Mr. Magazine

Publishing During A Pandemic (31)

“For us, the pandemic is something that’s covered by other people. There’s no need for us to tell more of the same story over and over again. So, we don’t tell that story at all. That’s not for us. What we tell is the story of optimism; the story of beauty; the story of how lovely North Carolina is and what a great place it is to live and visit.” Bernie Mann

“You build a brand by constantly having the right message in the right places. So, that’s what we do. We go straight to the client. And that may be easier for us because most of our clients are in North Carolina, but I would dare say that if you live in New York and your clients are in Michigan, up until a few months ago, you get on an airplane and you go there.” Bernie Mann

Our State magazine celebrates North Carolina. By far, it is one of the most successful state and regional magazines published. For over two decades, owner and publisher Bernie Mann has been doing just that, celebrating the state he loves, and publishing the magazine “the Mann way.”  Today the company is an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership) as he sold it to his employees.  So how is publishing a magazine “the Mann way” is going in the midst of a pandemic. The latter something he never imagined, much less considered living through.

I spoke with Bernie recently and we talked about running a magazine publishing company during these uncertain times and all of the things many of us will never get to do again, like sit in an office together and work. It may sound unreal, but as Bernie said we just do not know what the future holds. In the magazine, he chooses not to mention or report on COVID-19, as he stated everyone else is handling that repeatedly. Instead, he brings the magazine alive with beauty and optimism, everything North Carolina means to him and his audience.

Bernie assured me that Our State is maintaining and putting out magazines. And right now that’s a good thing. With working from home and technology’s assistance, the beautiful magazine that focuses on optimism, nature’s beauty and North Carolina’s culture is still going strong. And Mr. Magazine™ thinks that’s a very good thing.

And now the 31^st Mr. Magazine™ interview in the series of Publishing During A Pandemic with Bernie Mann, publisher, Our State magazine.

But first the sound-bites:

On how he has been operating during the pandemic: For us, the pandemic is something that’s covered by other people. There’s no need for us to tell more of the same story over and over again. So, we don’t tell that story at all. That’s not for us. What we tell is the story of optimism; the story of beauty; the story of how lovely North Carolina is and what a great place it is to live and visit. We talk about the history, the foods and the beauty, and that’s what people expect from us.

On how his work environment has changed with the pandemic and it has effected he and his team: We have had what I enjoy and what we have enjoyed having as a collaborative group of people who love being together and sharing ideas, and we still answer the phone. The door is locked, we’re not having visitors, but the phone is answered by a human from 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. I think that’s terribly important.

On spending almost half a million dollars recently on advertising for the magazine: We started our campaign in September and continued it through the end of April, very early May. It felt like the right thing to do to promote our magazine. When you ask people to advertise because you tell them it will help their business, if it’s so good, then why don’t you advertise? I think it’s good and advertising is important. It’s terribly important to have the right message in the right place.

On his different approach to the business model: You build a brand by constantly having the right message in the right places. So, that’s what we do. We go straight to the client. And that may be easier for us because most of our clients are in North Carolina, but I would dare say that if you live in New York and your clients are in Michigan, up until a few months ago, you get on an airplane and you go there.

On whether the pandemic has affected his publishing or advertising schedule: It’s been very painful. We’ve had so many of our clients who have had to close. It’s hard for them to advertise if the store is closed. It’s hard for them to advertise if you can’t go into the restaurant or the hotel or go visit their attraction. So yes, from an advertising standpoint, this has been very painful. But we’ve had gigantic numbers of people who have bought subscriptions. Not enough to make up for the print.

On whether he had ever thought of working during something like a pandemic and if he thinks someone could prepare for something like it: Never could have imagined this. In fact, now we’re an ESOP, I sold the company to the employees. We have a board of directors and there’s a woman on the board, she and her husband own hotels and restaurants, and she said you know what might happen, we might have to close both the restaurants and the hotels. I asked her how in the world she could even conceive of such a thing. And three weeks later that’s what happened. So, this is a very difficult time for everybody. Who could have conceived this ever?

On what keeps him up at night: The biggest concern I have is number one, that everybody in my company stays healthy, that’s the biggest concern I have. The second is tell me when it’s over. When it’s over, we can plan for what’s going to happen. It won’t be a light switch; it won’t happen all at once. Will my employees ever be back together in the same room for Monday morning meetings at 8:30? I don’t know if that will happen again.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Bernie Mann, publisher, Our State magazine.

Samir Husni: Tell me how you’re operating Our State magazine during this pandemic?

Bernie Mann: For us, the pandemic is something that’s covered by other people. There’s no need for us to tell more of the same story over and over again. So, we don’t tell that story at all. That’s not for us. What we tell is the story of optimism; the story of beauty; the story of how lovely North Carolina is and what a great place it is to live and visit. We talk about the history, the foods and the beauty, and that’s what people expect from us.

