The Editor's Role Circa 2002

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, July 1, 2002

Byline: REPORTED BY THE FOLIO: STAFF

cosmo's girl

Super-long hair is back! And a band of editors at Cosmopolitan magazine affectionately refer to the 'do as "Cher hair" as editor in chief Kate White wonders if a Q&A with the pop diva might make the perfect sidebar. "You know, she could offer tips on keeping your hair that long and maintaining it."

"She's hard to get," groans an editor.

But in the ladies room later that day, White overhears a snippet of conversation that warms her heart: "I'll meet you guys in a while," says a staffer. "I'm waiting for a call from Cher on my cell phone."

"This staff is fabulous," White gushes. "They're always looking for Cher or the next great cover stock, or whatever it takes to sell more magazines."

And that's the best part of this battered economy, she says. "I'm not dealing with the turnover I was a few years ago. It used to be that people came in, and it took them five months to get the job right and six months later they were gone. It's nice to see what it's like to work with people in year two, when they're at the top of the game. This is what the economy's done....I finally have staff continuity."

In fact, White says she isn't at all bitter about the daily drumbeat of downsizing. "It's been an ouch factor for people, but we've all had to look at it and see that there was fat that never should have been there." While ex-Cosmo writers who've joined the ranks of the unemployed might beg to differ, White resolves, "The aerobicizing has been good in the long run."

That's not to say that the role of editor in chief isn't absolutely exhausting. "We live in a world today where people think editors should embody the brand," says White. "I love the magazine so ferociously and I love the clothes we show and the sensibility we represent," she says, so it's not terribly burdensome to dress the part during the day. "But tonight, when I'm at 'The Bourne Identity,' I hope no one knows I work at a fashion magazine because I'll be wearing blue jeans."

Elongated workdays are filled with more appointments, says White. "Meeting with advertisers is such an important part of my job - I'm doing a lot more of it." She's also spending more time in the product development and international departments. On any given day, White wades through a shopping cart of wannabe ancillaries like makeup bags, hair dryers and book proposals. "You have to look at everything that carries the Cosmo name with the idea that it has to work around the world. You have to constantly look at products and make sure that it's all on message."

But cluttered calendar be damned, White swears she still finds time to line-edit every page. A self-confessed micro manager, she spins everything from the TOC to the Cosmo Quiz. "With something as important as Cosmo - where you're trying to sell two million copies on the newsstand - you better not have a column you haven't read or a coverline you haven't tweaked."

White says she doesn't expect the insanity to end anytime soon. "I used to have two days to fix up my office, get some ideas generating, return calls." Not anymore. The one reprieve she now insists on, however, is a spot of magazine-free vacation days spent at the movies and museums. "Maybe it's the pressure of this job, but I really need to go completely away and see the Surrealism exhibit at the Met. You have to put some water back in the well. Here you're constantly putting out ideas and eventually the well gets dry."

the b-to-b ambassador

Calling from her cell phone as she waits for her flight in the Seattle airport, Maryfran Johnson is a fast and furious talker. These days, she has to be. As the vice president and editor in chief of Computerworld, her role today is decidedly more VP than editor. She's just left a meeting with Microsoft, where she spent the last 48 hours picking the brain of CEO Steve Ballmer.

That was not a sales call, Johnson quickly stresses. "It was an edit call. It's relationship building." And it's an essential part of the job description, now that the edit department is expected to churn out new revenue streams as fast as it cranks out copy. In this economy you have to find outlets where you can plug into new product ideas, according to Johnson. And if you happen to be in the tech sector, you also have to keep reminding the world you've still got a pulse.

These on-stage performances mean there's less time to choreograph the day-to-day editorial. "You get less attached and you have to do more of the vision and strategy," says Johnson, who estimates that she spends about 60 percent of her time in the industry and travels 20 percent more than she did a few years ago.

Of this new reality Johnson says, "Sometimes I like it a lot and other times I get stuck in eight-hour meetings. By the end of the day you just want to hang yourself."

You start to miss being a journalist, she adds. "You think how much more fun it would be talking to people and interviewing." So you grab the little time you can to actually "play" editor. Writing the magazine's editorial column, a task gratefully undertaken every other week, ends up being the highlight of the job, says Johnson.