Mr. Magazine

“I’m such a firm believer in print. I think one big mistake magazines make is they start looking to cut corners and they denigrate the actual physical print product and in this case Modern Farmer is a luxury item with a high cover price and the actual object looks and feels luxurious. And at the end of the day, the print is the legitimizer of everything that flows from it. Yes, we have a great website; we have a fantastic digital director running it and we’re all over social media, but the print is the true legitimizer and the hub from which everything else flows. And there’s just no substitute for sitting down with a magazine and a glass of wine or a cup of coffee, whatever your poison is, and flipping through it.” Sarah Gray Miller

Modern Farmer magazine celebrates mother earth and all of her mysteries. From what we eat, how it’s grown and what repercussions we might expect from the way we interact with our planet, to the subtlety of earth’s mission to sustain and keep us healthy. The magazine is a plethora of information that is both timely and valuable to the human species.

The magazine relaunched with the summer issue and while most things haven’t changed, the quality and aesthetic value of the magazine to name two; some things did, such as providing more service to the reader and a heavier, more substantial well of content.

The new editor in chief, Sarah Gray Miller, is a woman who knows quite a bit about the earth beneath her feet in her own right, having spent most of her career working for publications that revere it. Since January 2015, she has been at the helm of Modern Farmer and is passionately thrilled with the magazine’s interestingly hybrid nature.

I spoke with Sarah Gray recently and we talked about that fact, and how the magazine appeals to not only the most experienced of farmers and gardeners, but the backyard enthusiast as well. It was a fun and entertaining conversation and one I think you will highly enjoy.

So, sit back and get ready to do some “Modern” farming, without getting your hands dirty at all…

But first, the sound-bites:

On the fact the magazine first-launched with much fanfare, then was relaunched recently under her leadership: It’s hard for me to tell you much about what happened before I got here because I wasn’t around. So, I don’t know exactly what went down. What I can tell you is that I’m very lucky in that I came onboard at a really strong brand that caught an amazing wave in the culture and that was right on time, maybe even slightly ahead of its time because I feel like we’re getting even more traction now.

On the magnetic attraction she seems to have for magazines that deal with food, gardening and the country living-type experience: I’ve long been interested in food and the growing of food and lifestyles, so Modern Farmer is the perfect fit for me. Also, I love the fact that it is located in the Hudson Valley in Athens, New York. I’ve had a house up here for nine years now and for the longest time I was relegated to being just a weekender, and sort of dreaded going back to the city on Sunday nights.

On her goals for Modern Farmer and what direction she envisions for the magazine: I might start with the things that I’ve decided not to change. One is the look of the magazine. The production values are amazing. We have incredibly good paper and that we’re keeping. The design is gorgeous; the cover identity remains the same. I do think though that throughout the magazine there is a little more service; a little more in depth reporting. Every time we cover something we ask ourselves the really hard questions such as: why does this belong in Modern Farmer and nowhere else? And these questions are just something that the reader asks too.

On what she thinks the major determinate is for Modern Farmer to survive: I do think it’s catching this wave in the culture where people care very much about that their food; I think that’s key. Even before advertising, keeping your readers happy and satisfying your consumers and your audience is vital. And I’ve long- edited from the reader’s point-of-view, with a pretty sharp BS meter for whether or not I as the reader understand it and I’m spurred to action, have the tools I need to take that action, etc. And then of course, advertising is part of the equation.

On whether she thinks a magazine called “Modern” Farmer can be successful in print: I’m such a firm believer in print. I think one big mistake magazines make is they start looking to cut corners and they denigrate the actual physical print product and in this case Modern Farmer is a luxury item with a high cover price and the actual object looks and feels luxurious. And at the end of the day, the print is the legitimizer of everything that flows from it.

On whether her past career experience at places such as Garden Design and Country Living helped to prepare her for her job at Modern Farmer: Immeasurably. I owe the biggest debt to Dorothy Kalins at Garden Design who taught me pretty much everything I know and also the connections I made there and at Organic Style and Country Living were incredibly helpful.

On the challenges of doing cover photo shoots with animals versus people: Oh, the things that I’ve learned about ducks that you wouldn’t believe. One thing and we laugh here, animals look like what animals look like, so there’s not a whole lot of photoshopping you can do in the same way as you can with celebrities and real people, so that’s different. They bring their own set of challenges however.

On what motivates her to get out of bed in the mornings: I am so energized by this product that I just can’t tell you how much. There are two different things; one, I love a startup; I love a turnaround and I love indie journalism more than anything, so the fact that this is young and scrappy and a tiny team reminds me of what it was like at Garden Design, Budget Living and Saveur. I do not spend my days in corporate meetings; I’m actually back doing the work again. I’m getting to report things and write things and line edit content, which is thrilling and fun and exciting. It’s a bit of a rollercoaster.

On how her role as editor has changed from before the digital age and after: I think all editors are busier now than they used to be for sure, because you’re looking at multiple channels, but at the end of the day it’s all about communicating information to your audience, whether you’re doing that on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or your website or in print. I really welcome the technology. I also love that it allows for more immediacy and more of a conversation and an exchange with the reader.

On how she decides on the animal that will grace the cover of the magazine each time: For one, we’re not covering animals that have already been covered, that’s a big part of it. And then it’s also looking at, this may sound silly, but with animals, just like fashion or food, there are definite trends. There is a ton of interest in duck eggs and duck meat; they’re the new chickens, if you will.

On whom she sees as Modern Farmer’s number one competitor: I don’t really see one out there. I know every editor likes to say that, but I don’t. It would have been easier for me, at say, Country Living, to name magazines that seemed like they were in a competitive set, but here the magazine is such an interesting hybrid; it’s covering food, gardening, farming and just the whole back-to-the-land lifestyle and it also contains the kind of articles that put it in more of a thought leader category, or a hard journalism category.

On anything else she’d like to add: One question that I get a lot is: are we for farmers? And are farmers reading the magazine? And the answer is yes, we do have farmers reading us. And we do want to speak to those farmers and cover tools that will help them and cover plants that relate to farming, but we also have a lot of people who read the magazine who are merely backyard gardeners; who are want-to-be farmer-gardeners and dreamers and concerned, responsible consumers. So, we are talking to all of those constituents at the same time, which is challenging but incredibly rewarding.

On what keeps her up at night: Everything keeps me up at night. (Laughs) Everything from the state of the plants, the pictures; did I put the wrong directional on that caption, just everything. You would think right after we go to press that I would have the calmest, most relaxed time, especially with a quarterly; that I would get a few really calm weeks. But that’s when I wake up in the middle of the night the most wondering did I catch everything; did I get everything right.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ conversation with Sarah Gray Miller, Editor-In-Chief, Modern Farmer magazine.

Samir Husni: Modern Farmer was born with a big bang and it was the darling of the media and then something happened and now you’re in charge. Tell me about that journey.

Sarah Gray Miller: It’s hard for me to tell you much about what happened before I got here because I wasn’t around. So, I don’t know exactly what went down. What I can tell you is that I’m very lucky in that I came onboard at a really strong brand that caught an amazing wave in the culture and that was right on time, maybe even slightly ahead of its time because I feel like we’re getting even more traction now.

All of that said, everything can be improved, so the first thing that I did when I got here was to really try and elicit criticism; I wanted to hear from readers and people in the business about what they didn’t love; what they wanted to see changed, as well as what they did love and what the sacred cows were. The last thing I wanted to do was to throw the baby out with the bath water.

Samir Husni: This genre of magazines seems to attract you like a magnet; you’ve been with Country Living, Organic Style and Garden Design…

Sarah Gray Miller: I’ve long been interested in food and the growing of food and lifestyles, so Modern Farmer is the perfect fit for me. Also, I love the fact that it is located in the Hudson Valley in Athens, New York. I’ve had a house up here for nine years now and for the longest time I was relegated to being just a weekender, and sort of dreaded going back to the city on Sunday nights. So, to be able to live here full time and be in the media business is amazingly fortunate.

Samir Husni: Tell me about your plans and goals for Modern Farmer and where you expect to take the magazine now that it’s under your tenure.

Sarah Gray Miller: I might start with the things that I’ve decided not to change. One is the look of the magazine. The production values are amazing. We have incredibly good paper and that we’re keeping. The design is gorgeous; the cover identity remains the same.

I do think though that throughout the magazine there is a little more service; a little more in depth reporting. Every time we cover something we ask ourselves the really hard questions such as: why does this belong in Modern Farmer and nowhere else? And these questions are just something that the reader asks too.

The cover animal; they wanted to know more and see more in depth coverage on that particular animal. So, instead of just a rundown of eight cute breeds, we’re actually telling people about how to go about raising ducks.