The number of people sending us checks for circulation has never been greater. It’s just been amazing. But people want to get some news that they know every month is going to come in their mailboxes, good news, happy news, pleasant news, stuff that they can enjoy and quite frankly, they can get in their car and go to and see. The issue we had about waterfalls, as soon as the restriction is lifted, you can go there in two hours from almost any place in North Carolina and see these magnificent waterfalls. And in June our issue is going to be about the Coast. On the cover is a long pier that is just beautiful and people will see it and look forward to going and walking on that pier.

Our take on the Coronavirus is that it exists; we don’t discuss it; we don’t deal with it. Our editor, Elizabeth Hudson, she writes a column each month and it’s not like any column because it is strictly her own feelings and impressions, things that have happened in her life. And when she sat down to write the column this month, she said that she wasn’t going to write about what was happening to people, she said I’m going to write about how much I enjoy the feeling of the sand between my toes when I go to the beach.  And that was her column about the things that she remembered when going to the beach.

Samir Husni: How has your work environment changed with the pandemic and how has it impacted you and your team?

Bernie Mann: We have had what I enjoy and what we have enjoyed having as a collaborative group of people who love being together and sharing ideas, and we still answer the phone. The door is locked, we’re not having visitors, but the phone is answered by a human from 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. I think that’s terribly important. I’m in the service business and if the first impression you get is from a machine, then that doesn’t say very much about the service I’m providing. So, I provide a human who actually talks to you.

Samir Husni: You mentioned that you have spent almost half a million dollars in advertising; why are you spending money now for the magazine?

Bernie Mann: We started our campaign in September and continued it through the end of April, very early May. It felt like the right thing to do to promote our magazine. When you ask people to advertise because you tell them it will help their business, if it’s so good, then why don’t you advertise? I think it’s good and advertising is important. It’s terribly important to have the right message in the right place. When you advertise a magazine like ours, it’s not easy to just say: let’s buy some radio or billboards or some television advertising. We have been very specific in what we have done. And very narrow-focused.

And then we do it with a lot of repetition. We always tell people you need repetition in your advertising. Okay, if we think it’s so smart, then we should do it too. It’s just using basic techniques. We’re not that smart. They used to say about Vince Lombardi, people should play a Vince Lombardi football team, everybody knew exactly what he was going to do, he just implemented it with consistency. And that’s what we do. We’re very consistent; we’ve set up some guidelines for what is important to us and it seems to be important to our readers. And it is constantly promoting North Carolina. We say it in our name: Our State Celebrating North Carolina. We celebrate. And our TV commercials celebrate the beauty of where we live.

Samir Husni: Tell me about your different approach to the business model. I know you don’t use ad agencies, your team calls on advertisers. Tell me how this works.

Bernie Mann: When I look around me in the industry and I see such wonderful magazines, and they keep getting thinner and thinner. And then good magazines like Esquire are six timers per year. And so many of the others have either dropped out or gone smaller. And I know it’s not because there isn’t enough content, there’s plenty of content. Why are they getting smaller? Because they don’t have the advertising. Why don’t they have the advertising? Because for years and years there has been a plan, you go to ad agencies and pick up your ads.

Now the ad agencies, God love them, are in business to make money. There’s nothing wrong with that. And they’ve found that they can make money by doing other things than print advertising. So, my girlfriend is no longer my girlfriend. What do I do next?

They don’t do anything next. And the ads get smaller and smaller because the ads have gone away. If you rely on the ad agency as your girlfriend. And I don’t fault the agencies because there’s nothing better than digital for the ad agencies. I always think of it as the Three C’s: costly, digital is costly, digital is cool, and digital is confusing. It’s the best thing that ever happened to an ad agency. (Laughs)

My girlfriend has gone away. So what do I do?  I find another girlfriend. And who is my best girlfriend? It’s the client, because the client still loves print. The client loves seeing their ads in beautiful color, on wonderful paper, and they know that’s how you build brand. You build a brand by constantly having the right message in the right places. So, that’s what we do. We go straight to the client. And that may be easier for us because most of our clients are in North Carolina, but I would dare say that if you live in New York and your clients are in Michigan, up until a few months ago, you get on an airplane and you go there.

But I don’t think too many of the salespeople for the magazine industry have done that. And they’ve relied on going to the same places on the same streets. They go to pick up their ads and they tell them we have no ads for you. And then they go back and are told the ad business is terrible. No, no, the ad business isn’t terrible, it’s the people who used to spend money with you who aren’t anymore. So, you find someone else.

Samir Husni: Has your publishing or advertising schedule been affected by the pandemic:

Bernie Mann: It’s been very painful. We’ve had so many of our clients who have had to close. It’s hard for them to advertise if the store is closed. It’s hard for them to advertise if you can’t go into the restaurant or the hotel or go visit their attraction. So yes, from an advertising standpoint, this has been very painful. But we’ve had gigantic numbers of people who have bought subscriptions. Not enough to make up for the print. We make most of our money from print, but it’s nice to know that at least there’s a secondary source.

