Summer Publishing Institute

Chris Anderson is Wired for success

June 23, 2009 by vmckeon

His crisp Condé Nast business card says Editor-in-Chief. Yet, says Chris Anderson, if one of his five children follows in his footsteps someday, his or her business card will likely read “Community Manager.” “Things are changing,” says the editor of one of the smartest, most irreverent and internet and tech-savvy magazines ever created. Wired coined phrases such as “crowd sourcing” and “new atheism.” Anderson himself invented the term “Long Tail and also wrote a bestselling book about the value of selling large numbers of unique or niche items in relatively small quantities. Now, paradigm-shifter Anderson is back with his new book “Free: The Future of a Radical Price,” out July 7th from Hyperion. Summer Publishing Institute students were lucky enough to snag advance copies….free!

People Person Larry Hackett

June 21, 2009 by vmckeon

If anyone is on top of celebrity buzz, that would be People magazine’s Managing Editor Larry Hackett, who spoke last week at NYU’s Summer Publishing Institute. While Hackett spends much of his day immersed in figuring out who’s hot and who’s not, he’s also very much a businessman spinning red-carpet celebs into ROI. For People, the cover is the one chance the mag gets to draw in non-subscription readers —and finding the perfect image is the equivalent of a secret celeb sauce. “We have to sell approximately 1.5 million copies of the magazine on the newsstands every week in order to generate a profit,” Hackett said. “Our cover is a poster.”

Busting Out: BusinessWeek and Bust Mag Shake up Media Mold

June 17, 2009 by vmckeon

JOhn Byrne is proud of his product — John Byrne is proud of his product

Serendipitous scheduling put two unlikely visionaries back-to-back at SPI: John Byrne, silver-haired media guru and EIC of BusinessWeek.com, and Debbie Stoller, the blond and self-avowed feminist founder and EIC of Bust, a 16-year-old iconoclastic, eclectic and slightly erotic Indie mag.

The “Biz and Bust” duo proves that opposites can sometimes come to the same viewpoint from wildly divergent positions…kind of like the Web. Their message: reject the past, question the present and rethink the future. [Read more…] about Busting Out: BusinessWeek and Bust Mag Shake up Media Mold

Ode to Photos

June 17, 2009 by vmckeon

W Photo Editor Nadia Vellam praises the power pf photos — W Photo Editor Nadia Vellam is passionate about photos

With all the talk about the power of the Internet over print, it was great to hear W Photo Editor Nadia Vellam tell SPI students: “There’s something about holding photographs that changes the physicality of art. Print is essential to the quality of the photograph.”

Vellam clearly loves her job, from caressing photos to making them happen. When Brad Pitt wanted out-of-production film for an intimate shoot of Angelina Jolie, Vellam knew just where to turn: Ebay. She found a man in Israel who had a stash of the expiring emulsion coated rolls. With a few friendly phone calls, she was able to convince a contact in Israel to take off of work – with handsome compensation, of course – get on a plane and fly to France, where Pitt took loving snaps of Angie and the kids at home. You can check out the final project online here. [Read more…] about Ode to Photos

SPI Media Moments

June 10, 2009 by vmckeon

Rodale's Mary Ann Bekkedahl speaks at SPI about the role of a publisher — Rodale’s Mary Ann Bekkedahl speaks about the role of a publisher

“You guys are killing us. You’re the generation that won’t pay for anything!” griped Mary Ann Bekkedahl, EVP and Group Publisher for Rodale, www.rodale.com.

The 100 students staring her down did not look chagrined, perturbed or even ruffled. By now, week two in the Summer Publishing Institute, these recent college grads are getting used to being defined (and gently maligned) as game changers who are shifting the face of media. “You are ‘screenagers.’ You are born into the digital industry,” said Robert (“Bo”) Sacks, media commentator and creator of a widely read eponymous newsletter www.bosacks.com. Once again, the students sat serenely, secure in their newfound sphere of influence. They registered more concern about Sack’s comment that half the information they learned in college was obsolete by the time they graduated. [Read more…] about SPI Media Moments

Gotta Luv Life and New York….dot com.

June 10, 2009 by vmckeon

Somewhere between the “oo-ing” and “ah-ing” induced by slideshows of adorable animals on Life.com, Time Inc. Development Editor Bill Shapiro made his main point: “This is a site where you can get a ton of information in two minutes.” Quick translation: the recently launched site caters to short attention spans through a long lens and gives the beloved and now defunct Life magazine a new, well, life.

While Shapiro showed off the website’s “modern-classic” layout, we in the audience were practically drooling waiting for him to click on the page’s sleek silver tabs. Shapiro excitedly advanced to the next never-before-seen archival photograph of the then-almost-famous Marilyn Monroe posing in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park. We did a little browsing on our own and found everything from throwback Oscar images of Diane Keaton’s 1978 award for “Annie Hall” to images of 1940s beach life in the USA.

By successfully partnering with Getty Images and Google and drawing upon a deep archive of its own photographs dating back decades, Life.com offers news, celebrity, sports, and wildlife coverage through high-end professional photography. [Read more…] about Gotta Luv Life and New York….dot com.

Websites Gone Wild!

June 8, 2009 by vmckeon

Hearst's Ellard and Johnson talk digital media with students. — Hearst’s Ellard and Johnson talk digital media with students.

Traffic, page views, SEO, widgets and click – this is the type of fast-talk Chris Johnson, VP of Content and Business Development for Hearst Digital Media, and Beth Ellard, Content Director for Hearst, threw out to Summer Publishing Institute students on day three.

[Read more…] about Websites Gone Wild!

Job Hunting 101: No Perfume, No Pink

June 8, 2009 by vmckeon

McCoy of Time Inc. , Helmus of Hearst, Garas of Macmillan and Gundersen of HarperCollins toss out job tips — McCoy of Time Inc., Helmus of Hearst, Garas of Macmillan, and Gundersen of HarperCollins offer job hunting advice

When four Human Resources experts took the stage at NYU’s Summer Publishing Institute, almost no one took a bathroom break. In an admittedly tough job market, students were eager to know whether there would be jobs waiting for them when they graduate in five more weeks…. and if so, what kind?

Too Cool for School

June 8, 2009 by vmckeon

Okay, all the workshops and speakers were great, but getting out of the classroom and inside some of America’s top publishing companies was one of the highlights of the week for SPI students.In groups of 20 or so, they visited the offices of Good Housekeeping, Every Day with Rachael Ray, Sports Illustrated, Travel & Leisure and Self.

I was lucky enough to go to SI, where students were invited to sit in on two staff editorial meetings and briefly experience a typical day at the publication. The hot topic was what would be on this week’s cover. (Sorry, we were all sworn to secrecy!)

[Read more…] about Too Cool for School

SPI Day One: Best Sneaker Forward

June 3, 2009 by vmckeon

On the opening day of NYU’s Summer Publishing Institute, David Granger, Editor-in-Chief of Esquire, waved two ketchup bottles at the 100 students in the audience, and Marvin Scott Jarrett, Editor-in-Chief of Nylon, plunked a pair of Big Bird-hued yellow sneakers on the podium. What does all this have to do with the magazine industry? As it turns, out, plenty.