The magazine is ultimately for people who care greatly about their food and where it comes from and in the past you never saw a lot of food. And you may have noticed in the fall issue there is food and recipes connected to chefs and the causes that they’re advocating for. But I think it’s important to actually see food.

Samir Husni: You’ve been doing this for some time and you’ve seen a lot of magazines come and go; what do you think is the major determinate for Modern Farmer to survive?

Sarah Gray Miller: I do think it’s catching this wave in the culture where people care very much about that their food; I think that’s key. Even before advertising, keeping your readers happy and satisfying your consumers and your audience is vital. And I’ve long- edited from the reader’s point-of-view, with a pretty sharp BS meter for whether or not I as the reader understand it and I’m spurred to action, have the tools I need to take that action, etc. And then of course, advertising is part of the equation.

So, shortly after I came onboard, which was the very end of January 2015; we brought in a publisher and there’s an ad sales staff, that way I get to focus on making the magazine, which is great, and speaking to the readers. But there’s now a dedicated team out selling it to advertisers.

Samir Husni: What do you say to those people who might ask you; the name of the magazine is Modern Farmer, yet you’re publishing a print magazine, an ink on paper magazine, in these modern digital days; what would you say to them?

Sarah Gray Miller: I’m such a firm believer in print. I think one big mistake magazines make is they start looking to cut corners and they denigrate the actual physical print product and in this case Modern Farmer is a luxury item with a high cover price and the actual object looks and feels luxurious. And at the end of the day, the print is the legitimizer of everything that flows from it.

Yes, we have a great website; we have a fantastic digital director running it and we’re all over social media, but the print is the true legitimizer and the hub from which everything else flows. And there’s just no substitute for sitting down with a magazine and a glass of wine or a cup of coffee, whatever your poison is, and flipping through it.

Samir Husni: Needless to say, I agree with you 100%. (Laughs)

Sarah Gray Miller: (Laughs too). For obvious reasons, Mr. Magazine™.

Samir Husni: With your background; you’re from Mississippi, so you grew up in a farming state and you’ve worked with all of these magazines that have to do with food, farming as a way of life, and getting back to Mother Earth. How do you think all of that has helped and prepared you for the job you’re doing now?

Sarah Gray Miller: Immeasurably. I owe the biggest debt to Dorothy Kalins at Garden Design who taught me pretty much everything I know and also the connections I made there and at Organic Style and Country Living were incredibly helpful.

Another thing that I learned, probably at Garden Design, where you’re dealing with sort of technical, horticultural information is the ability to speak to the expert, the pro, the experienced person who’s been doing it forever and at the very same time talk to the enthusiast who might be new to the subject matter. And there’s a real trick for not talking down to people who already know what they’re doing, but giving the enthusiast context clues to understand the material.

Samir Husni: When you’re shooting your covers of all of the different animals, such as the duck on the summer issue; how difficult is it working with animals as opposed to working with celebrities and other people that you can actually talk to?

Sarah Gray Miller: (Laughs) Oh, the things that I’ve learned about ducks that you wouldn’t believe. One thing and we laugh here, animals look like what animals look like, so there’s not a whole lot of photoshopping you can do in the same way as you can with celebrities and real people, so that’s different. They bring their own set of challenges however.

Luckily with the duck they’re flightless, but they also have notoriously filthy bathroom habits. I tried to say that in the most polite way possible, but I’ll just put it this way; we went through a lot of white seamless paper onset during that shoot.

Samir Husni: What makes you tick and click and motivates you to get out of bed in the mornings and say it’s going to be a great day?

Sarah Gray Miller: I am so energized by this product that I just can’t tell you how much. There are two different things; one, I love a startup; I love a turnaround and I love Indie journalism more than anything, so the fact that this is young and scrappy and a tiny team reminds me of what it was like at Garden Design, Budget Living and Saveur. I do not spend my days in corporate meetings; I’m actually back doing the work again. I’m getting to report things and write things and line edit content, which is thrilling and fun and exciting. It’s a bit of a rollercoaster.

I also think this magazine has the potential to, and this may sound hyperbolic, change the world. This magazine is a force for good, which makes me proud to be a part of it and I get very excited and passionate about the stories that we do.

And we get to do long-form journalism, which is so rare. We’re assigning pieces that are 2,000 words long and very few magazine editors get to do that. And we get to cover important political issues. It’s smarter than your average lifestyle magazine.

Samir Husni: You were editing magazines before the dawn of the digital age…

Sarah Gray Miller: Yes, I think we were on AOL way back 20 years ago when email was brand new. (Laughs)

Samir Husni: You were editing before we became fully digitized and after; how has your role of editor changed during those years?

Sarah Gray Miller: I think all editors are busier now than they used to be for sure, because you’re looking at multiple channels, but at the end of the day it’s all about communicating information to your audience, whether you’re doing that on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or your website or in print. I really welcome the technology. I also love that it allows for more immediacy and more of a conversation and an exchange with the reader.

I always said that I’ve never been nor ever will be one of those editors who sit above the reader. I always like to get down on the floor and roll around with them. I’m in it with them. And I think social media, especially, allows us to have such a conversation with our audience. And get instantaneous feedback about what interests them or doesn’t interest them.

And then what the print product lets us do is take our time and sink our teeth into a subject, report it from every angle, lovingly line edit, making sure every single word is right, and create a gloriously deep, physical, luxurious product. But I also like the fast interaction that digital media provides. I consume information on all channels.

Samir Husni: When you’re considering your next cover subject; how do you decide which animal is up next?

Sarah Gray Miller: For one, we’re not covering animals that have already been covered, that’s a big part of it. And then it’s also looking at, this may sound silly, but with animals, just like fashion or food, there are definite trends. There is a ton of interest in duck eggs and duck meat; they’re the new chickens, if you will.

That same thinking went into our fall issue, where we’ve got a cover contest up online still, so I can’t tell you what it is yet, but it’s an animal that has sort of went through a boom-bust economy. And it’s back and people are farming it again.

There’s also a now-ness; we’re not just covering X because it’s summer and that’s the time to cover this particular animal or that one. We’re also thinking about what people are interested in right then.

Samir Husni: Who do you consider your number one competitor?

Sarah Gray Miller: I don’t really see one out there. I know every editor likes to say that, but I don’t. It would have been easier for me, at say, Country Living, to name magazines that seemed like they were in a competitive set, but here the magazine is such an interesting hybrid; it’s covering food, gardening, farming and just the whole back-to-the-land lifestyle and it also contains the kind of articles that put it in more of a thought leader category, or a hard journalism category. So, I don’t see a direct competitor.

Samir Husni: Is there anything else that you’d like to add?

Sarah Gray Miller: One question that I get a lot is: are we for farmers? And are farmers reading the magazine? And the answer is yes, we do have farmers reading us. And we do want to speak to those farmers and cover tools that will help them and cover plants that relate to farming, but we also have a lot of people who read the magazine who are merely backyard gardeners; who are want-to-be farmer-gardeners and dreamers and concerned, responsible consumers. So, we are talking to all of those constituents at the same time, which is challenging but incredibly rewarding.

And I don’t know why it throws people, because Rolling Stone has people who are not rock stars who read the magazine. Farmers are the rock stars for this audience.

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Sarah Gray Miller: Everything keeps me up at night. (Laughs) Everything from the state of the plants, the pictures; did I put the wrong directional on that caption, just everything. You would think right after we go to press that I would have the calmest, most relaxed time, especially with a quarterly; that I would get a few really calm weeks. But that’s when I wake up in the middle of the night the most wondering did I catch everything; did I get everything right. I take this job really seriously and I feel very responsible to the people who pay for the magazine and read it. It matters to me greatly that we get everything not just right, but great.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

“The Reader is a publication that’s education-focused, free, and really revolutionizes standard direct mail by focusing on good content and the power of what paper and print can do. And what we find quite interesting and fascinating is that the direct mail industry has really been missing the opportunity that print and stories present. And what we do in The Reader magazine is we revive those values that are inherent in an IT (Information Technology), and we call print an IT that is underappreciated, but also extremely widely-used and understood.” Chris Theodore

The power of print has never been more evident than with The Reader Magazine. Co-founder and editor, Chris Theodore is a soft-spoken man who has the heart of a lion when it comes to the mission of his magazine.

The Reader is a free news publication founded in 2001 and its mission is to help advertisers influence local audiences through positive environmental, social and economic impact in communities. Through moral integrity, social responsibility and a genuine desire to change people’s lives, The Reader is a journalistic endeavor that has definitely made its mark in the world of magazines and magazine media.