This is very funny; we have a little store, has about 750 sku’s and one of the items that we sell in our store is a jigsaw puzzle. Normally, we sell about 40 or 50 of them a month and they’re puzzles depicting North Carolina. Last month, in April, we sold 1,200 puzzles. If you go on Amazon right now, you can’t even buy them, they’re sold out because people need something to do just sitting at home. And they enjoy doing puzzles. But it’s just funny that there are certain things that sell. There’s always someone who is going to make money during a difficult time.

We’re not making money during this time and it’s painful, but at least we’re not out of business like some people I know.

Samir Husni: Did you ever imagine that you would be working during a pandemic and can you prepare for something like that?

Bernie Mann: Never could have imagined this. In fact, now we’re an ESOP, I sold the company to the employees. We have a board of directors and there’s a woman on the board, she and her husband own hotels and restaurants, and she said you know what might happen, we might have to close both the restaurants and the hotels. I asked her how in the world she could even conceive of such a thing. And three weeks later that’s what happened. So, this is a very difficult time for everybody. Who could have conceived this ever?

But everyone we have who can work from home is working from home. We’ve set up computers and thank God for Zoom. So we have conferences all the time. And we’re putting out magazines.

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

Bernie Mann: The biggest concern I have is number one, that everybody in my company stays healthy, that’s the biggest concern I have. The second is tell me when it’s over. When it’s over, we can plan for what’s going to happen. It won’t be a light switch; it won’t happen all at once. Will my employees ever be back together in the same room for Monday morning meetings at 8:30? I don’t know if that will happen again. We always enjoyed that; we enjoyed the camaraderie of being together. I don’t know if that will happen.
I don’t know if we’ll be able to sit in an office with people near each other. I don’t know if I can take my clients to lunch with a mask on. What do I do, lift the mask and put the spoon in? I don’t how that’s going to work. But maybe I’ll learn. We’re in difficult times. I don’t think many people have ever even imagined.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

Publishing During A Pandemic (29)

“People just have to stay the course. If you’re losing out on advertising, that’s understandable. But keep in contact with your advertisers, keep in contact with your customers. I think that’s really important for a publication, whether you’re emailing them and letting them know what’s up or when you think the next issue is coming, just put something in their hand and let them know. You have a captive audience right now of readers who normally wouldn’t be home or have time to read your publication.” … Dave Jones

SimpleCirc subscription software is designed to help publishers manage their circulation and increase subscriber retention while saving them time and money. Dave Jones is the managing director of the company and one of its founders. Being in the small publishing business themselves, Dave and SimpleCirc know all about what it takes to move forward in small or large publishing, but what about during a pandemic?

I spoke with Dave recently and we talked about that. About how staying the course is really the only thing you can do and maybe pausing in an attempt to weather the crisis and move through it and come out on the other side as strong as possible. Dave said that keeping in close contact with your customers and reminding them that you’re there for them is an important part of staying that course.

Indeed. We all need to know we’re in this together.

And now the 29th Mr. Magazine™ interview in the series of Publishing During A Pandemic with Dave Jones, managing director, SimpleCirc.

But first the sound-bites:

On how SimpleCirc is operating during the pandemic: What we did is reach out to all of our publishers, of course, to let them know different ways that they can take advantage of this opportunity, because as a small publisher myself, we do eight small publications for the National Football League; we have found that people seem to be reading more and they’re more engaged because they’re home.

On the genesis of SimpleCirc: We own a publishing company, as I mentioned. We’re small publishers and we’ve had it for a long time, it covers the National Football League. I went through a whole bunch of different software, installed software that would crash on the server; we tried software that was too advanced and had too many things on it that we wouldn’t use, all these different features. So, we created SimpleCirc for us to use in our publications only. And then other publishers and associations that we belonged to started asking us about it, so we gave it to them. Then we added more features, but we kept everything that small publishers need.

On SimpleCirc publishing sports magazines and how they are adjusting to the ever-changing sports landscape during the pandemic: That’s a good question, because we’re football publications. I’ll just give you a quick example, we had to do a draft guide, the NFL Draft is at the end of April, so we had to have it all ready to go and printed by February to mail off to everybody. And if you didn’t get it out by then no one would receive it. We’d have to give tens of thousands of dollars in refunds and as a small company we couldn’t do that.

On what advice he gives to small publishers during this pandemic: I talk to them about marketing, because a lot of these small publishers do not know how to market effectively. So, I tell them to utilize their emails, utilize their global mailings; let’s see what your mail house is doing. We put all of those things together and we help them. Also, we make them take advantage of their digital product. That’s an uphill battle, because a lot of publishers don’t use digital products. So, we tell them to offer their customers a digital product; email them out.

On when he and his partners decided to share SimpleCirc with other small publishers: We were at a convention, we have all the publishers meet every year in Las Vegas, and we were telling some of the other publishers about it and they really liked it, so we let them use it. They fell in love with it. And they would pass it on to some other people that weren’t in the sports field who would then try it out. And people really enjoyed it.

