Category: Industry Voices

The conference, sponsored by our IPN strategic partner Pensord and moderated by Tilly McAuliffe from Think Publishing, opened with a presentation from the President of INNOVATION Media, Juan Señor, who took the audience thorough 14 business models for media innovation in the digital age, emphasising the value of the digital content that publishers provide.

Other presentations included Laura Jenner, Product Director of Immediate Media who explained the importance of placing the customer at the heart of product-led thinking and Julian Rose, founder of Chemical Watch, who explored the way market research led to his company’s pivot from a B2B news business to an enterprise membership platform.

A series of round table sessions, which included topics such as Sustainability and Plastic Alternatives, Exit Hacks and Text and Logo tracking with the NLA, was followed by the keynote presentation from Mark Allen, Chairman of the Mark Allen Group. Having built his £50 million family business from scratch, Allen spoke about the ups and downs and the hits and misses on his journey to becoming one of the UK’s most respected characters in independent publishing.

The awards ceremony, hosted by the comedian and actor Jessica Fostekew, followed in the afternoon, with 21 PPA independent publisher accolades awarded to a variety of individuals, teams and publications.

Highlights from the day included TTG Media taking home three awards, including Editor of the Year, Relaunch of the Year and Independent Publishing Company of the Year. Wanderlust Publications were highly commended for Consumer Magazine of the Year and won Digital Innovator of the Year and Team of the Year while the cycling magazine, Rouleur, picked up two awards for Front Cover of the Year and Writer of the Year.

On congratulating the winners at the awards, PPA CEO Barry McIlheney said: “There is so much passion and creativity in this part of the industry, and these awards are for those are really pushing the boundaries and driving the sector forward.”

For a full list of the PPA Independent Publisher Award winners, click here

Photo credits: http://noahdacosta.com/

With one in four people experiencing a mental health problem each year, the company has pledged their support throughout Mental Health Awareness Month.

Bath Mind is an independently run charity, who provide information, activities, advice, and support surrounding mental health. They work to not only help those with mental ill health, but also take preventative measures, aiming to maintain and improve wellbeing for as many people as possible. They will be running a number of events throughout October, offering support and training, and promoting awareness around the local area of Bath.

This collaboration marks another move toward Anthem’s focus on health and wellbeing, who chose Bath Mind as their company charity in April this year. As a company, they feel strongly that mental health is of the utmost importance and are taking serious and important steps to raise awareness and funds for the charity. 

CEO of Anthem, Jon Bickley, said: “We at Anthem take incredibly seriously the work done by Bath Mind, and will support them in any way that we can. We will be working incredibly hard throughout October to promote Mental Health Awareness Month and raise awareness amongst our audiences of what help is available, and how they themselves can support Bath Mind. We are delighted to be able to donate 10p from every magazine sold throughout October and hope that our support can make a difference.”

What made you want to work in the publishing industry?

I grew up in a golden era of magazines. I was completely immersed in magazine culture as a teenager. More, Smash Hits!, Just Seventeen – when the Smash Hits! sticker issue came out we would obsess over it. I had my most informative years based in magazine culture, so it felt like a very organic step to integrate that into my work life as well as my personal teenage life.

What has been the highlight of your career so far?

Working here is a massive privilege. I have a huge amount of purpose, working with brilliant men and women and seeing life through a feminist lens. However, my career highlight was probably getting the publisher of Cosmopolitan job. It was such a seminal moment because I grew up with that brand and it was so important to me. Farrah transformed the brand into something that became a lot more modern and relevant.

What is the most exciting thing on the horizon for Stylist?

There is Stylist Strong which is a boutique fitness brand which is all around mental and physical strength for women. It’s an amazing pivot for a brand wanting to diversify what a publisher normally does. We look at content that works really well and we build an event around it. Editorially, our Love Women initiative which is on our 10th birthday, is a moment for reflection and a moment to look forward.

What has been the biggest challenge of the transition from Shortlist Media to Stylist Group?

With the closure of any magazine there comes a huge emotional cost with that decision and from my point of view, it was around saying goodbye to some really talented people. The magazine industry is beautiful but fragile, but I sense that it has more power than it ever has.

How do you handle your deadlines?

My whole life is a deadline. I e-mail myself all the time with my to-do list, so I basically have a very aggressive and goal-orientated pen pal who e-mails me about 15 times a day with things to do. We will always hit them, and we will always get them done. You have to. I always know it can be done, its always about at what cost.

What would people be surprised to know about your job?