I spoke with Chris recently and we talked about the magazine’s noble foundation and purpose and about the goal of expansion which will happen in three phases over the next five years. The goal – to become the first single media entity with a journalistic connection with every American, to create a Reader Nation.

A lofty goal, some might say, but nevertheless, their ultimate dream of providing print and Internet advertising to all U.S. advertisers, would change the face of advertising immeasurably.

The environmentally-responsible business model that it implements is done with the primary goal of saving each advertiser an average of 4 tons of wood per year by driving advertiser ROI through journalistic content rather than high frequency, which in turn is a monetary amount of over $3,500 per year.

It’s a remarkable magazine with a remarkable man behind the wheel. The passion and enthusiasm that Chris feels for both the brand and the cause is palpable.

So, I hope you enjoy being “The Reader” of this interview with Chris Theodore, Co-founder and Editor, The Reader Magazine… I know I thoroughly did.

But first, the sound-bites:

On a description of what The Reader is: It’s a publication that’s education-focused, free, and really revolutionizes standard direct mail by focusing on good content and the power of what paper and print can do.

On why he believes some magazine publishers have missed the boat on the power of print: Certainly some people have not missed the boat. Let’s talk about The Economist, which I heard was just up for sale. I read that they were doing something like $500 million in sales and $95 million in profit. I don’t know that company well enough to tell you what part of that revenue is print-driven, but I bet a big part of it is. (Laughs) Probably 80% of it is. So, clearly there are companies who understand that power and are just going right after it, or aren’t trying to hide what they do.

On The Reader’s approach with advertisers when it comes to its environmentally-responsible business model concerning the magazine versus direct mail: It was research that we undertook about two or three years ago that we’re really glad that we focused on. It came about through relationships with third-party, non-profit organizations that were more than glad to help us determine that. It was really super-cool to be able to give people this sensible, accurate and scientific peer review in a type of analysis, which was awesome. Does it matter to our advertisers? I think to some, yes. I haven’t done research as to the impact our environmentally-responsible model has on our advertisers, but I can tell you that it’s clear when we’re discussing advertising that it is increasingly a positive thing when we’re talking to potential advertisers.

On whether he thinks The Reader is more of an advocate magazine or a journalistic magazine: One of the most powerful things that we do, and I can feel the goose bumps forming on my arm as I’m telling you, is the fact that we use our magazine in a moral way. We try to find information that can communicate in a moral way. Does that mean advocacy? I wouldn’t use the word advocacy; you might call it solution-focused journalism. Some people call it explanatory journalism.

On whether he believes the magazine could have accomplished its goal and vision without the print component, if it were digital-only: That’s an interesting question. I don’t know the answer to that. We certainly could never do what we’re intending to do, nor would we have the impact in a local community if we were just digital, because there are just too many choices out there. What’s interesting about print is that – well, there are many things interesting about print as you well know, but I would say that one of them is the power to be in someone’s home and to have something tangible. That’s very important.

On the fact that he and The Reader hit the spotlight when he asked the Governor of California for $26 million to hire 439 laid-off PennySaver employees and whether he received the money: No, we haven’t gotten the money yet. (Laughs too) It remains to be seen where that money will come from. It’s important to be patient and our company’s strategy is sure-footed; we’ve always been sure-footed. Things are still in a positive state in terms of potentially working and getting this money from the state of California.

On the expansion plans for The Reader: When I thought about doing what we’re doing in this area, Southern California, at the very beginning my dream was to just do this area. Then that dream and my desire grew. Even in 2006, believe it or not, we were dreaming about expanding into greater areas, but we really hadn’t put together the plan. We’d done a lot of hard work, but we hadn’t done what can be the excruciatingly hard work of doing all of the financial analysis and all of the operational and strategical analyses and all of the research, that we have now done. So, that has resulted in what is about an 87-page business planning process paper that shows specifically every state, including Mississippi, and when we will create a zone in that area.

On the major stumbling block he might face and how he would overcome it: The key will be talent; attracting and hiring, managing, inspiring and retaining talent. Our plan for addressing that will be what I eluded to earlier, which is we will keep our focus on the noble purpose of what we’re doing. And we will make sure that those who come aboard understand that this is not just about profitability, it’s about bringing something needed and that can transform hearts and individual’s lives into their homes that they wouldn’t have otherwise.

On anything else he’d like to add: Blowing the lid off just a little more about the myth of advertising expenditures is something I find interesting and one of my favorites is, according to Ad Age magazine as well as BIA/Kelsey, a local advertising research company, of the $140 billion spent on local advertising last year, 50% was spent on some form of print advertising, 27% of the $140 billion was spent on direct mail. But the most fascinating, I think, is how that shows people what’s happening with print and local advertising. It is $70 billion that is spent on print and that’s not talking about national advertising. That’s local advertising.

On what keeps him up at night: There’s really not one thing in particular. There’s not one thing that really keeps me up at night, because right now to be honest with you, my feeling is that it’s time to move. There are various times in life that we do things and that we want things, but right now it’s time to simply put it altogether and to move forward.

And now for the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ conversation with Chris Theodore, Co-Founder, Editor, The Reader Magazine.

Samir Husni: Could you tell me a little about The Reader?

Chris Theodore: It’s a publication that’s education-focused, free, and really revolutionizes standard direct mail by focusing on good content and the power of what paper and print can do.

And what we find quite interesting and fascinating is that the direct mail industry has really been missing the opportunity that print and stories present. And what we do in The Reader magazine is we revive those values that are inherent in an IT (Information Technology), and we call print an IT that is underappreciated, but also extremely widely-used and understood.

And why its understanding is important and why its familiarity is actually important is because that’s the door that opens when you start talking about print to actual lay people or businesspeople. And when you’re describing the power of print to businesspeople, it’s not a story that you have to try very hard to get people to understand, which is very important because that way you can sell advertising. So, there is a huge door opening there, which paves the way for a relationship with a businessperson. And that would be one way to describe The Reader magazine.

Samir Husni: Why do you think a lot of other publishers and magazine publishers have missed or ignored that story and now people are calling it content marketing or native advertising, rather than using the power of print to deliver stories plus advertising? Why have they missed the boat on this?

Chris Theodore: Certainly some people have not missed the boat. There’s a great website that I found recently called “The Power of Print,” I’m not really quite sure what they’re doing, but they are people who obviously love print.

But let me try and hit your question straight-on. I would say actually that there are plenty of publishers out there who understand it and that they’re doing well and their business model is doing well.

Let’s talk about The Economist, which I heard was just up for sale. I read that they were doing something like $500 million in sales and $95 million in profit. I don’t know that company well enough to tell you what part of that revenue is print-driven, but I bet a big part of it is. (Laughs) Probably 80% of it is. So, clearly there are companies who understand that power and are just going right after it, or aren’t trying to hide what they do.

Interestingly on the other hand, there are companies here in California that are calling their companies digital first rather than what they are which is a media channel, which I find really quite interesting. They’re supposed to be a local media channel. And I think some of is bad information.

Samir Husni: I refer to that as falling in love with the first gorgeous mistress who walks the hallways of those companies, tempting them with the revenues of digital, while our faithful partner called print has been and still is providing us with our daily bread.

Chris Theodore: You’re right and has been for a long, long time.

Samir Husni: Let me ask you specifically about The Reader because I was fascinated in the way that you said: you use The Reader to advertise instead of high-frequency junk mail or direct mail. And the amount of savings in terms of trees and water; tell me more about that concept and as you go and approach your clients, your advertisers, and you compare direct mail to The Reader as the vehicle of delivery for their advertisements; tell me about that conversation.

Chris Theodore: Yes, of course. It was research that we undertook about two or three years ago that we’re really glad that we focused on. It came about through relationships with third-party, non-profit organizations that were more than glad to help us determine that. It was really super-cool to be able to give people this sensible, accurate and scientific peer review in a type of analysis, which was awesome.

Does it matter to our advertisers? I think to some, yes. I haven’t done research as to the impact our environmentally-responsible model has on our advertisers, but I can tell you that it’s clear when we’re discussing advertising that it is increasingly a positive thing when we’re talking to potential advertisers.

I think that also corresponds to the amount of people in the United States who increasingly care about lowering fossil-fuel burning, which is interesting because our next issue is on the environmental politics in California. And one of the things I’m learning is there are some things that, not just Californians, but all Americans think about in terms of the environment, or let me say not all, but a high majority, and one of them is lowering fossil-fuel use. So, it’s really been a timely thing.