On the one, two, three of how SimpleCirc helps publishers: We will import their data, give them a free trial, three months of using SimpleCirc. I would give them a quick presentation, an overview of how it works. There are no instructions with SimpleCirc, none. If you go to our website, it kind of walks you through it. It’ll read: type in your publication and how many issues you do per year. Then type in your price. So, we walk you through it and you can be set up in 20 minutes.

On who owns the data: They own it. We use Amazon servers, so we’re not using servers in the basement. It’s all on Amazon, so obviously they own it. The good thing is they have really easy access to the data. They can download their data 100 times a day if they want to. The easy access was important, because the company we used before this, we had no access to our data. It was like asking permission, like we were beholden to them. So, it was crazy.

On how he feels about the near future: What scares me is the football aspect, whether or not they’re going to play football. But here’s the good thing, we know that football is not going away. As a publisher, I know that. It may get postponed or come on a limited basis. So, that’s good. We won’t have customers saying give us our money back because football is being put out of business. We tell our customers we’re putting everything on pause.

On any additional words of wisdom: People just have to stay the course. If you’re losing out on advertising, that’s understandable. But keep in contact with your advertisers, keep in contact with your customers. I think that’s really important for a publication, whether you’re emailing them and letting them know what’s up or when you think the next issue is coming, just put something in their hand and let them know. You have a captive audience right now of readers who normally wouldn’t be home or have time to read your publication.

On what keeps him up at night: The big thing is what does the future hold, because everybody knows that what you lose in print, you don’t pick up in digital. The numbers are much smaller. That scares me. I want to be able to get through this and have a kind of plan to move forward. None of us know, however. We don’t know what’s going to happen, we can only guess. And then, I have to get out of the house. (Laughs) I need to get out.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Dave Jones, managing director, SimpleCirc.

Samir Husni: How is SimpleCirc operating during this pandemic?

Dave Jones: What we did is reach out to all of our publishers, of course, to let them know different ways that they can take advantage of this opportunity, because as a small publisher myself, we do eight small publications for the National Football League; we have found that people seem to be reading more and they’re more engaged because they’re home.

So, when we sent out our renewal notices, we had a renewal notice that went out early February and we had a very high return, which some of it had to do with the pandemic, but what we did is reach out to our customers to make sure they are keeping in contact their subscribers. We built this link, because a lot of them didn’t do email for some reason, they would just do snail mail and that would take forever, so we built this renewal link where every subscriber that they had would have their own special link and then when they would send it out, the customer would click on it and an order form would already be filled out. All they would have to do is drop in their credit card number. And that seemed to help a lot of different publishers bring in money during this time.

Samir Husni: Tell me the story behind SimpleCirc.

Dave Jones: We own a publishing company, as I mentioned. We’re small publishers and we’ve had it for a long time, it covers the National Football League. I went through a whole bunch of different software, installed software that would crash on the server; we tried software that was too advanced and had too many things on it that we wouldn’t use, all these different features. So, we created SimpleCirc for us to use in our publications only.

And then other publishers and associations that we belonged to started asking us about it, so we gave it to them. Then we added more features, but we kept everything that small publishers need. We had all the sales reports, email… because at the end of the day it’s just a database, that’s all we are, we’re not doing anything special. So, we put everything together and collaborated with small publishers. Then it just took off.

I think people really like it because we’re publishers ourselves, we aren’t tech people, and we built it so publishers could understand. And we’re adding a lot of different features to it. We only sell it bimonthly, and in the 2½ years we’ve been selling it, no one has left us because they think it’s just great for them. And we make it real easy for them as well. That’s one of the things about SimpleCirc.

Samir Husni: It seems this pandemic has hit you with a double whammy, your magazines are all sports-related, National Football League. So, between publishing the magazines and what’s happening in the sports world, how are you adjusting to this ever-changing landscape?

Dave Jones: That’s a good question, because we’re football publications. I’ll just give you a quick example, we had to do a draft guide, the NFL Draft is at the end of April, so we had to have it all ready to go and printed by February to mail off to everybody.

And if you didn’t get it out by then no one would receive it. We’d have to give tens of thousands of dollars in refunds and as a small company we couldn’t do that. So, we got it all ready and then our printer closed down. We had to find a new printer, resize everything, and then we found someone who could do it. Our mail house closed down as well, so we had to find someone to mail it out.

To make a long story short, we got the issue out and I think our subscribers for our team publications that received the Draft Digest knew that we were still publishing and people were calling us and thanking us for publishing it. Now, we’re just waiting for football season. If football season doesn’t start, we’re in big trouble.

A lot of the publishers, they aren’t into sports, but they have the same issue. They’re not selling advertising; subscribers are wondering if they’re going to keep publishing; the printers have closed, so we kind of coached them on switching people to digital, which was really hard to do, because I’m sure you know, when people like print they like print. Most of the print people are older clientele, so you’re right, we got hit both ways. Our publishers haven’t seen any effects yet, but that’s coming down the road, I think, within the next two months.

