Part 3 (1/2)

Chapter Four.

About journal publis.h.i.+ng.

Journal publis.h.i.+ng is a far less well known part of publis.h.i.+ng than any we looked at in the previous chapter. Yet, arguably, it's at least as important. In fact, without it, whole areas of academic discipline from medical and scientific research to philosophy and literary theory would grind to a halt.

Publishers who produce journals perform a vital function in the academic world. They are responsible for bringing together and making available the best academic research, so that scholars can make known their own findings and discover what else is going on in their field. So specialised and so important is journal publis.h.i.+ng that we've dedicated a whole chapter to it.

It's a curious beast, your journal half book and half magazine. It's also dramatically challenged by the forces of economics: there are too many journals and too few readers; the cost of producing them is too high; technology, in the form of electronic publis.h.i.+ng, is rapidly swamping the traditional 'dead wood' (paper) model.

What's going on?

Periodicals are generally published regularly on a subscription basis payable in advance, and are despatched directly by the publisher to the subscriber (even if the sale is made through a third-party subscription agent). A serial is usually published at irregular intervals (once a year or less frequently), is invoiced at the time of publication and is warehoused like a book by the supplier before sale. The term 'journals' is commonly used to refer to both.

Being published in peer-reviewed journals is an essential part of the system of progression for academic and scientific careers. The journals serve as the bush telegraph for innovations, ideas, the reporting of important research and the charting of both individual and organisational effectiveness.

Individuals, or teams working together, submit their work as an article (which is still referred to as a 'paper') for possible publication, and these are read for quality and relevance to the journal for which they have been proposed, and then a decision is made on which to include within the next edition. The overall journal editor may then write a foreword to the selection made, drawing the reader's attention to specific items of interest, or suggesting that the debate be continued in a particular direction. Sometimes a complete edition of a journal may consist of the proceedings of a conference, with all those who presented a paper asked to contribute to the journal that formally records what happened, perhaps with the addition of the edited questions and answers at the end of sessions.

* Some journals are started and managed by publishers.

* Some are run by publishers on behalf of professional societies and organisations.

* Some societies run their own journals, and while this means they keep any a.s.sociated profits (from subscriptions and advertising), managing a journal is an immensely time-consuming process and arguably better organised by those who are experts and handle a range of other t.i.tles (ie professional publishers). Such society-run journals can make an attractive takeover option for publishers looking to expand, and a great option for people wanting to get a foothold in publis.h.i.+ng getting a job there may not be as compet.i.tive, and you can get some excellent experience before moving on. (Best not mention that's your plan in the job interview!) Journals may be produced electronically or in printed format, sometimes both. Long term, it looks virtually inevitable that the printed journal will become extinct not only because it is so much more expensive to produce and because readers are so scarce, but also because an electronically published journal can be accessed by scholars throughout the world without needing to take a trip to the library. Still, strong preferences for print within some markets (notably the communities involved in law and taxation) mean this will probably be a long time coming.

Who are the customers?

Customers for journals are, in the main, professionals involved in the relevant discipline, academics and libraries, although as the resources themselves become more expensive, the likelihood of individuals having their own subscription is diminis.h.i.+ng. It is much more likely that they will subscribe through their corporation or library and be able to access it from their desk.

This creates a sticky issue. Journal publishers increasingly bundle together different journals as part of an offer price to organisations and libraries, and while this represents a considerable saving on the cost of subscribing to individual t.i.tles, it also means they end up paying for, and managing, lots of material they didn't want. Budgets are limited, and there is increasing resentment against what are perceived to be exploitative publishers.

Deep down, many librarians a.s.sume that they are financially supporting the academic reward system. Academics who publish papers gain research points (and hence funding) for their inst.i.tutions, and promotion for themselves; founding or editing a journal offers similar profile advantages. And nor is each paper necessarily completely different from everything else that appears; in recent years the 'salami effect' of reporting research has been widely commented on: slicing the reporting of research thinly and publis.h.i.+ng in a variety of different journals so that the number of publications goes up (and points win prizes). Librarians end up funding this out of ever-diminis.h.i.+ng budgets. This is a very real concern when resources are already over-stretched and a major problem for journal publis.h.i.+ng.

What does it take to get ahead in journal publis.h.i.+ng?

* Instant expertise. Journal publis.h.i.+ng staff need to know about the areas covered by their publications. However, given that a far higher number of arts students than scientists come into publis.h.i.+ng, it is unlikely that those allocated to the journal division will have a specialist understanding of the t.i.tles they work on. Even so, it's vital that you at least try to look as if you do. It probably will not occur to the market to think you are not involved. This means that if you go to meetings you must talk knowledgeably, spotting areas of the subject that might form a journal of their own.

I had a friend keen to get into publis.h.i.+ng. She started out as a consultant editor for a small medical journal the only employee, working three days a week. The specialist topic of this journal was, ahem, s.e.xually transmitted diseases. When I rang her at work, she would answer with a chirpy 'h.e.l.lo, Venereology?' (SUSANNAH) This makes journals an excellent place to get started in publis.h.i.+ng if you've completed a science or business degree or have experience in those areas. It's a great opportunity for you to use your specialist expertise and knowledge to launch yourself and then slowly wiggle your career across to the (in your view) far s.e.xier areas of trade publis.h.i.+ng that really float your boat. Or indeed, find that you love science journal publis.h.i.+ng so much that you're there to stay!