I think one of the things we’re good at is timing, in terms of our publication. In business it’s always helpful to be that. The environmental impact is something that’s important, particularly in California where we’re having a drought, for our advertisers to know and for our audiences to know. And that each of our advertisers is saving a community 40,000 gallons of water a year. From an advertisement standpoint, that’s about the size of two business cards, if I’m not mistaken. And that’s something that matters to them. Then we can figure it all out, there’s all kinds of cool calculators online; we can figure out what 40,000 gallons equals for a community, let’s say with 120,000 households. So, it’s a cool time.

I love being in the magazine business right now for many reasons. One of them is having access to great information that we can provide people simultaneously and generally in my opinion; it’s a quality level of educationally-focused information that is presented in ways that do not alienate or do not pander. There’s a need for that, despite the incredible amount of information everywhere. There is still a need for good content.

Samir Husni: Is The Reader more of an advocate magazine or more of a journalistic magazine?

Chris Theodore: That’s a great question. I’ll answer it this way; my colleague and the co-founder of The Reader magazine, sent me a wonderful article yesterday that was in Forbes. And it was about how some companies, and they were using Monster.com as an example, tail spun and fell apart because they lost their sense of noble purpose. They were talking about how originally Monster.com was saying that they wanted people to have a job that they cared about and something that they could feel good about. The whole focus was on making sure that the users used that medium in order to do something very important in their lives, which was to find something with meaning. And they lost that. When it was all profit-driven and the CEO, who was subsequently fired, was all about the quarterly and focusing on it, they lost that sense of noble purpose.

I bring that up because one of the most powerful things that we do, and I can feel the goose bumps forming on my arm as I’m telling you, is the fact that we use our magazine in a moral way. We try to find information that can communicate in a moral way. Does that mean advocacy? I wouldn’t use the word advocacy; you might call it solution-focused journalism. Some people call it explanatory journalism.

I would say that one of the things missing today is a certain moral quality when it comes to journalism and the information being shared with people. And you might be able to sense why this would be so important; if you have a free publication and you can actually master a certain moral tone without being over-the-top or coming across as: this is the only way, but rather basing your information on a basis of truth, something like what The Center for Public Integrity does, where you can tell after a while, if you’ve been following their journalistic brand, after some years, but it doesn’t really take years. You can actually pick it up the first time you ever see it. There’s a certain truthfulness and a certain avoidance of the same kind of language that gets people into problems.

George Orwell once said that when he wrote an article, he used to be a journalist; he tried to not use words or expressions that were simply the repetition of what others had said. So, if you just try hard enough you can create a certain moral brand, if you will, that actually is legitimate and relevant.

Samir Husni: And do you think you could have accomplished what you have with The Reader without the print component, if you were digital-only?

Chris Theodore: That’s an interesting question. I don’t know the answer to that. We certainly could never do what we’re intending to do, nor would we have the impact in a local community if we were just digital, because there are just too many choices out there.

What’s interesting about print is that – well, there are many things interesting about print as you well know, but I would say that one of them is the power to be in someone’s home and to have something tangible. That’s very important.

So, I guess one of the answers to your question is that I don’t envision that. We wouldn’t have been able to achieve what we’re achieving and what we wanted to achieve any other way than through print.

Samir Husni: Back in May you and The Reader came into the spotlight when you asked Governor Brown to give you a grant or a loan of $26 million to hire 439 Californians who were laid off when PennySaver closed its doors, a media company which had been operating for 50 years. Any reaction from anyone? Did you get the money? (Laughs)

Chris Theodore: No, we haven’t gotten the money yet. (Laughs too) It remains to be seen where that money will come from. It’s important to be patient and our company’s strategy is sure-footed; we’ve always been sure-footed. Things are still in a positive state in terms of potentially working and getting this money from the state of California.

But also it very well might not come from the state, but instead come from the Money Markets and the private sector, commercial sources, basically.

Samir Husni: The Reader is doing well in the local market; it’s my understanding that advertising revenue was something like 46% higher this year than last. Is that the encouraging sign that is pushing you to go nationwide, to expand? Or is it the mission that you want to share with the rest of the country after sharing it with California for 15 years?

Chris Theodore: It’s both. That’s the short answer and I’ve given so few short answers that’ll I’ll keep it at that.

Samir Husni: Tell me about the expansion plans; when could I expect to see, for example, The Reader delivered to my home in Mississippi?

Chris Theodore: The expansion plan really grew out of a long, simmering desire to have a bigger impact than we had and to be able to bring the kind of information that I’ve described to more people. It came from a desire to share with people who might not have had the same kind of background that I did, which was a father who was an educator and a mother who was involved in non-profit work, so I was given a lot in my very fortunate upbringing. So that changed my trajectory.

When I thought about doing what we’re doing in this area, Southern California, at the very beginning my dream was to just do this area. Then that dream and my desire grew. Even in 2006, believe it or not, we were dreaming about expanding into greater areas, but we really hadn’t put together the plan. We’d done a lot of hard work, but we hadn’t done what can be the excruciatingly hard work of doing all of the financial analysis and all of the operational and strategical analyses and all of the research, that we have now done.

So, that has resulted in what is about an 87-page business planning process paper that shows specifically every state, including Mississippi, and when we will create a zone in that area.

The short story is that the expansion will occur in three phases. The planning is somewhat flexible and I’m proud of our planning for that reason. In California, for example, when PennySaver closed, our plan was flexible enough and we knew the numbers enough that we could very quickly figure out what we would need in terms of upfront capital as well as anything else to change it somewhat so that we could accelerate the expansion and go into California, for example, on a faster way than we had.

But the short story is it will occur in three phases over five years and everything has been laid out, not that things won’t come up, things will come up and problems will occur, but I have a very good understanding of this business; I have a very good understanding of this market and we feel that if we do what we have done up to now, which is being careful and making good decisions and having good people, eventually we will be nationwide in about five years.

Samir Husni: What do you anticipate during those five years as being your major stumbling block and what is your contingency plan to overcome it?

Chris Theodore: The key will be talent; attracting and hiring, managing, inspiring and retaining talent. Our plan for addressing that will be what I eluded to earlier, which is we will keep our focus on the noble purpose of what we’re doing. And we will make sure that those who come aboard understand that this is not just about profitability, it’s about bringing something needed and that can transform hearts and individual’s lives into their homes that they wouldn’t have otherwise.

And I think that if we do a good job of not just communicating that, but actually living that and actually in our company, continue what we’re doing now, which is endeavoring to stay focused on the noble element and the purpose of what we’re doing, then that will continually enfranchise people who are working with us. But we’ll also be dealing with them in a way that they see congruency here and see that it’s real. And I want to be in an honest and real company. And that’s how I would answer that question and I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but I’ll tell you this, it isn’t new to me. We will be able to apply a decade and a half of trial and error to the application of a very well thought-out plan in a market which is poised to accept what we’re doing.

Samir Husni: Is there anything that you’d like to add?

Chris Theodore: Blowing the lid off just a little more about the myth of advertising expenditures is something I find interesting and one of my favorites is, according to Ad Age magazine as well as BIA/Kelsey, a local advertising research company, of the $140 billion spent on local advertising last year, 50% was spent on some form of print advertising, 27% of the $140 billion was spent on direct mail. Interestingly, the projection for 2018 and by the way direct mail is the number one category of expenditures for local advertising in the United States; interestingly, it will remain so according to BIA/Kelsey in 2018. It will only go down by three percentage points.

But the most fascinating, I think, is how that shows people what’s happening with print and local advertising. It is $70 billion that is spent on print and that’s not talking about national advertising. That’s local advertising.

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Chris Theodore: There’s really not one thing in particular. There’s not one thing that really keeps me up at night, because right now to be honest with you, my feeling is that it’s time to move. There are various times in life that we do things and that we want things, but right now it’s time to simply put it altogether and to move forward. It’s time to do this and time to expand. So, I’m not really taking a lot of time or worried about it.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

“Could the magazine exist without a print edition? Yes, I guess so. But I know that our readers love the tactile experience of getting a bound magazine in their mailboxes every month. And our subscription sales have been strong. But beyond that, just seeing how our Real Women Style Award winners circled back to our September issue and are on the cover of the magazine is enough to convince you of how much print matters. We unveiled it to one of the winners the other day and she had tears in her eyes and couldn’t believe she was on the cover of a magazine. I think that sums up why print is still an incredibly special medium.” Meredith Rollins

Unlike a book, you can judge a magazine by its cover. And by now you’ve seen the cover of the September issue of Redbook magazine on TV, in social media and other outlets. Magazine covers were, are, and will continue to be story generators. This cover is no different in one way and a lot different in many other ways. Real style for real women has been the motto of Redbook magazine for years. In the world of women’s service magazines, Redbook has been around for generations, providing advice, style, recipes and affordable fashion with a down-to-earth mentality that its audience has come to know and love. And to balance all of the useful and helpful hints and tips the magazine offers each month, there are stories that cut right to the heart of the reader, engaging them with an emotional experience they don’t soon forget.