Samir Husni: When you reach out to those small publishers, what advice are you giving them?

Dave Jones: I talk to them about marketing, because a lot of these small publishers do not know how to market effectively. So, I tell them to utilize their emails, utilize their global mailings; let’s see what your mail house is doing. We put all of those things together and we help them. Also, we make them take advantage of their digital product. That’s an uphill battle, because a lot of publishers don’t use digital products. So, we tell them to offer their customers a digital product; email them out.

I saw you did an interview with the guys from The Week. I get that publication. They did a letter for a couple of issues, right on the front, that said here’s what’s going to happen. They’ve done that and I think the publishers have seen pretty good results from that.

Another problem that we’re coming across is snail mail is going so slow with the post office. It took some people 30 days to receive our Draft Digest in the mail. That was in New York City and New Jersey. And we mail from Buffalo, N.Y. We had people in Arizona receiving it before people in New York, because delivery was so messed up due to the virus.

Samir Husni: When you and your partners came up with the idea for SimpleCirc, it was mainly to serve yourselves; when was that “light bulb” moment that you said, we’ve done something good, we should share it?

Dave Jones: We were at a convention, we have all the publishers meet every year in Las Vegas, and we were telling some of the other publishers about it and they really liked it, so we let them use it. They fell in love with it. And they would pass it on to some other people that weren’t in the sports field who would then try it out. And people really enjoyed it. We started out with small publishers, but now we actually have large publishers too. We have some publishers who have under 1,000 and now we have some that have 300,000. So, it has really grown quite a bit. We keep adding it and growing it as we go.

Once we knew our customers liked it, we knew we really had something here. It’s really the service that they like the most, I think. We have really good service and understand their business.

Samir Husni: If a publisher calls you and says, Dave, I have a magazine with 10,000 subscribers, what can you do for me? Tell me the one, two, three of how you would help them.

Dave Jones: We will import their data, give them a free trial, three months of using SimpleCirc. I would give them a quick presentation, an overview of how it works. There are no instructions with SimpleCirc, none. If you go to our website, it kind of walks you through it. It’ll read: type in your publication and how many issues you do per year. Then type in your price. So, we walk you through it and you can be set up in 20 minutes.

I tell people let’s get them set up so they can play around with it. Test it out, do some real orders. You can do everything real on it, take real orders on it. That gives them a feel and they can take ownership of it. We have 150 publishers and they can talk to anyone they want.

Samir Husni: Who owns the data? Who owns the names on the circulation lists?

Dave Jones: They own it. We use Amazon servers, so we’re not using servers in the basement. It’s all on Amazon, so obviously they own it. The good thing is they have really easy access to the data. They can download their data 100 times a day if they want to. The easy access was important, because the company we used before this, we had no access to our data. It was like asking permission, like we were beholden to them. So, it was crazy.

Samir Husni: Did you ever imagine that you would be working during a pandemic and how do you feel about the near future?

Dave Jones: What scares me is the football aspect, whether or not they’re going to play football. But here’s the good thing, we know that football is not going away. As a publisher, I know that. It may get postponed or come on a limited basis. So, that’s good. We won’t have customers saying give us our money back because football is being put out of business. We tell our customers we’re putting everything on pause.

The other part is you don’t want your writers getting sick, you want to keep paying them, which we are because they’re working. We have them in every city. The big thing is I want people to get their product through the mail. I don’t think it’s going away, but mail is under attack, and we have to make sure they can still deliver our product. So, there are always outside factors that have nothing to do with us.

You want the teams to do well. If most of them stink in the NFL we cover, that can hurt you. Then the pandemic hurts you, so it’s a bit strange how we have to do everything. But I know magazines aren’t going away right now. With SimpleCirc, we just have to put things on pause and give customers a break and help them out if they have issues. We’re very proactive in that.

Samir Husni: Any additional words of wisdom?

Dave Jones: People just have to stay the course. If you’re losing out on advertising, that’s understandable. But keep in contact with your advertisers, keep in contact with your customers. I think that’s really important for a publication, whether you’re emailing them and letting them know what’s up or when you think the next issue is coming, just put something in their hand and let them know. You have a captive audience right now of readers who normally wouldn’t be home or have time to read your publication.

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

Dave Jones: The big thing is what does the future hold, because everybody knows that what you lose in print, you don’t pick up in digital. The numbers are much smaller. That scares me. I want to be able to get through this and have a kind of plan to move forward. None of us know, however. We don’t know what’s going to happen, we can only guess. And then, I have to get out of the house. (Laughs) I need to get out.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

Publishing During A Pandemic (28)

“I’m always trying to think of new magazine ideas. We’re trying to build Executive Media Global to a point where we have a number of publications that work for us. I always think of things that appeal to me, obviously, because the more interested I am the more likely it is that it will be successful because you need to have that passion for something.” … Gemma Peckham

“All we can do in a situation like this is stay the course, that’s important. I’ve been doing a bit of research about crises in the past, things like the recessions and the Depression, and you have to have confidence in what you’re doing and in moving forward, knowing that this will end at some point, and making sure that you still have something that you’re focused on. You can’t prepare, I don’t believe, but you need to stay true to the ethos of the publication. We’re making alterations, but we can still keep true to the core of what it is we’re trying to do.” … Gemma Peckham

Stay the course. During a pandemic, that is very sound advice, indeed. And Gemma Peckham, publisher and editor in chief at Executive Media Global, is planning on taking it and holding steady and strong. From Rova magazine, a travel title for the perpetual RV person, to a brand new launch getting ready to hit the market called Oh Reader, for reading enthusiasts everywhere, she and her Australian-based company, Executive Media Global, are determined to not only hold strong, but build up their portfolio of titles as they move forward.

