Comments on: Print to Digital: 5 Steps to Making the Move

By: Guy Watts

Guy Watts — Wed, 04 May 2011 04:03:00 +0000

I read Somewhere that the demise of Metropolitan Home had nothing to do with editorial. If we concur in defining “editorial” as the discriminating decisions made by its Editor-in-Chief, Donna Warner, then the failure of Met Home to provide compelling and inspiring content had everything to do to with a narrow editorial vision. As early as 2003, I began to chart the downward editorial direction onto which Mrs Warner hand was firmly steering the magazine. It was obvious that Donna Werner was suffering tunnel vision. Most of the interiors had a polished “trying too hard” aesthetic of the nouveau riche that lacked the power to capture readers fantasies and aspirations. nnAs magazines like Dwell were pointing to a new direction, the direction to where modern life had taken us; while others like Wallpaper, had turned to edgy urbanite readers, and Elle Decor and Architectural Digest were departing from tassels and brocade u2014 the stuffy realm of Westport Connecticutu2014 and resorting to editorial content that appealed to a broader cross section of American society, Metropolitan Life presented interiors u2014whether new or renovatedu2014 in a manner that alienated the reader rather than encourage them to picture themselves on the spread. The homes featured in Metropolitan Home were often impeccable, in a Homesense kind of way. And to me that was precisely the problem. Werner’s idea of compelling interiors clashed with the zeitgeist of contemporary home decor, with the new sensibility taking hold of people’s imaginations, with our exposure to a variety of cultures, architectural sensibilities and most of all with our growing ability to discern what is fake from what is real allowed for lived in imperfections and uniqueness, where Donna’s spread seemed manufactured in China.nnI recall the many times I was compelled to pick the phone or wished I had Donna Werner’s email address to offer some kind warning. It was obvious to me that the interiors she was featuring were soulless, but there was no readers column in Metropolitan Home where a boy could have pointed out that the empress had no clothes. That might have been part of the problem.n

By: louispostel

louispostel — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:56:23 +0000

You r being more than fair, 1. I knew you were tongue in cheek and 2.
More to the point: after listing all these different folks an eic
needs to engage, I tellingly left out some key players: Social
networkers!

By: louispostel

louispostel — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:27:26 +0000

Your reply was so fair-minded you neglected to score an easy point (such is the nature of fair-mindedness). I suspected you were being facetious about automatically appointing digitized EIC’s to corner offices, though I posted in a super-serious vein.

The easy point you neglected and which I’ll score against myself is this: I had submitted a long list of people the modern EIC needs to engage in addition to coveted readers: staffers, freelancers, creative directors, ad sales reps and so on, BUT tellingly neglected to mention social networking experts. Without you guys and your IT cousins at the table, I’d be the first to admit media workers are hopelessly lost.

Suggestion: Why not write another blog about what happens when panic raises its ugly head in the editorial room?

Precisely when many voices, many calm voices need to be heard – including social networking voices – only one ends up predominating: “Cut production costs – that’s the answer!” or, better, “More sales, more face to face calls! Forget this social networking nonsense.” And if your tone becomes super-serious like mine I’ll understand.

I’ve been there.

By: dahlism

dahlism — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:55:16 +0000

Thanks for the feedback Louis.

The last paragraph was a bit tongue in cheek and of course an EIC should definitely be able to do more than build an article in a CMS but my point is that senior magazine editors need to be more aware of what is happening online and how the content they are creating can best be engineered for the web.

By: louispostel

louispostel — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:21:50 +0000

I'm not sure I'd rush to put keyword-building editors in charge. Rather, I'd find someone who really knows how to connect. That's the first thing. How is your EIC going to impact other editors, freelancers, readers, advertisers, production, art. He or she has to understand how to a team out of those connections — more than key words on Facebook.

And the EIC needs to bring in some fresh thinking, especially in the luxury and shelter magazine categories where I've labored for years (New England Home, Showboats International). I'm really not convinced that the Problem/Solution model for features hasn't worn very thin, even with the most loyal readers. How many times can they read “….and the clients were THRILLED.” They know life's a lot more complex — and that this conventional emotional punchline masks some consumer realities that are actually critical to enjoying a house, a yacht, etc. I can't pretend to know the answers but I'd like to hear what others say. Is the old formula still working? And (returning to paragraph 1) how do we get teams focused on re-connecting with readers?

By: dahlism

dahlism — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:53:11 +0000

Donna

I appreciate your response but it misses the point of this article and perfectly illustrates the attitude that many print editors share.

The intent of this post was not to denigrate the work and editorial
contributions print editors make to websites but rather share what I feel are necessary skills that editors can acquire to help advance their careers in a fast-moving media landscape.

I agree that when working at a mainstream media company there are many variables outside of our control but today's EIC's need to recognize that not only are they responsible for curating the content of a print publication but also taking ownership of how magazine content is presented online and making sure the entire staff is on the same page.

Time Inc., Conde Nast, Hearst and HFMUS are all struggling with this and the books that get it right are flourishing and rightly so.

Without a doubt the loss of Metropolitan Home in the design and magazine community will be felt for years and is a blow not only to the magazine industry but designers, decorators and stylists around the world.

By: Michael Lassell

Michael Lassell — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:32:55 +0000

This is just a misrepresentation of what happened at Met Home, pure self-congratulatory revisionism.

By: Gregory

Gregory — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:16:07 +0000

As someone who worked in print for both publications and now works for online media, what is apparent is a great deal of the old guard has had a difficult time transitioning between what they know and what is actually happening in this migratory period between print and online delivery systems. So my own memories of senior editors and EICs also mirrored the description above, with a great deal of transitional blockage due to an inherent lack of understanding of the technology behind online media, the changing readership and reading habits landscape, and sometimes simply due to a fear of losing grip with what they had known for years (if not decades). This isn't necessarily a criticism of character, as almost everyone eventually finds themselves losing grip of technological and progressive ideas, especially when the playing field flips over completely, like many in print find themselves. But there's something to be said about admitting and taking credit for not helping the transitional phase many print publications face with older guard management.

I have a sneaking suspicion that in many cases the senior team at Met Home and similar publications were unable to initiate many possible stopgap solutions because the “senior” staff was anything but senior in regards to understanding online media, social networking, and general readership habits of a changing demographic of new readers. Donna may be absolutely correct that at the heart of it, the issues were corporate, but as EIC, she was part of the corporate culture that has hastened the demise of many excellent publications the print generation create.

The queen is dead…all hail the new queen.

By: Ann

Ann — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:10:32 +0000

I made the switch from print to digital a few years ago and it was tough, but if you go in ready to learn, it's not as intimidating as you think.
Mr. Dahl, these are great pieces of advice. Keep writing.

By: Donna Warner

Donna Warner — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:49:05 +0000

I was Editor in Chief of Metropolitan Home and attended every single web meeting that was ever held in the history of that wonderful magazine. I've spoken to several of Met Home's senior editors and none of us remember the dialogue you quoted.

What we do remember is many frustrating years trying to build a decent website when there was very little editorial input allowed. That changed in 2008 (or perhaps even a bit earlier), and almost every editor on staff contributed regularly to that site, in addition to putting out a great paper magazine.

And, to continue to set the record straight, Met Home's demise had nothing whatsoever to do with the editorial staff's contributions to the shared pointclickhome.com website (many of which generated more traffic than other sources), but to much larger corporate issues and decisions.

Donna Warner