Meredith Rollins has been at the helm of the magazine for just over a year now, but she’s no stranger to Redbook, having been executive editor since 2010. She helped with the magazine’s redesign, which put the focus and the mainline on fun, affordable fashion, beauty and style. Something that Redbook zeros in on brilliantly.

I spoke with Meredith recently about the September issue cover and about her goals and plans for the future of the magazine. With the Real Women Style Awards, which is in its second year, the magazine showcases and honors “real” women everywhere and even featured the winners on the cover of the September issue. It was a fun and lively conversation, much like the personality of the lady herself.

So grab your most comfortable spot, your drink of choice and curl up and enjoy the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Meredith Rollins, Editor-In-Chief, Redbook.

But first, the sound-bites:

On the gamble she took by putting a “real” woman on the cover of Redbook’s September issue: This is our second year of the Real Women Style Awards; we did it for the first time last September and we just featured our winners in the actual pages of the magazine. And we know how much our readers love seeing real women on our pages. It’s so much easier to believe that an outfit or a makeup tip works in real life if you can see it on someone that you can relate to.

On whether she feels she’s taking an actual risk with the September cover or staying true to Redbook’s DNA: I think I’m staying true to Redbook’s DNA definitely. Whether it’s a risky move or not; I guess time will tell about that, but I feel so passionately about it and I think it’s a perfect moment for this.

On her accomplishments within the last year of being named editor-in-chief: I feel like I’m just starting, even though I’ve been editor for almost exactly a year. I think I’m really coming into my own as an editor. It takes longer than you might imagine to get up to speed and get to the right creative team in place. I have a new creative team and they’ve totally changed the way the magazine looks, from the covers all the way to the last page. Kirby Rodriguez is our creative director and he joined us last year in early November. And I think he’s a total genius and I’m really proud of the way that we’ve made women’s service look elegant and beautiful, and made affordably-priced fashions look like a million bucks.

On who would appear if she struck the magazine with a magic wand that had the ability to turn it into a living, breathing human being: That’s a hard question. (Laughs) I don’t think that there’s just one person. I guess that’s what makes answering the question so hard; I know that our readers come in all shapes and sizes, some of them are stay-at-home parents, some of them are working incredibly hard outside and inside the office. They are schoolteachers, executives, parents when they’re not parents, but what they all have in common is they love style and beauty.

On the magazine’s personality and whom it reflects when it arrives at a reader’s home: I think it’s the embodiment of their best friend who has great advice and who knows exactly what she’s going through in her life. And who’s a lot of fun to be around. One of the best quotes that I’ve heard from a reader was that she thought the magazine was someone that she could sit down with and have a glass of wine with at the end of the day. And that’s exactly what I want.

On whether she believes that “best friend” persona of Redbook could be achieved without the print component: Could the magazine exist without a print edition? Yes, I guess so. But I know that our readers love the tactile experience of getting a bound magazine in their mailboxes every month. And our subscription sales have been strong. But beyond that, just seeing how our Real Women Style Award winners circled back to our September issue and are on the cover of the magazine is enough to convince you of how much print matters. We unveiled it to one of the winners the other day and she had tears in her eyes and couldn’t believe she was on the cover of a magazine.

On the day-to-day process of putting a magazine with such a wide audience as Redbook together: For me it goes back to this idea of shortcuts and quick information, balanced with stories that will really move you, because our readers still want beautiful writing. They want beautiful journalism and so we balance out all of the tips and advice in the magazine with things that feel meatier. Those are the stories that we get the most letters about honestly.

On what motivates her to get out of bed in the mornings and say it’s going to be a great day: In terms of the magazine, it’s the excitement of working with an amazing team. I’m biased of course, but I really do think I have the best team in the business. We have 7 million readers and it’s such a privilege to talk to them; they’re smart; they’re fiery and they totally keep me on my toes. And I want to give them something that they’ll fall in love with.

On the biggest challenge she expects to face and how she will overcome it: Our biggest challenge is that we need to be different. We need to have a point of difference and that’s always been true. And I think that’s true of any magazine. It’s finding a voice and having that voice on the pages of the magazine is incredibly important and always hard. And it’s keeping up with our audience, because they don’t want things to stay static; their interested in things constantly changing.

On whether innovation, as in Redbook’s partnership with Dove, has changed her role as editor from being just the voice of the brand to the brand voice of other brands as well: No, I think as editor you’re inevitably the voice of the brand; you’re the one who’s out there in front of it. And it’s a job that I take very seriously, of course. And in terms of the Dove partnership, it was a purely editorial project; they weren’t part of the editorial process at all. It was great synergy and I think our messages on some levels are very much aligned. But it was a purely editorial project and one that I’m incredibly proud of. And honestly, it was something that I was going to do even before we started talking to Dove about it.

On what keeps her up at night: My honest answer would have to be my eight-year-old. (Laughs) Every night there’s a new weird dream or he doesn’t have enough water or he’s too hot. He’s in the waking-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night mode and I love him more than life itself, but I do wish he’d let me sleep because I need the rest.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ conversation with Meredith Rollins, Editor-In-Chief, Redbook magazine.

Samir Husni: It’s been a little over a year now since you’ve been at the helm of Redbook. Let’s talk a bit about the gamble you’re taking with the September cover. It’s been said that unless it’s them, no one wants to see regular people on the cover of a magazine; they want to fantasize; they want to see a celebrity on the cover. Tell me the reasoning behind your decision to put a regular woman on the cover? Is she an ordinary woman who’s done extraordinary things perhaps?

Meredith Rollins: This is our second year of the Real Women Style Awards; we did it for the first time last September and we just featured our winners in the actual pages of the magazine. And we know how much our readers love seeing real women on our pages. It’s so much easier to believe that an outfit or a makeup tip works in real life if you can see it on someone that you can relate to.

So, it made sense to me that they would love to see them on the cover itself. And the Real Women Style Awards gave us the perfect opportunity to showcase these amazing women right there on the newsstand.

Samir Husni: I saw the piece written in Adweek about Redbook and what they called a “risky move” away from celebrities with this cover; do you feel that you’re taking any risk or just staying true to the nature and the DNA of the magazine?

Meredith Rollins: I think I’m staying true to Redbook’s DNA definitely. Whether it’s a risky move or not; I guess time will tell about that, but I feel so passionately about it and I think it’s a perfect moment for this. Our readers really want to see people who look like them; they want to see diversity and if it’s a risk, it’s one that I’m very willing to take.

Samir Husni: If we go back one year to when you were first named editor-in-chief of Redbook and then look one year ahead from now; what would you have accomplished during that time in either cementing the DNA of the magazine or altering it? Or finding a completely new and different Redbook?

Meredith Rollins: That’s such a good question. I feel like I’m just starting, even though I’ve been editor for almost exactly a year. I think I’m really coming into my own as an editor. It takes longer than you might imagine to get up to speed and to get the right creative team in place.

I have a new creative team and they’ve totally changed the way the magazine looks, from the covers all the way to the last page. Kirby Rodriguez is our creative director and he joined us last year in early November. And I think he’s a total genius and I’m really proud of the way that we’ve made women’s service look elegant and beautiful, and made affordably-priced fashions look like a million bucks.

I focused on women who are busy. I’m a mom myself and I know how pressed for time that I am. And how much that I’m looking forward to finding shortcuts and ways to make my life easier. So, I focused on that, on the one hand. And I focused on beautiful images, because I think our readers have wonderful tastes and I’m really trying to elevate the look of things, even if we’re photographing a $20 sweater, I want it to look incredible.

And the other thing that I’m really trying to do is focus on confidence and fearlessness and women feeling like they can come into their own. That’s been a true line for me and something that I’m focusing more and more on in the coming months.

Samir Husni: If I gave you a magic wand that had the ability to transform the August or September issue of Redbook into a living, breathing human being and you struck the magazine with it; who would appear?

Meredith Rollins: That’s a hard question. (Laughs) I don’t think that there’s just one person. I guess that’s what makes answering the question so hard; I know that our readers come in all shapes and sizes, some of them are stay-at-home parents, some of them are working incredibly hard outside and inside the office. They are schoolteachers, executives, parents when they’re not parents, but what they all have in common is they love style and beauty. They want the magazine to reflect who they are and to feel like an escape on the one hand, sort of their happy place, which is true for a lot of magazines, but particularly true for us, and they also need the magazine to be a way to make their lives easier.

