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News
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1. WWD
Memo Pad: Flipping Over
By Stephanie D. Smith
10/4/07
http://www.wwd.com/memopad/article/119328

Questions are being raised around the halls of 4 Times Square about Flip.com, Cond? Nast's new teen networking site. Pointing to small traffic numbers and a whispered lack of enthusiasm from higher ups about the project, despite a heavy financial investment in the site's technology, naysayers believe Flip has so far been a bit of a flop. "Thank God it wasn't my idea," said one insider. Meanwhile, Flip just lost one of its editors, Holly Siegel, to Ellegirl.com.

But Flip.com publisher Jane Grenier isn't worried. "The site represents innovation for the company," she said, referring to Flip's Flash-heavy technology and the site itself, which is Cond? Nast's first foray into online social networking. "Do we all want to see the site be larger? Absolutely. Is bigger the number-one metric by which we define success? Absolutely not."

Unique visitors, a metric used for most Web sites to determine their growth, have averaged around 250,000 since Flip's February launch, according to internal figures supplied by Grenier (for comparison, seventeen.com generated 542,000 unique visitors in August). Grenier said she expects traffic to dip for September and October because marketing the site came to a halt during those months while it added several upgrades. However, said Grenier, "Our determination of whether this site is successful is not based on a panic check of uniques." Measurements that show each user is spending more time on the site are more promising. Time spent per session has grown to 8.5 minutes since February; page views per unique user have doubled to 15 pages per session from eight.

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2. WWD
Memo Pad: Style Bazaar
By Stephanie D. Smith
10/4/07
http://www.wwd.com/memopad/article/119328?page=1

After 140 years of reporting on fashion, Harper's Bazaar believes it's time to publish some sort of manual — at least according to its rules. "Great Style" includes advice taken from the columns and features of the Hearst fashion title, from dressing your age to shopping like an expert, coupled with red-carpet photographs of celebrities and commentary by Carolina Herrera, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Donatella Versace, Michael Kors, Marc Jacobs and Narciso Rodriguez, among others. Jenny Levin, former senior fashion news editor at Bazaar, wrote the book before leaving the magazine in June — she has since relocated to Hong Kong with her family, but continues to contribute to the title. Hearst Books, a division of Sterling Publishing Co., will publish the book Nov. 15. And while the idea of a style guide is far from unique (Details also is coming out with one this fall, obviously for men), the book is just one of several initiatives as Bazaar marks its anniversary with its November issue. Polybagged with the issue will be a second edition of "A Fashionable Life," a home and entertaining spin-off.

3. New York Times
James Michaels, Longtime Forbes Editor, Dies at 86
By Richard P?rez-Pe?a
10/4/07
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/business/04michaels.html

James W. Michaels, who gave an acerbic, contrarian voice to Forbes magazine in 37 years as its editor and influenced generations of business journalists, died Tuesday in Manhattan. He was 86 and lived in Manhattan and Rhinebeck, N.Y. The cause was pneumonia, said his son, James Jr.

Mr. Michaels took over as editor of Forbes in 1961, when American journalism remained a polite, dry affair, and corporate spin was reported without much skepticism. Anticipating the direction much of the media would turn in the decades that followed, he made Forbes opinionated, interpretive and often indecorous, a magazine that was staunchly pro-business (and, its critics said, pro-wealthy) but did not hesitate to skewer companies and executives it saw as failures.

He often refused to permit articles on topics that other publications had covered, no matter how appealing or important, insisting that his staff find good stories ahead of the competition. Forbes was among the first publications to pay a lot of attention to Warren E. Buffett, and at the top of a glowing 1974 profile, it quoted him as saying that stocks were so undervalued that he felt “like an oversexed guy in a harem” — the one concession to propriety being to change the last word of that quotation from “whorehouse.”

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4. New York Times
Calling All Alpha Kitties
By Stephanie Rosenboom
10/4/07
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/fashion/04atoosa.html

ATOOSA RUBENSTEIN was living the dream of flocks of girls who pore over fashion magazines, hungry for womanhood. The founder and the editor of CosmoGirl magazine and the editor of Seventeen, she had money, glamour and a national platform to disseminate her ideas. Yet last year, Hearst magazines’ youngest editor in chief flew what she calls the gilded cage.

Now nesting in a $3.05 million Flatiron District apartment that she and her husband, an owner of an investment trading company, moved into on Saturday, Ms. Rubenstein this week ended some of the speculation about what exactly she has been cooking up since last fall and reiterated that her departure was of her own volition.

“I think there was this perception that nobody leaves that kind of job,” she said, against a backdrop of cardboard boxes and a tabletop statue of Venus de Milo. “Whether it’s because of the salary or the prestige, you know, whatever someone’s currency is, nobody leaves that — unless it’s going to be for something bigger. And for me I left because I realized that I was stepping farther and farther away from the journey that was meaningful to me.”

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5. Media Industry Newsletter
Major Consumer Magazines May Not Hit Wal-Mart Shelves (and other major retailers) Next Week
By Jeremy Greenfield
10/4/07
http://www.minonline.com/news/5278.html

Earlier this week, Anderson News, the nation’s largest wholesaler of magazines, recently announced to its customers (Time Warner, Comag, Curtis, and Kable, to name a few) that it was requesting a major change in the economics of distribution due to retailer implementation of SBT (scan-based trading--more below). Time Warner, et al, have threatened, in response, to stop shipment of its magazines to Anderson, which would keep Vogue, Time and others off of Wal-Mart and other retail shelves, starting this week. Anderson handles roughly 25% of all wholesale magazine distribution in the US.

