Summing up Advanced Magazine Editing is an easy thing. It begins with proposals and ends with a printed magazine. The result is glossy and gratifying, but the efforts and negotiations that go into creating the magazine require different styles of commitment than most other classes available at Newhouse.
Students begin the class by pitching the magazines they’d like most to produce. “We all pitched things that we wanted to work on,” says Briana Palma, a senior editor for the 2009 publication. “So in that sense it was a cool way to get to know the people that we were going to work with more than we ever imagined.”
Proposals can range from budget-focused lifestyle magazines and general lifestyle with a focus on Central New York to arts and culture, fashion, and music. In 2008, the class crafted a magazine about sex and relationships called Bare. The class of 2009 decided to cover urban culture and arts with Graffiti: Art, Culture, and What Happens in Between.
No matter the idea, the class has to answer some questions: What niche do we want to fill? Who is our target audience? How will the content connect to an audience?
Graffiti, as it was originally pitched was not managing editor Sarah Casey’s top choice, in part because it wasn’t as narrowly focused as she wanted. But she was happy with the result. “The idea for Graffiti really came together—it was something that everybody could contribute to in some way. There was such an expansive scope of things we could tackle.”
Once the class decided the overall backbone, work began in earnest: pitching ideas for stories, determining departments (and department names) to organize the themes for the magazine, selecting feature stories from among the best story ideas. There was even an application process for students wanting one of the leadership roles that appear at the top of the masthead, which lists everyone involved in making the book.
The executive editor, managing editor, and art director positions came with a lot of responsibility, but all three designates agreed that the commitment pays dividends in experience. The executive editor maintained the vision of the magazine, reviewing stories and suggesting to writers and editors ways to achieve the mission of the magazine. The managing editor ensured that everything ticked along efficiently by setting deadlines, organizing copy flow, and kicking butt when necessary. The art director managed layout and all the visual components of the book: photos, illustrations, type, and the cover.
“I had no idea what I got myself into,” says art director Kate Devine. “It was really tough, but I think I got a lot of experience just learning how to work with photographers and illustrators.”
Of course, everyone on staff earns a spot on the masthead recognizing his or her primary contribution, but everyone does a little of everything along the way to a finished product. And that takes considerable work. The Graffiti staff frequently said that the workload surpassed their expectations. Though the class only met once per week, deadlines could be any day of the week and writers and editors were often juggling four or five stories in different stages of completion. But dedication at each step paid off big time—after all, there’s a final printed magazine that can be a leading asset in students’ portfolios.
At some point, this group of students—some of whom barely knew one another—morphed into a capable, assertive staff of cooperative professionals. Everyone contributed text for stories and helped with the editing and art decisions. As with any process involving several talented people, teamwork was essential to keep ideas on course. A big part of this teamwork is negotiation among the individuals involved.
“It was definitely the most team-oriented class I’ve ever worked in,” says editor Mallory Creveling. “Everyone had such an integral part in it, and we wouldn’t have been able to produce what we did without everyone in the class.”
Each story started with a pitch, followed by a memo from editor to writer outlining main objectives and how to research and report the story. The pair then built a working relationship, putting the story—or whatever blend of art and text that the memo suggested—through several drafts and edits. Once a story was deemed complete, it went to a top editor for a third perspective and to address any lingering concerns, then back to the writer and primary editor for more work. It’s a blizzard of activity, emails, and phone calls, and at any point the magazine’s executive editor could take a peek and suggest changes guiding the tone or content into line with the overall magazine.
Eventually, the vetted story moves into the final stages of the cycle: fact checking (which is exactly what it sounds like—checking every fact, name, age, location, whatever), copyediting (which addresses grammar, formatting, and any lingering line-level and word-choice issues), and fit (literally, fitting the story into the layouts done by designers).
Even though the class is called advanced editing, graphic design and selecting art contribute significantly to the publication. Early in the process, the art director called for designers to design individual pages for stories still being written and edited. These layouts were drafted in a similar process to the stories, with check-backs between director and designer, and between story editor and designer.
At every level, again, communication and quality negotiation are the difference between smooth copy flow (with stories coming together on schedule and fitting the designated page) and total redos.
“The writer-editor relationship was the most interesting takeaway,” says Kyle Adams, a senior writer for the magazine who also edited and took photos. “You’re on both sides of it. You’re learning how to be a better editor and you’re being edited at the same time. You start to get a feel for what works, for what works with different people.”
Behind the scenes of all this is the magazine’s editorial director, the professor. “The instructor is there to suggest what should happen next in the development [of the magazine],” says professor Mark Obbie. He says his job is “to make early suggestions [on story assignments] and then detailed comments on the stories as they move toward completion.” Obbie, instructor for both Bare in 2008 and Graffiti in 2009, says he’s had to reach into the process sometimes to salvage stories, but generally student editors and writers guide the editorial process themselves using his feedback to build the necessary skills.
This class makes students tap the full range of skills and instincts acquired in four years at Newhouse. Plus, several students say they learned a lot about themselves and about what to look for in a workplace—because the semester-long project was in many ways like a job.
Casey says everybody worked as a unit on Graffiti. “I was really surprised at how well people worked together,” she says. “People were saying that the experience in this class was a lot better than they have had on other student publications.”
J. Isaac Spradlin is a 2009 graduate of the Goldring Arts Journalism Program and a culture journalist who has written for print and radio about the visual arts, science and technology, business, and books. Visit his website at http://www.ispradlin.com.