We’ve certainly had great success with some celebrities on our cover and I think they tend to be women that our readers can really relate to. People like Kelly Clarkson or Alison Sweeney, who’s on the cover of the August issue, which is selling great. Those are the type of women that I think our readers want to see because they have an affinity for them. But by the same token, I’m really celebrating our readers with every issue.

Samir Husni: But when the reader gets her copy of Redbook in the mail; would you say that she feels like Meredith Rollins is coming to her at home and engaging her with a personal conversation, such as offering her advice or would Redbook today reflect more of a younger or older sibling speaking to her? Who would you say the “human” Redbook is when it arrives at the home of one of your readers?

Meredith Rollins: I think it’s the embodiment of their best friend who has great advice and who knows exactly what she’s going through in her life. And who’s a lot of fun to be around.

One of the best quotes that I’ve heard from a reader was that she thought the magazine was someone that she could sit down with and have a glass of wine with at the end of the day. And that’s exactly what I want. I don’t want the magazine to feel judgmental, like she isn’t doing enough or rich enough or she doesn’t have enough time to do an incredibly complicated craft. I want it to feel like a warm, welcoming place. And I think we’ve succeeded in that.

Samir Husni: Do you think that you could accomplish that moment that your reader described; that sit-down-with-a-friend-and-have-a-glass-of-wine appeal without the print component; if it was digital-only?

Meredith Rollins: Could the magazine exist without a print edition? Yes, I guess so. But I know that our readers love the tactile experience of getting a bound magazine in their mailboxes every month. And our subscription sales have been strong.

But beyond that, just seeing how our Real Women Style Award winners circled back to our September issue and are on the cover of the magazine is enough to convince you of how much print matters. We unveiled it to one of the winners the other day and she had tears in her eyes and couldn’t believe she was on the cover of a magazine. I think that sums up why print is still an incredibly special medium.

Samir Husni: You mean you don’t receive calls from celebrities or their people asking to be on Redbook’s website? They’re asking for the magazine cover?

Meredith Rollins: No, we put them on the website too, but for celebrities; I think it’s generally true that a big story in a magazine and also being a cover story still means a lot to them as well.

Samir Husni: Tell me about the day-to-day process of putting a magazine with such a wide audience as Redbook together? What goes through your brain as you perform your daily activities?

Meredith Rollins: As I said, I’m a mom too; I have two little boys who are eight and almost six. So, I think I’m really living the Redbook life. I get up in the morning; my household is crazy; I get them dressed and to school; I get to the office and then I have a moment of calm to think about what a woman like me, whether she works outside of the home or not, or whether her kids are in high school or preschool, might want from a magazine.

And for me it goes back to this idea of shortcuts and quick information, balanced with stories that will really move you, because our readers still want beautiful writing. They want beautiful journalism and so we balance out all of the tips and advice in the magazine with things that feel meatier. Those are the stories that we get the most letters about honestly.

We had a beautiful story in one of our recent issues about a woman who was in her 30s and looking into the future and thinking about her daughter. Her daughter and her sister had a very close bond. It’s a beautiful story and some things about it, of course, were dark and tragic, but at the end it was very hopeful and it was a wonderful musing on family. We received amazing letters about it.

It’s finding that right mix. It’s finding the lipstick she’s going to wear and love; the outfit that’s going to get her out of the door faster and the recipes that are healthy and won’t kill her diet, but are still very delicious, balanced with stories that she can really sink her teeth into.

Samir Husni: What motivates you every morning to get out of bed and say it’s going to be a great day?

Meredith Rollins: My boys get me out of bed far earlier than I might actually want to. (Laughs)

Samir Husni: (Laughs too).

Meredith Rollins: But in terms of the magazine, it’s the excitement of working with an amazing team. I’m biased of course, but I really do think I have the best team in the business. We have 7 million readers and it’s such a privilege to talk to them; they’re smart; they’re fiery and they totally keep me on my toes. And I want to give them something that they’ll fall in love with.

So, I feel that our readers set the bar really high and it’s a constant, exciting challenge to be rethinking the brand, reinventing the brand and in turn, giving them something that I know they’re going to love.

Samir Husni: You were saying that Redbook has 7 million readers; with a magazine of that size what do you think will be your biggest challenge as you move forward and how are you planning to overcome it?

Meredith Rollins: Our biggest challenge is that we need to be different. We need to have a point of difference and that’s always been true. And I think that’s true of any magazine. It’s finding a voice and having that voice on the pages of the magazine is incredibly important and always hard. And it’s keeping up with our audience, because they don’t want things to stay static; their interested in things constantly changing.

It’s easy to say, well, this page works; we’ll just do it every single month from now until eternity. So, I really like to change things up. Of course, we’ve found a formula that works, so we try to stick with it, but we try to change it in different ways. And I don’t think that you would look at the August issue and then look at the September issue and say, oh, they’re exactly the same. We really try to give our readers something new every single month.

Reflecting back on what I said before about our audience keeping me on my toes, I do think that’s the biggest challenge is to not give them the same old women’s service that they’ve already read in other places. To not give them recipes that they’ve already served; we want to give them something fresh and that’s going to make them excited to open the magazine when it arrives in their mailbox or when they pick it up on the newsstand.

Samir Husni: As you watch the magazine come to fruition, as each issue rolls out; you’re finding new ways of doing things, including teaming up with Dove, for example. Did this change your role as editor in any way? Are you now like the voice of the brand and the brand voice of other brands?

Meredith Rollins: No, I think as editor you’re inevitably the voice of the brand; you’re the one who’s out there in front of it. And it’s a job that I take very seriously, of course.

And in terms of the Dove partnership, it was a purely editorial project; they weren’t part of the editorial process at all. They knew that we were going to put the Real Women star award winner from the cover, obviously, that’s why we were able to have a gatefold cover, which is great, and we love that brand and the alignment was just right. But they were really surprised when they saw our winners and had a sneak preview of the cover last week. And it was fun to unveil it to them; they knew we were doing it, but they didn’t have any input on who we chose or the way we photographed them or any of the rest of it.

It was great synergy and I think our messages on some levels are very much aligned. But it was a purely editorial project and one that I’m incredibly proud of. And honestly, it was something that I was going to do even before we started talking to Dove about it.

Samir Husni: Do you think your role as editor, and the role of editor-in-chief in general, has changed over the last five or ten years?

Meredith Rollins: I think so, although it’s a little bit hard to answer the question because I wasn’t an editor-in-chief five years ago, but even as executive editor, you only see certain angles on the job. I can only tell you what it’s been like for the past year, but I do think there’s an emphasis on being different. And I do think that’s one of the great things that Hearst does, is that we’re constantly looking for new and interesting kinds of projects and that’s definitely an emphasis here at this company and at every single media company at this point.

And it’s just figuring out ways to do it that feels right for the brand and the alignment with Dove was exactly right for us. It might not be right for somebody else or a different kind of magazine, but it was perfect for us.

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Meredith Rollins: My honest answer would have to be my eight-year-old. (Laughs) Every night there’s a new weird dream or he doesn’t have enough water or he’s too hot. He’s in the waking-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night mode and I love him more than life itself, but I do wish he’d let me sleep because I need the rest.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

“We enter our 120th year in 2016. The reason House Beautiful has been successful for that many years is because of the stories. This is what you can still turn to print magazines for; you have the luxury of dealing with experts, in fact-checking articles, in creating a photo shoot whole cloth, something brand new to show the reader. This is indulgent in this day and age. Content moves fast and there’s great demand in the digital space to do more and more and more. And I’m sitting here asking: how do I do less better? I want to create the richest, most indulgent experience. This is a chocolate mousse; this is a special treat. And our readers recognize that. I think a great deal about every inch, every page of that magazine. I want to make sure it’s the best that it can be.” Sophie Donelson

As the leading authority on American home design and decoration; House Beautiful sets the standard for upscale treatment of homes that are lived in and enjoyed, not just viewed. From color schemes to the tiniest detail such as fringe on a pillow; the mission of the magazine and its new editor, Sophie Donelson, is to take readers to a new, richer level when it comes to the soul of their domain.

Next year the magazine will realize its 120th anniversary and there’s a reason it has withstood the test of time and not only survived, but thrived in this shifting world of digital content: the stories and the tactile nature of the beauty it presents.

Recently, I spoke with Sophie about her vision for House Beautiful’s future and the experience she feels the magazine gives its readers. She was both honest and extremely passionate about the brand and what it represents to its audience. From bringing more urgency to the written words on the magazine’s pages to energizing and brightening the entire book, Sophie has a definite handle on where she believes the magazine should be heading.