Today, Time Warner came to an agreement with Anderson that would prevent the stoppage in magazine delivery until next week to give parties on both sides time to negotiate. Industry sources have also told minonline that Curtis Circulation Company, whose clients include Elle, Maxim, Forbes, and Newsweek, has settled with Anderson, and will continue its relationship uninterrupted with the wholesaler.

At the center of the conflict is a new technology called SBT that helps eliminate waste in the distribution business. Basically, instead of buying a stock of issues and then selling them to its customers, retailers will only buy each issue as they sell it to the customer. With the old system, magazines had to be sold back up the distribution chain if they went unsold at the rack. With SBT, this need not occur financially, making the process from printer to consumer a much less complicated one. Instead, as it stands today, magazines in stores are on Anderson's books, and listed as inventory. What the company wants is for those magazines to appear on the publishers' books, giving them both a higher stake in what happens at the newsstand, and more control as to how many copies are on newsstands. In addition, this required Anderson (and other wholesalers) to eat a one time loss of revenue from not being paid one month when the retailers switched to SBT. Anderson is trying both to change distribution chain relaionships, and recoup its money from that lost month.

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Whisper Jobs
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Ed hears ...

Jobs

...that Pharmaceuticaal Executive is looking for an associate editor. We are a leading business magazine for high-level executives in the pharmaceutical industry. We cover people, companies, business strategy, marketing, regulation, and even a bit of science. We?re team-oriented and focused on professional growth. You?ll be responsible for our back-of-book columns, which focus on marketing, advertising, and sales management. You?ll solicit articles, coach writers, edit, report, and write. As time allows, you?ll write and/or edit features for the magazine and contribute to new electronic products. Requirements: Proven experience in reporting, writing, and editing (B2B preferred). Knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry would be helpful, but a quick learner with a decent understanding of business will do well. An entrepreneurial spirit and experience with InCopy/K4 are big pluses; technophobes should steer clear. Send cover letter, resume, and salary requirement to Sarah Wharton, managing editor (swharton@advanstar.com). (OK to mention Ed)

...that a six-month, full-time, paid writing internship is available at Smithsonian magazine in Washington, D.C., beginning January 2008. The job involves writing and reporting, primarily for the "Around the Mall" department and the magazine's Web site. Candidates should have a proven aptitude for writing and, preferably, a strong background in science, culture, history or one of the other areas in which the magazine specializes. A recent undergraduate or graduate degree is a must. Please send a cover letter, resume, contact info for 3 references, and 3-5 clips to Megan Gambino, Attn: Intern Application, Smithsonian Magazine, MRC 513 Box 37012, Washington, DC 20013. If sending by FedEx, UPS or other courier, PLEASE mail to Megan Gambino, Attn: Intern Application, Smithsonian Magazine, Capital Gallery, 600 Maryland Avenue SW, Suite 6001, Washington, DC 20024. Deadline is November 1. (OK to mention Ed)

Internships

...that Cosmo is looking for a fashion/accessories intern to start immediatly. Must be well organized and have a sence of fashion. This is a very hands-on internship and will open the doors for a lot of oppertunity. Internship MUST BE FOR SCHOOL CREDIT! Please send a cover letter and resume to gdonnelly@hearst.com. (OK to mention Ed)

...that TheCampusWord.com may have paid writing and editorial positions for college students. (That's all we know!)

...that VIBE Media Group is seeking dynamic interns to work with the photo and art departments of VIBE and Vixen magazines. An internship with VIBE/Vixen will allow aspiring students in photography/graphic design to apply classroom skills in a stimulating real life workplace and gain insight into the inner workings of a magazine, from editing to production. It's a great chance to network with and learn from creative art and photo editors. All interested students should e-mail a cover letter and resume to Erika Ramirez at eramirez@vibe.com. Please use the subject Photo Intern or Art Intern when applying. (OK to mention Ed)

...that SURFACE, an acclaimed, visually-driven fashion and design magazine, is looking for editorial/design interns. SURFACE has been at the forefront of lifestyle trends since 1995, publishing pieces on new, innovative and progressive design, architecture and style. SURFACE is looking for students who wish to do a four-month internship for a minimum of 16 hours per week. The internship is unpaid, but can be done for school credit. The interns will help source and generate story ideas through ongoing focused research of companies/organizations and projects in the fields of product, industrial, furniture and graphic design. The interns will report to the editors of the front of the book and feature sections of the magazine. NOTE: This is a REAL internship where interns will occasionally be asked to write short pieces; we rely heavily on our interns and they get the due credit they deserve on the masthead! Email fan@surfacemag.com. (OK to mention Ed)

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About Ed:
Ed2010 ("ed twenty-ten") is a purely volunteer organization dedicated to helping young editors reach their dream magazine jobs. Find out more (and donate to the cause!) at ed2010.com

Whisper jobs or internships to share? Send 'em to whispers@ed2010.com. Ed'll keep it anonymous for you.

Blogalicious! Catch up with Ed's Girl on the Hunt and Ed’s Determined Freelancer at ed2010.blogspot.com and edsfreelancer.blogspot.com.

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