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Why Editors Still Matter
NEW YORK, OCTOBER 24--In the age of publishing by the people, with do-it-yourself blogging, podcasting, and Web sites, are editors still needed?
Yes, more than ever, answered Mike LaFavore, editorial director at Meredith Magazines, speaking today at the Folio: Show in New York. "We'll always need editors," he said. "There is so much information clogging the Web."
Giving a spirited defense of the idea that editorial content remains central, LaFavore recounted his own unlikely coming of age as a connoisseur of the well-crafted magazine. Raised in a working class family, LaFavore collected magazines the way other boys collected baseball cards. After a few stray turns, including flunking out as a college English major and a 5-year stint as a truck driver, LaFavore found his footing in the magazine industry and created Men's Health, one of the most successful launches in history.
He acknowledged that the magazine landscape has changed drastically. Print is now only one of many media choices readers have. "The reader is in charge," LaFavore said. "Readers will get information any way they want it."
Advertisers, too, are trying to be in charge, exploiting their power to choose among many kinds of media. Magazines will face increasing pressure from advertisers, LaFavore said, to deliver packages of print and online opportunities.
Still, the magazine is anything but dead. "There are too many magazines, but there is always room for another good one," he said.
Creating the good ones, though, takes the hand of an editor with vision and integrity who will not compromise the magazine to gain an extra ad page or two. For example, while advertisers want younger readers, trying to alter the content of the magazine to change demographics never works, LaFavore said.
Neither does adding content that is peripheral to reader interest. He gave the example of magazines starting pet columns--to gain advertisers like Purina rather than to serve demonstrated reader interest.
He urged editors not to go after short-term fixes, but to stick with what resonates with readers. "If something works, keep doing it until it stops working," he said.
Yes, more than ever, answered Mike LaFavore, editorial director at Meredith Magazines, speaking today at the Folio: Show in New York. "We'll always need editors," he said. "There is so much information clogging the Web."
Giving a spirited defense of the idea that editorial content remains central, LaFavore recounted his own unlikely coming of age as a connoisseur of the well-crafted magazine. Raised in a working class family, LaFavore collected magazines the way other boys collected baseball cards. After a few stray turns, including flunking out as a college English major and a 5-year stint as a truck driver, LaFavore found his footing in the magazine industry and created Men's Health, one of the most successful launches in history.
He acknowledged that the magazine landscape has changed drastically. Print is now only one of many media choices readers have. "The reader is in charge," LaFavore said. "Readers will get information any way they want it."
Advertisers, too, are trying to be in charge, exploiting their power to choose among many kinds of media. Magazines will face increasing pressure from advertisers, LaFavore said, to deliver packages of print and online opportunities.
Still, the magazine is anything but dead. "There are too many magazines, but there is always room for another good one," he said.
Creating the good ones, though, takes the hand of an editor with vision and integrity who will not compromise the magazine to gain an extra ad page or two. For example, while advertisers want younger readers, trying to alter the content of the magazine to change demographics never works, LaFavore said.
Neither does adding content that is peripheral to reader interest. He gave the example of magazines starting pet columns--to gain advertisers like Purina rather than to serve demonstrated reader interest.
He urged editors not to go after short-term fixes, but to stick with what resonates with readers. "If something works, keep doing it until it stops working," he said.
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