Overseas Publishing Is A Marriage That Requires Nurturing And Trust

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Dec 15, 2000

In international publishing, trusting the overseas editorial team is essential for success, but that trust can only be built over time. And then, you have to know when to let go. Cosmopolitan asks its international editors to e-mail layouts to its U.S. offices for approval. "We make suggestions on fonts and photos or layouts," said Kim St.

Clair Bodden, executive director of Hearst international editions and a panelist at a recent MPA seminar titled "Maintaining Your Editorial Brand Overseas." "For example, one foreign edition had a sidebar on the first page, which is something Cosmo wouldn't do. Once the suggestions are made, we hope they pick up on them." Newsweek and National Geographic try to maintain even tighter control. Newsweek, which publishes in seven languages, runs a training operation in New York for its foreign journalists, while National Geographic reviews every translated word from its Arabic edition prior to publication, according to Ed Reno, former vice president of international licensing a nd alliances. "You get what you inspect, not what you expect," said Hugh Roome, senior vice president and publisher at Scholastic Inc., which also publishes internationally. But flexibility--and tact--are also needed in dealing with foreign publishing partners, said the panelists. "You have to rely on your partners to make things work because they know what's happening in Romania, or France, or Korea," said Bodden. The brand is yours, said panelists, but the market is theirs. Therefore, international publishers sometimes adjust the percentages of local editorial they allow (versus U.S. content) as confidence grows in the foreign partner. National Geographic has gone from 2 to 5 percent local editorial to 15 percent, while Newsweek contracts for 15 percent. Cosmo doesn't adhere to percentages. Knowing when to let go is determined by the partner's competence, their success in the market, and the resources they have at hand. "It can be difficult when a partner will say, 'You're letting the Japanese do this, why can't we?' You have to get it across, 'You're not quite as good as they are yet,' " said Ron Javers, assistant managing editor of Newsweek International. "It's a marriage in a lot of respects." said Roome about overseas publishing, "You need trust and compromise. Don't go into it unless you have a high level of confidence."