* Commitment. Subscriptions can be long term (on average seven years) and staff who give their time to a journal on a voluntary basis (the editor may receive an honorarium, but most of the board will only receive expenses) want to see the same faces from the publis.h.i.+ng house they like continuity in their contacts. A longer-term perspective is also enhanced by the increased understanding that journal publishers build up of their market. Whereas most forms of publis.h.i.+ng tend to be one-offs, with a journal campaign you get the chance to feed what you learnt from one campaign into the next. And being able to demonstrate your increasing effectiveness in penetrating a market offers the chance to measure your profit: rates of pay are in general higher in journals than in other areas of book publis.h.i.+ng, and are perhaps on a par with salaries in magazines (which is not entirely surprising, since they are magazines, of a specialist kind).

A word on timeliness Journals publish to a strict and immovable timetable: the dates by which articles must be approved, changes submitted and signed off are all advertised long in advance, and you must be outstanding at both encouraging others to stick to them, and keeping within them yourself. When you are more familiar with the area for which you are publis.h.i.+ng you need to look further ahead, spotting the opportunities for special issues, anniversary issues, or those timed to coincide with conferences.

There is a range of meetings at which contributors, editors and others involved (often those trying to sell to the market) get together, most usually at the annual conference. The journal's publishers need to be there too.

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Journal Publishers 1. Network like crazy, and remember the names and faces of those you meet at conferences. (Chapter 13 is about networking: swallow it whole.) In particular, work on your memory. A good memory, backed up by meticulous record-keeping, will reap dividends so you know, for example, which approach to which society producing which journal did or did not work. If you get into the habit of making notes and take the trouble to remember names and faces, you'll go far.

2. Think strategically, act tactically. You need to understand and think hard about the market you're operating in, your publis.h.i.+ng house's stake within it and the role the journal(s) you are working on perform. The key to journal publis.h.i.+ng is opportunism, the ability to build upon your presence within the market to launch more journals and/or make your existing ones more and more a part of the subject rather than a feeder to it. The ability to spot new publis.h.i.+ng opportunities, or new commercial opportunities within existing ones, is fairly rare, and consequently very valuable.

3. Be a political animal. Because of its high degree of specialisation, journal publis.h.i.+ng attracts contributions from both geniuses and self-promoting also-rans, and the ability to spot the difference is critical. All professions have their rising (or aspiring) stars who cultivate eccentricities to get noticed (bow ties, being late for everything/entering with style, unusual jewellery or clothes, voting Tory), and the publisher's job is to distinguish the genuinely talented from the attention-seekers.

4. Develop a ferocious eye for detail. You're dealing with immensely complicated and technical material, which you probably don't even begin to understand. Getting it 100% right is hard, thankless work no-one's ever going to congratulate you on getting a fiendishly complex mathematical formula right, for example, however many you clock up. Get one wrong, however, and you'll never hear the last of it.

5. Have a thick skin, for the above reason.

6. Be tactful. Those who are submitting papers are in general not paid for their contributions; they have to juggle the time to write them with their other personal and work responsibilities. Coaxing out the material you are expecting, by the agreed deadline, requires tact, diplomacy and the patience of a saint.

7. Finally, commercial nous. An understanding of financial realities and the ability to read a balance sheet are useful to journal publishers, who must remain conscious of their usefulness to the publisher they are part of. You need to be ever mindful of the benefits your journals operation offers to the publis.h.i.+ng house's overall profitability many journal programmes form a huge and enduring part of the house's overall income. Even more useful, it is in general a stable and recurring income, as subscribers are more likely to continue taking the journal as long as it is professionally useful to them or until their librarian suggests it's no longer economically viable to subscribe.

Conclusion.

Like any area of publis.h.i.+ng, journal publis.h.i.+ng is not for everyone. However, it's been the springboard for many a successful and profitable publis.h.i.+ng career. It pays pretty well. You're dealing with people pa.s.sionate about their subject who genuinely need the information you're publis.h.i.+ng. For those who do it, journal publis.h.i.+ng can be every bit as rewarding and intellectually stimulating as any other area of publis.h.i.+ng.

Chapter Five.

About magazine publis.h.i.+ng.

If your ideas about life on a magazine come from Ugly Betty, The Devil Wears Prada or Just Shoot Me, think again. Just as in every American movie people seem to be able to afford multi-million-dollar houses and drive hulking great SUVs despite being on the minimum wage, so it is with Just Shoot Me. A huge staff and hardly any work is hardly representative of the real world.

Yes, the very biggest magazines do have substantial resources and, yes, there are even one or two superstar editors with giant budgets and bigger egos. But to imagine that's Magazine World as a whole is as misconceived as to imagine that life for everyone in the music biz is like Beyonce's, or every footballer's life is like David Beckham's. There is, as his fans like to insist, only one David Beckham.