That it’s absolutely hilarious. We laugh all the time. I have formed some of my closest friendships in this industry, built on an understanding that what we do is important and what we do has purpose but that it should be done with fun. Laughter is the best leveller. Women’s magazine brands can have a certain coldness attached to them and lack of comradeship, but not at Stylist.

What would be your typical day?

There isn’t one. It’s a combination of external client meetings, managing current projects, managing current team conversations and working on big ideas with editorial.

What is the last photo you took on your phone?

It’s of David Groll at Reading.

What would be in your Room 101?

Misogynists

Whose phone number do you wish you had?

Phoebe Waller-Bridge

What is the worst piece of advice you have ever been given?

Cheer up love and smile more

Introvert or Extrovert?

Extrovert

Optimist or Pessimist?

Practical optimist

Film or TV?
TV: Bake Off, Years & Years, Handmaids Tale

Sweet or Savoury?

Both – Reeces Pieces are my favourite

What magazine would be your Sunday afternoon or long train journey read?

The re-launched Face

Chart your journey from the start to your current position.

I started at Huff Post, working on the style offering that they had at Huff Post at the time. That was my first staff job and I loved it. Then I went to Metro UK to the digital side of things, at the time when the paper and the website were separating and The Mail Online had acquired Metro.co.uk and became deputy social media editor. I was then approached by what was then i100 and is now indy100. It was quite different going from the big MailOnline newsroom to i100 which was a whole new vibe with a different group of people. I then went to be the social media editor at the Evening Standard, just before Brexit. While I was there, I brought in two producers who worked on social, a reporter who wrote content for social and a video journalist. They just weren’t utislisng the fact that that this was the Facebook heyday and that people were online all the time. Following that, I went to PinkNews.

What is the importance of LGBTQ+ media?

I think it is important to have a publication that is specifically LGBT because it sets the standards for how LGBT news is reported elsewhere. It’s not only news, but also a resource for some people. We have a lot of people coming to us from very remote locations who could be in a situation where they are the only LGBT person in their town, community, family and the only information they can get is by consuming LGBT media. We are held to an incredibly high standard.

What has drawn you to digital and social rather than print?

I think it was the time that I came into the industry. It seemed really natural. It was never a conscious decision in the beginning. When I came out of university, I went where the work was, and I knew about digital and social because I consumed that type of media a lot.

How does a PPA 30 Under 30 Award add value to your career?

I think it gives you clout, and a sense of personal pride. It was something that I felt really good about. Some really cool people were named in that group, so I was pretty proud to be alongside them.

How do you handle your deadlines?

The hardest lesson that I have learnt is prioritising. I remember when I first started, I did not know how to order my workload or what to do first. Also, you should be honest with whoever is setting your deadline.

What does your typical day involve?

In the morning I will get reports from the 3 middle managers about how we performed the day before on the respective platforms. I will look over the news list and what is being done on the website.

Whose phone number do you wish you had?

Anyone at Google because I am currently locked out of my personal e-mail account and I can’t get hold of anyone.

What is the worst piece of advice you have ever received?

Unsolicited advice in general is bad.

What is the last photo you took on your phone?

I am a trained yoga teacher and I took a photo of prepping for a class I taught.

Room 101?

Baked beans

Introvert or Extrovert?

Introvert

Optimist or Pessimist?

Realist

Film or TV?

Film. I loved Midsommar!

Sweet or Savoury?

Savoury

What magazine would be your Sunday afternoon or long train journey read?

Vogue

What made you want to work in the magazine industry?

I studied graphic design at LCC and there was a moment when I realised that my interest in music, magazines and graphic design came together around NME and The Face. I love magazines for their content and their design. I grew up enjoying the Sunday Times Magazine, NME. There have been magazines in every era that have meant an awful lot to me. With a magazine and graphic design, you get to work with the editors on what the angle is, and what the point is, so you are engaging with the content.

Chart your journey from the start to your current position

I worked on City Limits, BLITZ magazine. I worked as Art Director on Time Out and at The Guardian For ten years I was at John Brown publishing, which was my last job before I set up magCulture as a full-time business.

What do you find most exciting about magazines as a medium for communities?

Our lives depend on groups of people, and magazines reflect that. They build communities around themselves and exude the joy and love people have for a particular subject or niche. That is why magazines do really well on social media because shared interests bring people together.

Are there any particular subject areas that you think are underrepresented in the magazine industry?

We are in the era of niche as opposed to mass. There is always another niche to find. The thing that makes me most excited is that without prompting you find new magazines which will focus on before and post Me Too, diversity, mental health and climate change. All the things that matter to the world in general, bubble up and come through in magazines.

How do you handle your deadlines?