So, I hope you enjoy this open and honest conversation with a woman who lives to make your house as beautiful as the one she’s leading into its 120th year; the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Sophie Donelson, Editor-In-Chief, House Beautiful.

But first, the sound-bites:

On whether today’s editor has to practice what they preach in order to stay at the top of their game: Absolutely. It’s not really any fun to have a job unless you do it. There are times during meetings where I’m talking about home and what it means to have a home that reflects your style and really your soul, and I feel like walking out of the meeting and just going home and tinkering on the things that I’ve been working on.

On whether it feels any differently as the editor of a magazine that has mass reach like House Beautiful than when she worked in the same position at the more regional publication, Hamptons Cottages & Gardens: I think it was actually a very similar audience that we were talking to at Hamptons Cottages & Gardens. It was just in a more specific way, because the joy of a regional magazine is that you know where they live, what they drive, what their supermarket is; I mean you know that consumer intimately.

On her vision for the future of House Beautiful: I’m lucky to be at a magazine that’s a beloved title, but at the same time we have this incredible passionate and allegiant audience and so no fast moves. I’m making incremental changes and just sort of trying to energize and brighten every single page of the magazine. When you have the word beautiful in your title, you have no business doing anything that’s just pretty.

On her desire to bring more urgency to the magazine and how she plans to achieve that in print: That’s a great question. Part of it just has to do with the tone of the writing. I always think of the phrase: show, don’t tell. And now I’m going to try and tell you how to do it. It’s about having energy in the writing and seeing people get excited when they read it. That’s as simple as I can put it. And showing things, like the ginger jars, which are resonating right now.

On how she envisions herself as an experience maker who provides good content: For one, I hear firsthand about how people do experience House Beautiful. This is a weekly, if not daily event where somebody says, I got my magazine in the mail and I can’t wait to go to bed early tonight. These are people who set aside time in their lives to enjoy the magazine. And I would say specifically print often.

On whether she believes that she could create experiences for the reader without a print edition: I would say no because I can explain it in a digital platform and I can explain the decorating aspect that we just talked about, but this is a magazine that’s tear-sheeted and dog-eared and no amount of screen shooting or texting an idea makes up for the fact that I have run into women that have crumpled up pieces of paper in their bags that they’re dying to show me that they found a paint swatch. We deal so much in color and in paints and we do color corrections specifically to that; it’s brutal to do that online, I’ll be honest with you.

On how her role as editor-in-chief has changed over the years, specifically from before the digital explosion up until now: You just have to recognize that women have so many options today on where they get their stimulus. The fact that her phone is tethered to her hand; I don’t see that as an obstacle because in fact when she puts the phone down; I feel like what she picks up is a House Beautiful and that’s a happy moment for me. But what it means is I just have to create the best version of print possible.

On the major stumbling block she might face moving forward and how she plans to overcome it: With help. (Laughs) I have been a writer, reporter, producer, editor, copywriter my whole life. And I love this field. I love doing it. I love being onset; I love line editing; I love writing cover lines and headlines, but the reason they hired me to sit in this chair is not to do that. They hired me to come up with a vision that drives this magazine forward and engages a new crop of readers and knocks the socks off of a reader who thought they already loved House Beautiful.

On anything else she’d like to add: We wouldn’t even be having this conversation if it wasn’t for Newell Turner (Editorial Director, Hearst Design Group), one of your former students and my mentor. Newell hired me out of college from a Mediabistro ad. I came to this city on a sublet off of Craig’s List and I was saying: well, I hope this works. (Laughs) And thank goodness that Newell found something in me and I got to work, not just side-by-side with him, but I think our knees knocked under the desk.

On what keeps her up at night: I’m usually tired from a big day; I don’t have too much trouble falling asleep. But when I do, it’s basically possibilities. It’s as simple as that. My mind is racing with interesting people I’ve met, things we could do together, story ideas, meetings I should make, places I should go. It’s an overwhelming place to be and it’s the best case scenario.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ conversation with Sophie Donelson, Editor-In-Chief, House Beautiful.

Samir Husni: Does an editor today have to practice what they preach? I noticed in your prior job you were in charge of the Cricket’s Circle while you were expecting, and then you had your child and renovated your apartment; your own House Beautiful. Does an editor today have to actually practice what they’re preaching to stay at the top of their game?

Sophie Donelson: Absolutely. It’s not really any fun to have a job unless you do it. There are times during meetings where I’m talking about home and what it means to have a home that reflects your style and really your soul, and I feel like walking out of the meeting and just going home and tinkering on the things that I’ve been working on. It’s really funny; we’ll be in these really deep conversations and I’ll stop and say – I really need to finish that thing I’ve been working on or I really need to change that pink color. We talk and talk about ideas here in the office and then we’re all just really eager to get home at night and really live out what we’ve been talking about all day.

So, yes, I do. This morning alone I hung a piece of art and moved a piece of furniture and in my dining room right now I have drop cloths on the floor because my toddler and I spent the weekend painting little pieces of furniture to kind of brighten up spots in the house that look forlorn. I’ve been traveling a lot, so when I’m home, I don’t want to even leave the house.

Samir Husni: How does it feel to now be the editor of the largest mass home magazine in the country? You were at one time the editor-in-chief of Hamptons Cottages & Gardens with its very upscale audience and now you are editor-in-chief of a magazine that reaches more of a mass audience; does it feel any different now than it did then?

Sophie Donelson: I think it was actually a very similar audience that we were talking to at Hamptons Cottages & Gardens. It was just in a more specific way, because the joy of a regional magazine is that you know where they live, what they drive, what their supermarket is; I mean you know that consumer intimately.

But for the most part, the men and women that I talked to at that magazine are very much this reader. It’s a very affluent reader; it’s a reader who is incredibly passionate about her home and it is a larger audience, but that’s just because it’s national. We have a greater reach. House Beautiful has distinction of covering the most of America. As you know, those magazines get coastal readership, strong on the East Coast and the West Coast; we talked about the smile when you get the Sunbelt and the southern states; House Beautiful gets all of it.

I was told in Nebraska there are few newsstands with a few magazines on those newsstands, but House Beautiful is one of those magazines. And I love that we can speak to just a much broader audience. But at the end of the day these are mostly women that care deeply about their homes, so that idea has been the longstanding, defining point of my shelter magazine career. It’s fun when you say this is the biggest home magazine and it’s a thrill. I never pictured myself in this position, because I’m a doer. I love writing and I never really wanted to be the boss in that way, because I love doing the work. And that’s one of the things that has been a great way for me to grow.

Samir Husni: Can you describe your vision for the future of House Beautiful? What do you want to see House Beautiful continue to do or change about itself; what’s your vision as editor-in-chief? I know August was your first complete issue and now your second is coming up with the September issue. Tell me where you hope to see House Beautiful heading in the future.

Sophie Donelson: I’m lucky to be at a magazine that’s a beloved title, but at the same time we have this incredible passionate and allegiant audience and so no fast moves. I’m making incremental changes and just sort of trying to energize and brighten every single page of the magazine. When you have the word beautiful in your title, you have no business doing anything that’s just pretty. You have to blow people away every single page, and so at the end of the day that’s the space line of my job, to wow our reader.

In terms of where I’d like to take the magazine, I truly feel that we have a reader that adores the home and is very passionate about this space, but I want to encourage her to take the next step and make it a reality in her own life.

This magazine is really special because it’s not for the gallery of look-but-don’t-touch houses; they’re not trophy houses; they’re not homes done for celebrities that don’t live in them. These homes are lived in and enjoyed by families and people all across the country. And yet, they’re exquisite.

We have these fine homes and we talk to designers in this conversational way. Truly these interviews and what the Q&A format, which was started several years ago here at the magazine does, is just get down to earth with the designer. This is the sort of access that no other magazine provides. We have a really conversational tone paired with this absolutely aspirational look.

At the same time, there are magazines that are sort of asking you to pick up a paintbrush; we’re not going to do that; that’s not who we are. Our audience is affluent and they don’t have to do that. In fact, I’m always saying please don’t paint your own room, I need you to hire professionals because I want you to have a good experience. We believe in experts. We believe in professionals and we believe that they can help you to take it to the next level.

But I think that I’d like to bring a little bit more urgency to the writing and a little bit more context as to why we show what we show each month. And what I mean by that is just, for example, our June issue was this cover of ginger jars. This was the issue that I started working with Newell on (Newell Turner, editorial director of the Hearst Design Group), so we paired up for that issue together. July/August was my first issue.