And in fact it's pretty obvious when you think about it why The Devil Wears Prada isn't a representation of reality it's not trying to be. Its purpose is to entertain and amaze: it's not a doc.u.mentary. (Actually, while we're at it, even a doc.u.mentary wouldn't tell you what day-today, boring, humdrum reality is like, for the fairly basic, boring, humdrum reason that no-one would watch it except the people involved and their mums.) So, what is life in Magazine World like? Here are five truths. They're mostly based on the editorial side of things, because that's where magazines are most distinctive advertising sales, on the other hand, is pretty much like sales in any other area.

1. It's a money-making venture This is Number One for a reason: we can't stress it enough. First and foremost, magazines are there to make money for their owners. For some people, this discovery is just like biting l.u.s.tily into an apple and finding, not even a maggot but half a one. The disgust and disillusionment is palpable. The fortunate ones, perhaps like you, find this out by being told about it long before they ever get to experience it for themselves.

Yet even as this book was being put together, one of the world's richest men, Paul Getty, was looking for a buyer for Wisden and Cricket Monthly. In Australia, the brave two-year-old, left-leaning online magazine New Matilda was being sold for a dollar. Admittedly it was being bought as a rich man's enthusiasm, but your authors wonder how long he'll be content to watch his money dribbling away in hundreds of thousands. If he can't see the day his new toy will start to pay its own way, he's likely to tire of it pretty fast.

You won't be compromising, or at least not in the way you're probably expecting (see item 4 below), which is an understandably common misconception. But you will certainly be required to contribute towards making the magazine you're working on profitable and that means understanding the needs of your advertisers as much as those of your readers. Doing so while maintaining your integrity takes some skill, political savvy and the ability to tell the difference between a battle and a war. Anyway, more about that later. Short version? If being in business (and working on a magazine is being in business) makes you queasy, best look elsewhere: you won't like it. You really, really won't like it and had best head off in a different direction, rather than find out the hard way. Magazines are not for you.

2. It's fantastic, fantastic fun OK, can we talk? Has everyone who thought magazines were about something More n.o.ble Than Money flounced off in pious, self-satisfied disgust? Good. Because just as true as that is this: working on a magazine can be every bit as creative, exhilarating, exciting and just sheer b.l.o.o.d.y fun as you can imagine and maybe more. The sheer excitement of seeing your story on the newsagent's shelves never goes away. In fact, you'll be delighted to discover, the pleasure gets deeper, though perhaps quieter.

If you're genuinely thrilled by seeing your words in print (as we are), if you're bursting with enthusiasm for your subject matter (as we are), and if you're overflowing with pa.s.sion for communicating that enthusiasm then you've found your base: welcome to Magazine World! You've found home. Why? Because: * Magazines are interactive what good magazine doesn't have a vibrant, scintillating 'letters' (even though most are sent by e-mail these days) page? There's an intimacy about magazines between author and reader that books simply cannot match. It's a dialogue, not a monologue.

* Magazines are responsive there's a lag (perhaps about six months or so) while the readers catch up with what you're doing. But if you have something they want, and you're serving it up to them, they'll let you know about it in their droves and suddenly you have a raging success on your hands. Admittedly the opposite is true, too: they'll vote with their feet, right out of the newsagent's.

* Magazines are fast what you write today can be on the shelves, beautifully packaged and ill.u.s.trated, in a matter of weeks, while you can still remember how you felt when you wrote it, and your editor will get letters or e-mails within days. You can float ideas, get them adopted and get them implemented in a gratifyingly short time.

3. It's fast-moving Steve started his first job on magazines in September and was an editor by the following July and a publisher within another 24 months. If he can do it, so can you. He was fortunate in working for a particularly fast-growing, vibrant business but such stories are by no means unprecedented. You can make your mark fast in Magazine World, not least because the product cycle itself is so fast A magazine can go from thought to newsstand in a matter of months and, admittedly, go from newsstand to history even faster. Every year there are thousands of magazines launched around the place, and every year it gets cheaper and easier to do.

In fact, you should think about launching your own magazine. Seriously, why not? Not now, perhaps, but down the road it's certainly an opportunity. Great magazine genius Felix Dennis, one of the most successful and weirdest of proprietors, often told his employees that if they were any b.l.o.o.d.y good they'd be off doing their own b.l.o.o.d.y thing instead of b.l.o.o.d.y working for him. (He may not have said 'b.l.o.o.d.y'.) Put that thought in there somewhere and carry it around. If you don't do it, then sure as anything one or more of your colleagues and co-workers will, and almost certainly they'll be less talented and smart than you. So, why them and not you?

4. Magazines are like family We're a social species and work best as a group, and a magazine resembles a group of friends or, perhaps, a family (ie lots of rows and no s.e.x). A typical magazine has an editor, who looks after the whole thing, and an art editor or art director, who puts together the look. Pretty much they're like mum and dad, and pretty much, working on a magazine is like being one of the kids. At first you're a baby, and everyone looks after you and shows you round. Then you're the teenager, with an urgent desire to make your own impression on the world. Then you outgrow the magazine, and fall out with mum and dad, and leave home or find a way of staying without everyone killing each other.