Toronto Reflections (M E Powell)
Toronto’s four-day MagNet conference covers every aspect of the magazine world, from writing to digital content to ad sales. This year, I joined 1,300 people attending MagNet 2012.
It was my fourth MagNet, and as always I heard new ideas and confirmed some best-practices I use in my writing business.
As a PWAC-Sask delegate, I presented the strategies I took away from MagNet 2012 in Regina two weeks ago, and last weekend in Lethbridge. Here’s my summary:
1. Trust your hunches. Many sessions used examples of stories rising from a journalist’s hunch or intuition, backed up by solid research.
2. Milk the data. In “Research in the Digital Age,” for example, Glen McGregor of the Ottawa Citizen talked about developing articles from data first, rather than interviews. This type of journalism can confirm the obvious, reveal the unexpected, and uncover stories even the subjects didn’t know were there. His many examples helped bring this session to life.
3. Consider the source. In “BS Detection,” our PWAC National president Craig Silverman of the Poynter Institute showed us many ways to check the information we see on Twitter, other social media, and websites, before we share it with others.
4. Go after the story. Presenter Bryan Segal of comScore Inc. used evidence and research in “Inside Data Intelligence” to prove Canadian viewers want relevant content that tells a story. In fact, content matters more than location on the page (rendering the old adage “above the fold” irrelevant.)
Sandra Phinney (M E Powell)
5. Change the frame. Travel writer Sandra Phinney‘s workshop covered everything from methods to markets, complete with a slide show of her award-winning photography. Her tips on framing, diagonals and S-curves were a great refresher.
6. Know your audience – or your client. Ace copywriter Ed Gandia offered more tips than I can count, but one especially resonated with me: “Get clear about your ideal client.” Knowing what type of client you want to work for will help you spend less time on the wrong prospects.
7. Strategize, experiment, and improvise. Panel members in the “Device Divide: Matching Content to Platform” said we’re in a learning curve again, as our devices and ways to access media change. Neil Morton of 2forCouples.com said we live in a fragmented universe, and should try everything from websites to apps to social media like Facebook and Twitter. Kunal Gupta of Polar Mobile said “Forget digital; focus on mobile.” He pointed to the growing trend toward using mobile devices for magazine content.
8. Expect the audience to socialize and share copies and content – because it’s easy now, said panelist Stephanie Jackson of Zinio. People want to buy one subscription and read it on three devices. They want to discover, share (pin, clip, bookmark, etc.), socialize (see what others read), and personalize (make and view personal collections).
9. Develop stories across more media, said presenters like Bilbo Poynter in “Modern Tactics for Investigative Online Journalism.” Publications want articles with sidebars, photos, fact boxes, original documents for readers to peruse, videos, audio podcasts, and clips – and they want it for the same per-word rate. (I think photos and additional material deserve extra fees. What do you think?)
10. Do it over again. As Sue Bowness called her (excellent) session on the history of magazines, “Everything old is new again.” Whether it’s on the web or on a hand-held device, people still want good stories well told, and we want to trust what we read. There’s even a trend back to long-form journalism for readers to savour at our leisure, on any device.
I got the feeling the pendulum is swinging back from “citizen journalism” to informed citizen readers searching for solid content. We want immediate facts in short attention-grabbing stories, but when we’re interested in the material, we also want to be able to examine documents and see the proof for ourselves.
It was an optimistic conference. Even last fall I’d have called this crazy, but for the first time in about 10 years, my income is based mainly on writing articles. What do you think? Are the times more positive for magazines and magazine writers? Please leave a comment, and let’s share ideas.
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This is a great summary, Marie. Glad to hear my session was valuable! I wish you great success!
Thanks Ed! Like your books, the session was full of valuable advice. And it was great meeting you in person.
I like the ways that you have synthesized and distilled the different sessions into points of advice, Marie. I think that first one can also be coupled with the note that people are still taking chances in writing/journalism as so many of the presenters had formed their own business or taken their own approach to their writing efforts. That’s a good reminder to keep doing that in our own writing lives, because it does feel like a brand new world out there in some respects.
I think times are positive for magazines as long as we expand our minds about what magazines are – if anything people seem to be reading more so I guess we have to figure out how to capitalize on that interest. I think print will be less in future, but not necessarily reading. But it will be interesting to watch.
Sue
Thanks Sue. You know, initially I’d written “follow your passions” for the first point. I thought that might be too general, but it is what I felt after several sessions. As you say, presenters often talked about taking chances and following where that led. I had a very positive feeling about the changes we’re going through now. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the possibilities expand in the future – in terms of what we consider a magazine to be, as you say, and in terms of what an article is, and in terms of how we might make a living as writers.
What a great job you’ve done summarizing the nuggets from the conference Marie. Wow. I’m impressed. It’s like a refresher course. It also offers some great insights from sessions I could not attend. to add to my learning curve. Always lots to learn!
You asked if times were more positive for magazines. I think print has always been popular and will continue to be so, in spite of the rise of of websites, blogs, and “citizen journalism.” I believe people have always craved content that is well researched, has balanced points of view, and provides sound information and is written in an engaging style. Also content that has a degree of depth not always found in newspapers.
I don’t think that has changed. And new magazine markets are popping up every day. But I also think freelance journalists have had to get smarter. What I mean: we have to treat our writing as a business. In order to make money, we have to seek markets that give a decent return for our investment, and that means getting savvy about market opportunities in the first place. It’s a rapidly changing field and it takes time to do market research. That seems to be a weakness of freelancers (myself included!)
Thanks again for such a wonderful post.
Sandra
Thanks for your thought-provoking comments Sandra. It certainly takes time and effort to make the most of the opportunities, and it’s great to have organizations like PWAC – and members like you – to help with that.