But the ginger jars issue, an editor came to our team and said these jars were really hot right now, and it had sort of an historical bent to it. Ginger jars are something that has been used in decorating for really hundreds of years. And we were seeing them everywhere. They were on Etsy and Instagram; they were having this resurgence. We saw it on Kips Bay Show House. From the very peak, top-of-the-market to a more mass appeal; it was a trend that we were seeing everywhere.

We shot a story, ended up doing a cover off of it and then honestly found that it just went viral online. Our web team did the five things you don’t know about ginger jars; that was their approach to it, which was perfect for their platform.

We did an historical timeline, because in the magazine we get to geek out on decorating a little bit because our audience loves that and they’re bright and they get it. And then what was funny, on Instagram I just all of a sudden saw people tagging House Beautiful; they would take a picture of a tableau in their own home of ginger jars. They would take out the House Beautiful and put it on their coffee table and style something around it and tag House Beautiful. One girl had like a ginger jar skirt on and tagged House Beautiful in it.

It all of a sudden picked up in all of these corners and we realized that this was such a generational hit; I mean, my mother had ginger jars in her home; I know that my grandmother did as well; I have them, and it just became a classic. And I love when we can find a story that hits women of all tastes and at all angles. And I just thought it was a great idea.

Samir Husni: You mentioned the word urgency; that you want to bring more urgency into the magazine. How can you do that in a digital age, but show that urgency in print?

Sophie Donelson: That’s a great question. Part of it just has to do with the tone of the writing. I always think of the phrase: show, don’t tell. And now I’m going to try and tell you how to do it. It’s about having energy in the writing and seeing people get excited when they read it. That’s as simple as I can put it. And showing things, like the ginger jars, which are resonating right now. That’s the job of our editors, to have their ears to the ground and find decorating that feels right for right now.

Samir Husni: One of my mantras that I keep telling whomever is willing to listen is that we are much more than content providers; we are experience makers, magazine editors and magazine publishers. How do you envision yourself as an experience maker who’s providing good content?

Sophie Donelson: For one, I hear firsthand about how people do experience House Beautiful. This is a weekly, if not daily event where somebody says, I got my magazine in the mail and I can’t wait to go to bed early tonight. These are people who set aside time in their lives to enjoy the magazine. And I would say specifically print often. These are magazines, especially in the shelter category I would say, that are down time for our readers. She really does dedicate minutes of her day, especially before bed, I hear that a lot, or I didn’t open it yet; I put it in my bag and I can’t wait to read it on vacation. That in itself is an experience.

Another way that I want to talk about experience is that we are an incredibly visually-driven culture. I think about Instagram constantly, it’s just sort of image after image and it’s beautiful.

And we are creating something brand new. When you pick up House Beautiful, you have never seen this before and that’s on every single page. It’s brand new and created just for you. Nothing old, nothing duplicated, nothing repurposed. It’s all brand new for you. That in itself is another experience.

In terms of decorating, I want to bring that experience to a richer level for our reader. In November we’re exploring; it’s actually our first bath and beauty issue. This is an idea that we’re doing because this book will be about exploring home through the senses. It’s the idea of how do you create rooms that engage all senses, not just sight? What I mean by that is how do you use scent, and not just a scented candle, to enjoy your space more? And how do you use textiles, not just sheets that feel beautiful or a velvet cushion, but how does something like fringe or trim on a pillow heighten your experience in a room? The best designers in the world think of all the senses when they’re designing and I’d love to show our reader how to bring a couple of those things into their own home.

Samir Husni: Do you think that you could accomplish those experiences, such as in the upcoming November five senses issue, if there wasn’t a print edition of the magazine?

Sophie Donelson: I would say no because I can explain it in a digital platform and I can explain the decorating aspect that we just talked about, but this is a magazine that’s tear-sheeted and dog-eared and no amount of screen shooting or texting an idea makes up for the fact that I have run into women that have crumpled up pieces of paper in their bags that they’re dying to show me that they found a paint swatch. We deal so much in color and in paints and we do color corrections specifically to that; it’s brutal to do that online, I’ll be honest with you. It’s an amazing thing to have that tear sheet and actually bring it to your designer or if you’re being really ambitious to the hardware store and ask: can you match this? Or what is this or I want to buy this.

A-one on our minds is making sure that the paints and the colors that we talk about are reflected in a way that when women bring it home they can share that experience they feel in print.

Samir Husni: You’ve been an editor now for over a decade; how have your experiences as editor-in-chief changed from before the digital age, 2007, and after the digital explosion up until today in 2015? How has your role as editor-in-chief changed?

Sophie Donelson: You just have to recognize that women have so many options today on where they get their stimulus. The fact that her phone is tethered to her hand; I don’t see that as an obstacle because in fact when she puts the phone down; I feel like what she picks up is a House Beautiful and that’s a happy moment for me. But what it means is I just have to create the best version of print possible. And I have to earn her attention every single page.

It’s not enough to just create a great decorating magazine, I need to create a magazine that changes her relationship with her home and makes her feel a certain way. That makes her do that tear-sheeting and dog-earing and makes her want to take a picture and text it to a friend. I need to be the best version of print possible. It’s not enough to just be a great magazine anymore because she has so many other places to go for inspiration.

We enter our 120th year in 2016. The reason House Beautiful has been successful for that many years is because of the stories. This is what you can still turn to print magazines for; you have the luxury of dealing with experts, in fact-checking articles, in creating a photo shoot whole cloth, something brand new to show the reader. This is indulgent in this day and age. Content moves fast and there’s great demand in the digital space to do more and more and more. And I’m sitting here asking: how do I do less better? I want to create the richest, most indulgent experience. This is a chocolate mousse; this is a special treat. And our readers recognize that. I think a great deal about every inch, every page of that magazine. I want to make sure it’s the best that it can be.

Samir Husni: As you move forward with House Beautiful; what do you think will be the major stumbling block that you’ll have to face and how will you overcome it?

Sophie Donelson: With help. (Laughs) I have been a writer, reporter, producer, editor, copywriter my whole life. And I love this field. I love doing it. I love being onset; I love line editing; I love writing cover lines and headlines, but the reason they hired me to sit in this chair is not to do that. They hired me to come up with a vision that drives this magazine forward and engages a new crop of readers and knocks the socks off of a reader who thought they already loved House Beautiful.

So, learning to be, not just a manager because I have great managers, thank God, but a leader and somebody that rallies not just our team, but the world at large; that’s the next big step for me. This is an evolution in my career and just because you can write the article doesn’t mean you should.

I’ve been really blessed to inherit a terrific team who are incredibly knowledgeable and skilled. Christine Pittel and Vicky Lowry sat down last month and edited my editor’s letter and it’s such a gift to have two experienced women give me a couple of pointers. And I love that. And I love that my market editors are the best out there; they’re just a team of people who are sweeping the market to find the most important stories to tell today.

So, I have to recognize that talent and just let them do their job and I can focus on my job, and likewise in digital. I’ve got a terrific digital team and they’re the best at what they do. And we come together and we talk ideas, but at the end of the day, I have a certain role to play and they do too.

Samir Husni: What motivates you to get out of bed in the mornings and makes you say it’s going to be a great day?

Sophie Donelson: My three-year-old son and it’s so much easier to go to the office than parent. (Laughs)

Samir Husni: (Laughs too). Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Sophie Donelson: We wouldn’t even be having this conversation if it wasn’t for Newell Turner (Editorial Director, Hearst Design Group), one of your former students and my mentor. Newell hired me out of college from a Mediabistro ad. I came to this city on a sublet off of Craig’s List and I was saying: well, I hope this works. (Laughs)

And thank goodness that Newell found something in me and I got to work, not just side-by-side with him, but I think our knees knocked under the desk. We worked incredibly closely in a tiny office on Hamptons Cottages & Gardens and on launching a couple of other magazines together and his Rolodex became my Rolodex.

And then to enter this incredibly warm and gracious design world and publishing world by Newell’s side was the greatest gift. But he entered me without knowing, which was such a blessing. And it has been a blast and it’s just wild to come home again. Home is the shelter world and home is Newell being my neighbor down in the other office and it’s been a great gift to me.

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Sophie Donelson: I’m usually tired from a big day; I don’t have too much trouble falling asleep. But when I do, it’s basically possibilities. It’s as simple as that. My mind is racing with interesting people I’ve met, things we could do together, story ideas, meetings I should make, places I should go. It’s an overwhelming place to be and it’s the best case scenario. How do you funnel that energy and all that opportunity into something tangible for the reader?

Samir Husni: Thank you.