I spoke with Gemma recently and we talked about the launch of the new “Oh Reader” and how “Rova” was rolling along during these uncertain times. While she was of course realistic, she was also hopeful about the future of magazines and magazine publishing.

And now the 28th Mr. Magazine™ interview in the series of Publishing During A Pandemic with Gemma Peckham, Executive Media Global’s Publisher & Editor In Chief.

But first the sound-bites:

On how she is managing a travel magazine, Rova, and launching a new title, Oh Reader, during a pandemic: The last few weeks in particular have been – it’s a matter of making decisions about what’s going to work best for the business. So, it’s been tough trying to figure out the best way. And because the two magazines are at such different stages, we have to give them considerations from different points of view.

On how easy, hard, or disruptive was the move to working from home: We actually have an office in Manhattan, where myself, an editorial assistant, and our sales staff work together. So, as soon as all of this stuff happened, I instructed everybody to work from home. It’s changed in terms of our physical location, but it’s lucky that we can do most of what we do from any location that has Internet. I’m very used to collaborating with people who aren’t necessarily in front of me, so it’s been an easier transition for me, I suppose, than maybe for other publishers.

On whether she thinks the RV travel magazine, Rova, is more relevant today than ever before because of this pandemic or there will be a better time for it after this is over: I think after is what we’re looking at because initially I thought it would be great for people who are out on the road, not great, but they’re in a situation where they can move their vehicle somewhere and stay there to ride out the pandemic. But a lot of state parks and RV parks are closing down, so they’re actually saying the opposite, now they’re scrambling to find somewhere to stay, all these full-time RVers, because they don’t have a permanent place of residence.

On the new magazine Oh Reader: I would say that it’s a magazine for people who like to read. The tagline is “For The Love of Reading.” And it’s about the way that people interact with books and literature. Rather than having book reviews and interviews and things like that, we have stories about how a particular book has shaped somebody’s life or how reading has helped someone come through a difficult situation.

On why she thinks the magazine as a platform is still relevant today: That’s a really good question. For Oh Reader, it’s really based on my own experience with reading. Obviously, I’m coming from a unique standpoint in that I am a magazine publisher and I love to read books, so I automatically put those things together. But I think when you listen to readers talking, part of what they say they love about reading is holding the book and turning the pages. Many are reluctant to start reading with technology because they just love that experience with the paper.

On whether she had ever thought of working during something like a pandemic and if she thinks someone could prepare for something like it: No, you can’t prepare for it. Who would have thought a couple of months ago that this would be the situation that we’re in. The news is changing every day, they don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. They’re realizing things about yesterday that are not correct.

On what keeps her up at night: That’s a pretty loaded question at the moment. (Laughs) There’s a lot actually, from a personal perspective. I’m thinking about my family back in Australia and when I can see them again. Just when things might get back to a point where we can see our loved ones and give them a hug.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Gemma Peckham, Publisher & Editor In Chief at Executive Media Global.

Samir Husni: You have a bimonthly travel magazine called Rova and you’re getting ready to launch a new magazine, Oh Reader. How are you functioning as a magazine editor/publisher in the midst of this pandemic?

Gemma Peckham: The last few weeks in particular have been – it’s a matter of making decisions about what’s going to work best for the business. So, it’s been tough trying to figure out the best way. And because the two magazines are at such different stages, we have to give them considerations from different points of view. With Rova, for example, we did discuss skipping an edition; we talked about combining an edition so that we would have a double edition later on down the track. But after conversations that I’ve had with professionals in the industry, for our subscribers of Rova, our loyal readers, I didn’t want them to have to wait for the next edition. I didn’t want to disrupt the continuity we have going with it.

Obviously, print bills and other things are an issue because of lower advertising, just people not spending, they’re not actually paying their bills at the moment because they’re saying that they don’t have the money.

But we’re continuing with whatever newsstand circulation we can get, which is a lot lower than it was before because of, obviously, Barnes & Noble and the other bookstore closures. That has significantly reduced the newsstand circulation. We are going to be selling preorder copies online, which we haven’t really done before. We’ll ask people to purchase them ahead of time, so that we can factor that into the print order and we can get them straight out from the printer. And we’re actually reducing the page extent from 96 to 80 as well.

