believed, was the
only person capable of setting corporate
editorial standards and the only way an
entire
publishing company could argue that its publications achieve editorial
excellence.
Training. “My favorite accomplishment was creating one of the most
extensive in-house editorial training programs in the business
magazine field,” he said.“At its
peak, the program had more than 40 workshops
a year geared to various junior and/or
senior editorial management levels. Many
people knew of my in house program and were
eager to launch something similar in their
organizations.”
One result
of Rauch’s reputation was his writing
a chapter on career development for the second
edition of The Magazine.
Among the
topics of his in-house sessions were:
Performance
Evaluations. As
both as an editor and editorial director,
Rauch wrestled with how to discuss performance
issues with staff. “The typical
approach, equally frustrating for supervisor and subordinate,
was management by adjectives,” Rauch said. “You’ve
heard those discussions before, I’m sure, such as ‘not
enough volume’ ‘work needs heavy editing,’ ‘it
takes you too long to write features.”
| Rauch’s
favorite accomplishment has been
creating in-house editorial training
programs. |
Rauch believed
a capable editorial manager, using a
reasonable metric, must
decide how long it should take a staff
member to do any job. This covered routine
work—writing product items or doing
production—as well as researching and writing the most
complex “roundup” feature.
Applying
quantitative standards to qualitative work
was hardly popular, he said. “Still, it was a hot topic back in the’70s,
and my Lone Ranger-like work in this
area got the attention
of several industry program chairpersons.
Thus, I began a 15-year run of delivering
editorial-performance workshops at Folio: conferences.”
In 1984,
Rauch wrote in Folio: what has been called the first
definitive position paper on performance-evaluation standards.
Later, two personnel-management articles he wrote for Folio:
were included in the 1991 edition of The Handbook of Magazine
Publishing.
“This
matter of quantitative standards—now designated as ‘editorial
performance metrics’ in post-9/11 strategy plans written
by certain publishers—may never be
resolved. What top management must realize,
of course, is that there is no convenient
one-size-fits-all
approach. Metrics must be tailored to individual
magazines; without that, goals editors
may be asked to achieve often are
unrealistic.”
Content
Analyses. Another of Rauch’s strong interests was developing
a method for competitive analyses and other forms of editorial
marketing. “When making calls with salespeople, I frequently
observed that they were ‘all thumbs’ when
it came to matching strengths of our magazines
vs. the opposition.
Because
of my previously expressed predilection
for quantitative expression, I began
work on an ‘editorial counts’ system.”
Why not
emphasize qualitative strengths alone?
“Because,
unfortunately, many advertisers were looking for an easy yardstick
that demystified business-magazine evaluation. If you could
prove you were doing more—whether it be four-color graphic
usage, attention to specific product categories, or statistical
enterprise—this was easier to sell,” Rauch
said.
“I
want to emphasize that none of the endeavors
I pursued would have gone very far without
the encouragement of Milt and Larry
Gralla. Both were editors by background
and strongly supported the importance
of demonstrated editorial superiority.” Read
Rauch’s acceptance speech
See what
Howard Rauch thinks are the biggest challenges for editors today.
What
Others Say About Howard Rauch
“Congratulations
to Howard Rauch on being named the 2002 ASBPE Lifetime
Achievement Award winner.
“Howard
was a strong influence on editorial excellence
at Shore-Varrone,Inc., (now part of VNU
Business Publications) as he has been
throughout
the B-to-B publishing industry.
“I
enjoyed working with Howard in his capacity
as an editorial consultant to Shore-Varrone,
and wish I had been able to learn
from him when I was starting out in this
business as a young and very inexperienced
editor.” —Doug
Shore
private investor and former chairman and co-CEO, Shore-Varrone,
Inc.
“As
a former partner at SVI
and vice president of Gralla Publications in New York, I had
the opportunity to work with Howard for many years. We actually
worked closely together for 13 years as the leaders of a unique
team that started new magazines and cured sick ones. A few that
come to mind are Sporting Goods Business, Catalog Showroom
Business, Supermarketing, and National Jeweler.
“Howard
was the best editor and editorial director I worked with in
my 35-year career in business publishing. He’s
an outstanding writer, teacher, and idea
man. [He was also] sensitive and supportive
of the difficult job of selling advertising.
“I’m
thrilled to hear that he is getting the
ASBPE Lifetime Achievement
Award.”
—Stan
Berman
consultant, Berman Media Sales Inc.
“When
critiquing our magazines, Howard never told me what
I wanted to hear. He told me what I needed to hear.
“Praise
from Howard doesn’t come easily. But when it comes, you
can be certain you’ve gotten it right.”
—Linda
Longton
vice president, editorial, Randall Publishing
About the Lifetime
Achievement Award
Our Lifetime
Achievement Award was established in 2000 to recognize editors
who have made significant and lasting contributions to our editorial
profession and to the industries their magazines serve. Previous
recipients were Vernon
Henry of Advanstar Communications and Bernie
Knill of Penton Media.
To receive
the Lifetime Achievement award, a candidate must meet four requirements:
-
Significant
tenure (20 years or more) on business publications.
Nominees need not currently hold editorial positions, and
may be retired, but they must have spent the bulk of their
careers in senior editorial positions. Nominees need not
be members of ASBPE.
-
A
commitment to editorial excellence.
This may be demonstrated by general reputation of their
publications(s); industry-related awards (e.g., ASBPE, Neal
Awards, Folio:); internal company awards; other forms of
recognition or other valid measures of editorial success.
-
A
commitment to the business and professional press.
Nominees should be or have been involved in lending their
experience and time to benefit others in the business press.
Examples might be participation in local or national business
press or related organizations, corporate or university
teaching, mentoring programs, or significant research or
publication of articles on business press issues.
- A
commitment to the industries their publications serve.
Examples include committee work with trade or professional
associations or standards groups; frequent speaking engagements
at industry events; significant research or publication of
articles on industry issues; or significant advocacy work
with government agencies.
|
Howard Rauch