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 Suzanne Martin, Editor and Founder of Westender Magazine, who’s also going to be one of our brilliant speakers at this year’s Magazine Street.
You can follow Suzanne on LinkedIn and Instagram – remember to connect and say hello!
Tell us about yourself
Working in magazines was not something I saw in my future when I started my Open University degree in Humanities with Literature. Going a bit brain dead working in travel (stayed too long) I didn’t start my degree till age 28. I completed the course after son #1 and started Westender Magazine after son #2. Why? Because I couldn’t actually afford to stay where I was.
People talk about having a light bulb moment. Frustrated at the lack of a central hub for local information as a new mum, I couldn’t believe there wasn’t a local magazine for my area of Glasgow. Oh wait.
What’s on your mind?
I’m currently avoiding world news so I can concentrate on fun things like building the magazine into a self-managing business. I’m at the point where I’d love to take a step back and get creative strategically rather than being in the weeds every day. I love publishing as much as ever but I can definitely think of other ways to take the magazine. Being more digitally minded post-Covid has been a game changer… and now there’s podcasts and memberships… I’m just as excited as ever.
Members receive their first 5 Ikon Images illustration uses for £50 each
What’s the best article you’ve
read this month?
In my mission to avoid toxic world news, I loved Ms Magazine’s article on the movie Prime Minister at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Winner of the Audience Award in the World Cinema Documentary Competition, Prime Minister follows world leader and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern over her five years in office.
Aviva Dove-Viebahn’s article concludes ‘Prime Minister offers a sympathetic portrayal of a politician with a vision marked by optimism and strength who admirably insists on the importance of kindness and collectivism in politics.’
Don’t we need a whole lot more of that ethos in politics right now?
Show us an incredible magazine cover
I’m a sucker for The New Yorker covers. Clean and clear of cover lines they are works of art and I find their 6 October 2014 cover so simple and effective – you know exactly where you are. And being all about digital as well as print, I love that this was their first use of a GIF for their digital version with the raindrops beautifully gliding down the cover. Clever, very clever, and very beautiful.
What’s your top tip for publishers?
My top tip is look to your mindset, nurture your mental health, and invest in your personal development.
Just before Covid I lifted my head and started thinking of the magazine as an actual business and joined networking groups and took business courses. Post-Covid it became very clear to me that the main blockage in the business was me and my limiting mindset. Imposter syndrome was very real, and still can be, but I now feel the fear and do it anyway.
If I’m not going to die I don’t see why I can’t give it a go – making it up, just like everyone else.
Please, invest in yourself, get yourself a life coach, subscribe to the Miracle Morning, download a Meditation app like Happier, sign up for Darren Daily to set your day on the right path, go on to YouTube and join Adriene’s 30 day yoga challenge (I do my daily practice between my desk and my bed).
Investing in my personal growth has been emotionally stretching and very very uncomfortable at times – it’s not an easy route – but it’s also been a game changer. Take your big leap and amaze yourself.
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 many International Magazine Centre members have invested in a digital business or publishing course?
Need more of this in your life?
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