All of those decisions were made between myself and the president of the company, who’s in Australia. It’s hard because we don’t know what we’re going to be able to sell, in terms of preorders; we don’t know how many people will be actually going to stores to pick up magazines and that’s really affected our advertising sales as well, because a lot of our advertisers are concerned that their ads won’t be reaching anywhere near as many people as they were before. So, that has really been a struggle.

Having said that, we’ve actually had a few inquiries from advertisers recently about getting into the June edition for summer. It’s difficult, because the news is showing people that the country is going to be open again in a month or so, which I don’t necessarily believe is the case, particularly being here in New York. It doesn’t feel like a possibility for us, at least. But I do think there are people who are planning still for editions down the road, maybe summer, into fall.

All of that is a long-winded way of saying it’s a difficult time and it’s a time where you have to make decisions without really knowing what the outcome of those are going to be, because it’s such an unprecedented circumstance.

And with Oh Reader, it’s a magazine we were set to launch in June. We were going to do a launch party in New York City, invite all of these bloggers over, obviously we can’t do that now. And also just launching into our whole marketing strategy, which was to go into bookstores, such as Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million, because it’s a magazine about reading. Without any of those stores currently accepting magazines, we didn’t think it was the right time to do that.

So, we’re still going to proceed with our June launch; we’ll do a digital edition and a print-on-demand run for anyone who has preordered it, anyone who has already subscribed and then we’ll actually do a harder launch for the September edition. Hopefully.

I had already gathered all the content for Oh Reader, and it’s all such great content that I don’t want to do a disservice to the authors by only publishing online. I also don’t want to put off the publication date, because we’ve had all these plans in place. And I think some good could come out of keeping the launch in June. If we make it available online, hopefully it will generate some interest through the online channels and social media. We will print as many copies as we need to and we’ll print promotional copies as well to send out to advertisers.

There could be some good to come out this, for sure. And we’re just excited to get it launched as well, because it’s a fun magazine.

Samir Husni: How easy, hard, or disruptive was the move to working from home?

Gemma Peckham: We actually have an office in Manhattan, where myself, an editorial assistant, and our sales staff work together. So, as soon as all of this stuff happened, I instructed everybody to work from home. It’s changed in terms of our physical location, but it’s lucky that we can do most of what we do from any location that has Internet. I’m very used to collaborating with people who aren’t necessarily in front of me, so it’s been an easier transition for me, I suppose, than maybe for other publishers. And also, larger publishers, because we’re so small we can kind of mover around and it’s not too difficult for us.

The location has changed, but I’m still able to do everything I was doing before and sales is a fun-based job so I can keep making those calls.

Samir Husni: Do you think Rova is more relevant today than ever before because of this pandemic or will it be better after?

Gemma Peckham: I think after is what we’re looking at because initially I thought it would be great for people who are out on the road, not great, but they’re in a situation where they can move their vehicle somewhere and stay there to ride out the pandemic. But a lot of state parks and RV parks are closing down, so they’re actually saying the opposite, now they’re scrambling to find somewhere to stay, all these full-time RVers, because they don’t have a permanent place of residence.

So, I think in terms of those readers they’re a little bit displaced at the moment, they’re not necessarily planning more travel, they’re planning to stay still. But on the other side of that, and this is something we’ve seen previously, once all of the restrictions lift, I think people will be much more likely to be traveling domestically than internationally. Road trips as opposed to air travel will become a lot more popular.

We have a magazine in Australia that’s similar called “Caravanning Australia” and directly after 9/11 the popularity and the sales of that magazine just shot up. It was a really big time for us at that publication. And part of its success was that road trips and travel became more prominent and the way people preferred to travel because of the fear around air travel.

So, we’re hoping that out of this will come a bit of a surge in domestic travel, and more interest in what we do.

Samir Husni: Tell me briefly about the new magazine, Oh Reader.

Gemma Peckham: I’m always trying to think of new magazine ideas. We’re trying to build Executive Media Global to a point where we have a number of publications that work for us. I always think of things that appeal to me, obviously, because the more interested I am the more likely it is that it will be successful because you need to have that passion for something.

I was looking around and reading a lot of books, looking for magazines that were related to the book industry, reading as a lifestyle. Most of the magazines that I could find, things like Bookforum and a bunch of other publications that were… I mean, they’re great for what they are, but they’re book reviews, author interviews, and all of that is fantastic, but there was nothing that spoke to me as a reader, with the kinds of things I like to do and think about when it comes to reading.

I would say that it’s a magazine for people who like to read. The tagline is “For The Love of Reading.” And it’s about the way that people interact with books and literature. Rather than having book reviews and interviews and things like that, we have stories about how a particular book has shaped somebody’s life or how reading has helped someone come through a difficult situation.

We have some humorous pieces as well. There’s a mother who’s writing an article about the five stages of grief, when she realizes her child doesn’t like Harry Potter. It’s just the way people interact with books and are inspired by literature.

