Once a month we invite our member magazine publishers and enthusiasts to guest-edit our fortnight 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 Katie McQuater, Head of Editorial at Research Live. You can follow Katie on LinkedIn – remember to connect and say hello!
Tell us about yourself
I’m Katie McQuater, head of editorial at Research Live, which is published by the Market Research Society (MRS). In my role, I work to foster curiosity, growth and connections within the research and insight sector. In addition to leading the publication, I write on a range of topics within insight, marketing, consumer behaviour and technology. For four years, I also edited the organisation’s award-winning print magazine, Impact. Prior to joining MRS, I was magazine and features editor at marketing industry publication The Drum.
What’s on your mind?
I’ve been particularly busy with developing our content strategy and ensuring that the publication is reflecting the needs of its audiences (a key focus for me this year – ironically, we need to do more research there!). The sector we cover is undergoing a substantial shift with the adoption of AI – one that feels significant and contrasts with the ‘new shiny thing’ syndrome that can be prevalent in trade publishing.
With AI reshaping how the research industry works, I want to make sure the publication reminds professionals of the value of their role and humanity. There are so many great untold research stories out there, unacknowledged by modest researchers and anxious corporate press teams. As one of the only publications covering this space, I feel it’s our role and responsibility to highlight more of these stories. A lot of my time is spent speaking to people to make this happen.
Aside from that, there is SO much noise out there. I’ve spent a lot of time disconnecting from AI slop-filled social media and reconnecting with local journalism like The Bell.
What’s the best article you’ve
read this month?
I’m cheating a bit as this was actually published a few months back, but I enjoyed ‘What if our ancestors didn’t feel anything like we do’ in The Atlantic (December 2025 online, January 2026 print edition). I was fascinated by the historians working to understand how people experienced emotions and senses in the past. I think as humans we often tend to view things through our own modern experience of living and assume a lot of things about people in the past: they must have been terribly miserable, or they were very stoical and resilient. Because, writes Gal Beckerman, “not only do we imagine other people to have the exact same set of emotions that we have, but we project this thought backwards through time”.
Show us an incredible magazine cover
Time’s September 2020 issue for its striking use of data to illustrate the milestone of 200,000 American Covid-19 deaths, and the choice to fade the masthead into the background to highlight the numbers.
What’s your top tip for publishers?
As someone who has spent my career trying to be more decisive – I think – the biggest piece of advice I received from a former editor was: ‘You just need to make the decision. You might not make the right one, but it’s your job to make it.’
Earlier in my career, I struggled with this. You can agonise for hours over a spread or a heading, fearing the consequences of an erroneous apostrophe to be forever recorded in print, you can worry about what content strategy to pursue – but it can stop you from doing anything or result in a watered-down finished product. At the end of the day, you need to trust your experience and intuition. Back yourself to do the right thing in that moment.
It can be lonely, though – especially if you’re solo or running a very small team, like I am. I’ve found having a good network around myself has been key. Being able to mull over a question on WhatsApp or go for a drink with former colleagues and industry friends has been so helpful – and fun! – especially in these hybrid-working days.
So, my tips: 1) Be more decisive – do the thing. 2) Don’t be a stranger. Speak to folk you trust and share your concerns and ideas.
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: How can you encourage more readers to engage with your publication fully, rather than just engaging via LinkedIn posts/on social media?
Need more of this in your life?
Subscribe to our newsletters here and follow us on social on the links below.