I have multiple deadlines with design clients, the website and talks. I use various apps to keep me going.

What would be your typical day?

There is no typical day. Everything we do everyday is about magazines. We love magazines and everything we do underscores that. It’s a juggle between getting something written and shot for the website, to making sure the shop is stocked, to making sure we have paid the suppliers and making sure the window display is updated. But it’s all about magazines, so what more could you ask?

What is the worst piece of advice you have ever received?

I was told to give up on print because it didn’t have a future.

What is the last photo you took on your phone?

A photo of the session I just took at Magfest – Meet the indies roundtable session.

Room 101

Eggs

Introvert or Extrovert

A bit of both.

Optimist or Pessimist

Optimist

Film or TV

A film on TV

Sweet or Savoury

Savoury

What magazine would be your Sunday afternoon or long train journey read?

The New Yorker

What made you want to work in the magazine industry?

I love the printed word, whether it’s books, ‘papers or magazines. The pace and variety of magazines excited me.

Chart your journey from the start to your current position

I had two great years at COMAG before heading west to the brash upstarts of Future in Bath. I moved from circulation into publishing there, having fun with brands like Computer Arts and PC Format. We didn’t know quite how lucky we were with the market back then! In 2002 I left Future and launched Anthem with Simon Lewis and former director Paul Pettengale, and it’s been an adventure ever since.

How has Anthem Publishing evolved overtime and why have you chosen to pivot to health and wellbeing?

Anthem has grown in clusters like most publishers, with music and food titles coming to pre-eminence over the past half dozen years. But in the last 18 months we’ve sought to move the business to where we can make the biggest impact and actually do something good in areas we care about. Selling the music-making titles was a difficult decision, but it’s unleashed funds to properly invest in building a health and wellbeing media company that’s much more than just print magazines. We’ve made big strides with the purchase of Women’s Running and Healthy Diet, the growth of our vegan and colouring titles and the rollout of video training courses and exciting live events. And there’s much more to come.

How do you handle your deadlines?

I’ve got a great team around me, so deadlines aren’t quite the headache they could be, but I’m quite good at ignoring emails when the time comes to focus.

Walk me through your typical day

I enjoy breakfast time with the ‘paper and 6 Music before cycling the few miles to our office on the other side of Bath. I make a point of talking to Simon and all our senior managers in person as it’s so much more enjoyable, creative and effective than endless rounds of emails. Then there will be more formal meetings with a lot of focus on our digital development and direct revenues at the moment. I’ll invariably take lunch away from my desk either with a meeting in the King William or a sandwich in the park. Then it’s more heads down work in the afternoon or catching up with our distributor, Marketforce.

Whose phone number do you wish you had?

Gareth Southgate, so I could thank him for helping me forget the Roy Hodgson years.

What is the worst piece of advice you have ever been given?

Put flour, water and dye in my hair to make a Mohican for a teenage party. Wrong. It looked like a lump of green dough had been smacked on my head and still haunts me 35 years later.

*What’s the last photo you took on your phone? *

I was just in LA on holiday – this one from the Warners backlot was fun!

What would be in your Room 101?

Email.

Introvert or Extrovert?

Part Jekyll part Hyde.

Optimist or Pessimist?

Optimist – I never leave the match early and always believe Bath City can get those two late goals or Jack Leach can block out the last twenty minutes.

Film or TV?

Films last with you for ever, it’s only truly exceptional TV that justifies your time (unless it’s sport).

Sweet or savoury?

My daughter Amy’s millionaire shortbread.

What magazine would be your Sunday afternoon or long train journey read?

Classic Pop. We still do brilliant Rock and Pop magazines that are perfect for the middle-aged male….

Last year, more than 8,000 readers voted for their favourite place to buy vinyl, with Sound It Out Records of Stockton-on-Tees eventually taking the crown, seeing off established shops in bigger cities, such as the Rough Trade chain, Manchester's Piccadilly Records, Spillers in Cardiff and Brighton's Resident. The two runners-up were Wah Wah Records in Wakefield and Grooves – a community record shop in the Orkney Isles. 

By voting, readers can win £150 of Record Tokens to spend in their favourite shop, plus Record Store Day tote bags and copies of Graham Jones' excellent book, The Vinyl Revival And The Shops That Made It Happen.

Tom Butchart, the owner of 2018 winners Sound It Out Records, said: “I'm absolutely flabbergasted to have won. I saw the list of shops involved and thought, 'there's no chance'. I know a lot of customers who've been coming in here for 20 years, and I know their kids, what they do for a living… I know their lives and they know mine. It's not just a shop, we're a small community. It's true, record shops today, we're more like community centres.”

