The editor's toolbox

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, June 15, 1995 by Frank Finn

How to edit a magazine? One school of thought holds that you edit to please yourself, choosing what to publish without regard to subscriber studies, newsstand sales or advertising interests. More pragmatic editors put the reader on a pedestal and devour every shred of information they can find on their markets. These editors systematically structure their magazines to appeal to the interests of a certain audience, setting themselves apart from the competition.

Some might call this approach editing without a sold. But I contend that as long as it is driven by a passion for the subject matter, it is the only way to go. Essentially, you are channeling your creative instincts, shaping your artistic inspiration with a craftsman's workmanship.

Three tools are essential equipment for the pragmatic editor.

The positioning map

Editing a magazine is like piloting a ship through treacherous waters: Unless you are guided by reliable charts, you will soon run aground. A positioning map sets out a clear course to follow.

To draw your positioning map, start with a square and divide it into four quadrants. Now you need to think about what it is that distinguishes your readers from other people with similar interests - their defining characteristics.

At Tuff Stuff, a title of Richmond, Virginia-based Cadmus Publishing Group that serves collectors of sports trading cards and memorabilia, we examined what separates one group of collectors from another. It soon became clear that age was a crucial factor - young collectors tend to focus on cards alone; older ones are more likely to buy both cards and memorabilia. The older collector is also more interested in the cards of players he followed in his youth, while most young collectors are interested only in today's athletes. So we had the label for the left side of the Tuff Stuff positioning map: "Age of collector." The top half of the map we labeled "Older" and the bottom half "Younger."

After more discussion, we concluded that "Item collected" was the appropriate label for the top of the positioning map. The left half we marked "Cards only" and the right side "Cards and memorabilia." So the four quadrants of our map were defined: upper left, older collectors of cards only; lower left, younger collectors of cards only; upper right, older collectors of cards and memorabilia; and lower right, younger collectors of cards and memorabilia.

With the map thus drawn, we marked Tuff Stuff s position in the market in the upper-right quadrant because we cover both trading cards and memorabilia and attract a slightly older reader. Our primary competition-beckett Baseball Card Monthly and its other single-sport trading card guides - falls in the lower-left quadrant, serving younger collectors of cards only.

What's the point of such a map? The editor of any magazine is often pressured to chase new readers (and advertisers) by running articles on related subjects. "If only you did stories on X," says the ad director, "I could sell ads to company Y." But with a map, you can show how changing the mix of articles can move your publication out of its niche and into direct competition with titles that make it their business to cover the field you are invading. That's called repositioning, and it should not be done casually.

The skill pyramid

Many magazine editors face the challenge titles invariably span readers who work for huge corporations at one extreme, and mom-and-pop operations at the other. Special-interest magazines, especially those covering sports and hobbies, typically have audiences that include rank beginners and skilled veterans. The dilemma facing the editor: To whom do I address the editorial?

A useful tool for resolving this dilemma is the skill pyramid. When Cross Country Skier was owned by Rodale Press, executive editor John Viehman and his colleagues developed a pyramid to describe, their readers. The great majority of people who own cross-country skis are beginners, or "back-door" skiers, as Viehman calls them. More often than not, they have bought a basic cross-country skiing outfit on sale, and pull it out of the closet only when it snows. Then they go out their back doors and ski in the neighborhood. These folks formed the bottom of Viehman's cross-country skiing pyramid. At the top were the "elite racers," the skiers who spend much of their spare time training for top cross-country skiing events.

Viehman faced the same problem that confronts every editor of a special-interest title. It was tempting to address the needs of the beginner. After all, that was the largest group with the greatest need for information. But if he aimed too low on the pyramid, he would lose the middle and certainly the top. Experienced skiers would quickly detect that the magazine was not for them.

So Viehman drew a line about two-thirds of the way up the pyramid. His target reader - the one he brainstonned story ideas and edited articles - would be the intermediate skier, someone dedicated to the sport, but who had yet to master all the skills. Beginners coming to Cross Country Skier wouldn't be entirely left out; jargon would always be clarified with explanatory phrases, and articles on equipment would always include basic gear for novices. But the overall tenor of the magazine would make it clear that you had to be pretty serious about the sport to read Cross Country Skier.