Once a month we invite our member magazine publishers and enthusiasts to guest-edit our fortnightly email newsletter. The aim is to inspire others with magazine-related content, connect members and build our community so we can learn from each other.
This month our guest editor is writer, editor and content marketer Steven Short. You can follow Steven on LinkedIn and Instagram – remember to connect and say hello!
Tell us about yourself
I launched my first magazine in Barcelona in 1994 and have spent 15 years working in contract publishing (as it was then) before going freelance working as Short Stories Ltd. I recently stepped down from editing the global luxury glossy Christie’s International Real Estate magazine and I currently edit Property Professional magazine as well as writing for the likes of Telegraph Travel and Food + Drink magazine.
I also help boutique brands with their content marketing and social strategy, and have published five themed limited-edition collections of short stories (by established and new writers). You can buy Short Stories About Mothers & Fathers on etsy here. I’m currently writing a ‘kind of non-linear memoir’ on Substack.
What’s on your mind?
I’ve been musing on ‘the unsweet spot’ lately – being 10 years too old for a ‘big’ job and 10 years too young to retire. There seems to be quite a lot of us about at the moment, magazine folk who feel we need to ‘reinvent’ ourselves. Lots of people I’ve known and worked with over the years are at the ‘what now?’ point of their careers, especially as decent magazine gigs are scarcer and digital margins ever fiercer. Lisa Marks has written well about this experience and has just launched her second Substack on this topic (overachiever alert). She’s calling her new newsletter The Third Shoebox, with advice on how to thrive during ‘the younger stages of mid-life’. You can sign up for it here. (PS, I’m not doing Lisa’s PR!)
What’s the best article you’ve
read this month?
There are a few people who could write about paint drying and make it compelling reading. Among them Kate Atkinson, Margaret Atwood, Ali Smith and David Sedaris. Earlier this month Sedaris wrote a piece for the New Yorker about being summoned to meet the Pope, which was funny. Sedaris is gently withering about His Holiness and I loved hearing how he went to the Vatican’s tailor to order himself a frock coat – he’s the only man in his 60s who can get away with wearing culottes (and he picks up other people’s litter).
Show us an incredible magazine cover
On the front cover of the first issue of Muy Fragil an arts magazine I co-founded in Barcelona in the 1990’s, we had the eyes and nose of a young guy. It wasn’t until you flipped the magazine over that you realised that the rest of his face had been blown to bits (it was a war photo). I’ve always loved covers that tease and surprise. Vivienne Westwood dressed as Margaret Thatcher for the cover of Tatler in 1989 was inspired- still looks great today.
What’s your top tip for publishers?
Be curious and never stop learning. I know that sounds like some hideous plaque you’d hang on your wall next to the ones that say ‘live, laugh, love’ and ‘gin o’clock’ but I make an effort to keep up with new stuff – music, apps, books and magazines – and try to be open to change.
I love opening a new magazine and thinking, ‘Oh, that’s clever! Wish I’d thought of that’ and looking at what millennials / gen Z are up to. I don’t think Tiktok is right for me but I need to know what it is, and why people love it, as it might come in handy for future projects.
I like having a view on Taylor Swift. I’ve also done a few free courses with FutureLearn to keep my brain in gear and recently did a certificate in digital marketing. It was good to be reminded of how much knowledge I’d picked up by osmosis over the years and I enjoyed the formal aspect of the work – and getting it evaluated, though my heart would sink when I’d get an email saying, ‘This is a good start…’.
I also enjoy Sheryl Garratt’s LinkedIn posts. Garratt is an old-school magazine editor who now coaches professional creatives. A recent post was about getting back into the swing of work after the lazy (lazier) days of summer.
Questions for the community
What subject or issue would you like the International Magazine Centre Members Group to discuss and untangle over on LinkedIn?
My question is: Many Magazine publishers are one person bands or a tiny team. What’s the best way of marketing your publication if you don’t have resources to hire a social media manager and marketing team?
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