Long Live Vinyl Editor Gary Walker said: “Independent record shops have been at the very heart of the much talked about vinyl revival.  It's no exaggeration to say the vinyl industry as we know it today wouldn't exist without those shops and the support of Record Store Day. As a magazine, we love to champion those stores because for our readers, they're more than simply shops – they're community hubs, places to learn about new music, make friends and celebrate the joy of vinyl.”  

Long Live Vinyl is a monthly print magazine and website dedicated to all things vinyl, owned by Anthem Publishing. It produces the official Record Store Day guide every March, featuring details of all 500+ releases and distributed to every one of the 250+ participating shops.

The voting form for the Record Shop Of The Year 2019 can be found at www.bit.ly/rsoty2019 with the winning store set to be announced in the January issue of Long Live Vinyl, on sale 5 December 2019.

Featuring 13 exclusive designs from some of the world’s top colouring artists, the 2020 colouring calendar will go on sale this week.

Since its re-launch in 2017, the magazine has built a strong relationship with the colouring world and has established a loyal and engaged following.

Colouring Heaven magazine have also committed to donating 50p from every calendar sold to mental health charity, Mind Bath. Anthem Publishing have recently nominated Mind Bath as their company charity, and are hopeful that the popularity of Colouring Heaven magazine will mean a generous donation for them.

Editor of Colouring Heaven, Jenny Cook, said: “This is an exciting new project for us and one we hope to continue with in coming years. It is great to find another opportunity to highlight new artists and provide our readers with new and exclusive colouring material. We are especially proud to support Mind Bath in any way we can, and are thrilled to be able to donate 50p from every calendar!”

The Colouring Heaven calendar is available to buy exclusively online from 13th September.

What made you want to work in the magazine industry?

I was obsessed with magazines as a child. I used to hoard them under my bed, tear out spreads and stick them on my wall. I would make magazines for fun, whether it was at school or for my family. When I was 10 years old, I created a magazine for my school called Stuff – I stuck lollipops on them and sold them for 10p. It was not cost effective, but lots of fun. Whenever I read the news, I was always fascinated by representation – especially of women and ethnic minorities – and this became a motivating factor for me to work in journalism, understand how stories are told and have control over narratives.

Can you chart your journey from where you started out to your current position?

Internships were my foot in the door. I knew I wanted to be a journalist, but I didn’t know what type. I gained experience at Vogue, ITV and Financial Times. Once I was at Time Out London, it felt like I was in my spiritual home and had found my calling – arts and culture. I worked on the Time Out guidebooks, and travel articles for City AM and The Guardian. When the recession hit, it forced me to be creative: I launched my own magazine business, The Book, which was an entertainment magazine. The aim was to make the arts accessible to a young and diverse audience. This fast-tracked my career – I was then headhunted by Morris Visitor Publications and joined as the Editor of Where London.

What is the biggest challenge of being the Managing Editor of three titles?

As we have a transient audience, it is difficult to get feedback. We rely on engagement online, concierges in hotels who distribute the magazines and, surprisingly, the occasional hand-written letter from readers.

What has been your biggest achievement as Managing Editor?

I was the driving force behind London Planner's YouTube channel. We used a comedian to create How to Guides, from how to use the London Underground to how to get into town from the airport. Today it has almost 500,000 views and 9,000 subscribers. The channel has been nominated for the PPA Awards’ Digital Initiative of the Year.

What is the most unusual situation you have found yourself in because of your job?

If you work as an arts and entertainment journalist, you often find yourself interviewing your heroes. Growing up, I was a big fan of the film director Gurinder Chadha and had written about her in my university dissertation. When I was starting out, I met her at a party and she kindly suggested I send her my dissertation and interview her. After a press junket of back-to-back interviews in a hotel, she then gave me the privilege of talking to her in her home and meeting her screenwriter husband and mother.

How do you handle deadlines?

As I oversee all the editorial team, there are so many titles with different deadlines – the core ones are Where London, London Planner and IN London. The key is planning in advance. If you are in charge, getting stressed when on deadline does not help. I have the best team and they are always ready to help when deadlines loom.

Can you walk me through your typical day?

There is no typical day! I could be coming up with a theme for the next issue, interviewing a celebrity, presenting a video guide or overseeing a photoshoot.

How has being a member of the PPA added value to your brand?

Morris Visitor Publications is a proud member of the PPA. We have attended events and awards. I’ve been nominated four times for a PPA Award. It is exciting to be shortlisted, as it feels like you are gaining recognition from your industry. It’s the Oscars of journalism!

What’s the last photo you took on your phone and why?

I always take pictures of news stories that interest me, so that I can go back and research them in more detail.

Whose phone number do you wish you had?

Sadiq Khan – he’s the bastion of London. He writes a welcome letter for us each month in London Planner, so I feel like we could be best friends as he loves London and I love London.

Introvert or extrovert?

I have learnt to be an extrovert. There are times, as the Editor of a magazine, that you just have to put on the confidence and talk to people.

Optimist or pessimist?

Optimist – you have to be if you’re the Editor. If I am pessimistic, it’s only going to make the team pessimistic.

Film or TV? What are you binge watching at the moment?

Why choose? These days you can have both – film on TV. I’m waiting for the next season of The Crown.

What magazines would you read on a long train journey?

The Sunday Times – it keeps me going for the whole week. Condé Nast Traveller – it would inspire my next holiday. Vogue – it always surprises since Edward Enninful became Editor. Time Out and ES Magazine – they are London bibles and I look forward to reading them cover to cover each week.

What was it that made you want to work with the magazine publishing industry?

I have always loved magazines and always loved reading. As a child I was crazy about Smash Hits. I got into magazines by chance. I actually wanted to set up my own business and needed to raise some capital so I got a job as a dental nurse and within a week I was fired! Immediately after that I started temping at UBM working on a portfolio of B2B titles – everything from Estates Times to Carpet and Floorcovering Review – all the sexy titles! There were so many areas of the publishing business that caught my interest. I loved the fact that every team played their individual part to produce a bigger whole. I’m also inquisitive so learning new skills was key. I learnt so much, especially in subjects I wouldn’t be interested in. It’s mindboggling what I know about arable and pig farming!

Chart your journey from the start to your current position:

My first introduction to publishing was working for UBM, from there I moved on to a company called CDS, working with consumer titles on the supplier side, which was a great way of meeting everybody in the industry. I then went on to _Highbury House_ where I did all my growing up. I loved it. From there I went onto Dovetail similar to CDS where we were owned by BBC and Denis Publishing. Not only did I have to manage shareholders, but also 80 additional publishing clients. Whilst at Dovetail I was headhunted by a Swedish company asking me to come and set up a digital publishing company for them in London. The rest is history. 5 years later and I’m still here at Readly, which has grown to be the European leader in digital magazine subscriptions.

What do you think are the main challenges facing magazine publishers right now?

There has been a mindset transition moving from print to digital, but I think most companies are there now. Companies shouldn’t talk about having a digital strategy, we are living in a digital world and they are digital media companies. Their key challenge is audience reach and leveraging as much as they can from their existing and new customers. I believe that is where Readly fits in. Our publishers have fantastic content, and Readly brings them new customers. The CEO of Buzzfeed said, content is King, but distribution is Queen and that is pretty much where we come in. We grow the brands footprint; create a new revenue stream and provide them with audience insight. Let’s face it attention has become a precious commodity in today’s world and bringing new eyeballs to our publishers’ content, can only be a good thing.

What advice would you give to a publisher who wants to get the most out of a platform like Readly?

My advice would be, try us out, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. The insights and data you receive from Readly will help you to understand your customer better than ever before.

How do you handle your deadlines?

It’s just a way of life. I get on with it. I think coming from a publishing background and now working for a tech start-up, it’s just engrained in me that that’s how you work. I’m a crazy list maker and I make lists for everything. You do whatever you need to do to get the job done.

Walk me through your typical day

No two days are really the same for me. Working for a start-up, sometimes you are white-water rafting, and other days the water is a little calmer but not for too long. I would love to give you the textbook spiel of I get up at 3, meditate, go for a run whilst eating dust and listening to the news! In reality, every single day is different and that is what makes Readly so brilliant. You don’t have time to get bored.

Whose phone number do you wish you had?

I am really interested in Persian poetry. I know this sounds a bit crazy but I would love to give Rumi a call who was a 13th century Persian poet. and if I couldn’t get hold of Rumi, it would have to be Oprah!

What is the worst piece of advice you have ever been given?

‘Don’t do it Ranj!'

What’s the last photo you took on your phone?

My niece, she’s great fun to capture!

What would be in your Room 101?

The list is endless?

Introvert or extrovert

I am a little bit of both depending on the situation.

Optimist or Pessimist

Always glass half full.

*Film or TV? *

I am a massive fan of Billions and we have just finished watching Succession.

Sweet or savoury?

Sweet all the time. I am eating a coconut cookie as we speak.

*If you were on a long train journey, what magazine would you read? *

Architectural Digest