There are so many people who love to read; if you get on Instagram, Books Hashtag Instagram has 30 or 40 million hashtags and they’re people who love to show off their bookshelves and what they’re reading, they love to discuss what they’re reading and there wasn’t a magazine that really catered to those people. So, we wanted to fill that gap, keep people inspired and connect them as well, because it’s such a huge community of readers. I think that we can tell them each other’s stories to keep them connected and interested.

Samir Husni: Why do you think the magazine as a platform is still relevant today?

Gemma Peckham: That’s a really good question. For Oh Reader, it’s really based on my own experience with reading. Obviously, I’m coming from a unique standpoint in that I am a magazine publisher and I love to read books, so I automatically put those things together. But I think when you listen to readers talking, part of what they say they love about reading is holding the book and turning the pages. Many are reluctant to start reading with technology because they just love that experience with the paper.

This magazine will only work in a printed format because that’s what this particular passionate segment of the market is into, that’s what they’re going to want to read. We’ll obviously have a digital edition as well, but I think the printed product is, for this particular audience, unique. It’s one of the only sectors where you can say people will definitely want to read this on paper as opposed to digitally.

More broadly, obviously there has been a lot of talk about the death of the magazine and the death of print publishing. I can see the point a lot of people are trying to make with that, but I also see that people are reverting to authenticity and they’re going back to more analog methods of interacting, such as magazines, just because we have screen fatigue. I have three screens in front of me right now and I can’t wait to get away from them to read my books. The information overload that we have, because of all of these screens coming at us is really causing people to want to detach from that a little bit.

And I think that’s helping, particularly niche publications, where people are escaping to something that they love, a hobby or pastime, and they can get away from all these screens and they can relax.

Samir Husni: Did you ever imagine that you would be working during a pandemic and do you think anyone could ever prepare for something like this?

Gemma Peckham: No, you can’t prepare for it. Who would have thought a couple of months ago that this would be the situation that we’re in. The news is changing every day, they don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. They’re realizing things about yesterday that are not correct.

All we can do in a situation like this is stay the course, that’s important. I’ve been doing a bit of research about crises in the past, things like the recessions and the Depression, and you have to have confidence in what you’re doing and in moving forward, knowing that this will end at some point, and making sure that you still have something that you’re focused on. You can’t prepare, I don’t believe, but you need to stay true to the ethos of the publication. We’re making alterations, but we can still keep true to the core of what it is we’re trying to do.

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

Gemma Peckham: That’s a pretty loaded question at the moment. (Laughs) There’s a lot actually, from a personal perspective. I’m thinking about my family back in Australia and when I can see them again. Just when things might get back to a point where we can see our loved ones and give them a hug.

Professionally, I’m thinking a lot about just the future of all of these publications we’re doing. Also, the new endeavor that we’ve taken on, which is Mag Box, a box of five magazines that includes other Indie publishers who have collaborated with us, we’re just trying to get that moving. You get online, buy the bundle and it’s delivered to your house. It’s very early, we only launched it last week. We’re excited about it.

But honestly, I have had quite a few nights recently where I couldn’t sleep because I was thinking about what’s going to happen tomorrow and how will I take the next steps forward.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

Publishing During A Pandemic (26)

“No matter if it’s 9/11 or if it’s a global pandemic, people care about their happiness and their families. They want to find ways to be healthier; they want to find ways to simplify their lives; they want to see the world, whether they’re able to travel at that moment or if they want to travel vicariously through others, and so the nature of magazines is to transport our readers. To make our readers’ lives a little better warms my heart. We’re not curing brain cancer, but we do improve people’s lives. It shows by how excited they are when the magazine arrives in their mailboxes.” …Liz Vaccariello

“When you look at the brands in the magazine industry, they all have that serendipitous connection right now with their readers. This is exactly what readers need at this moment. And that’s why I love this brand.” … Liz Vaccariello

Nothing has been “Real Simple” of late. Not the news; not the world we live in; not the way of life we all knew and quite possibly took for granted. Nothing. Nothing that is, except that loyal and trusted friend we all call REAL SIMPLE magazine. Even during a pandemic, REAL SIMPLE has stayed true to form by giving us useful and helpful tips that are “simply” what we need at this uncertain time we’re living in. The May issue offers “Life Made Easier” by showing us how to Get It Done while we have quite a bit of time on our hands. It’s, as Editor in Chief, Liz Vaccariello calls it, “a serendipitous connection.”

I spoke with Liz recently and we talked about this bit of serendipity that REAL SIMPLE has with its readers. While the world may seem like its spinning out of control, REAL SIMPLE, the brand, keeps us focused and alert to what is really important: our friends and family and keeping them safe and as happy as possible.

And now the 26th Mr. Magazine™ interview in the series of Publishing During A Pandemic with Liz Vaccariello, editor in chief, REAL SIMPLE.

But first the sound-bites:

On if it has been “Real Simple” or tough operating REAL SIMPLE during the pandemic: It’s been both. It’s been “REAL SIMPLE” because at the end of the day, life is about our families, our homes, the spaces around us, feeling at peace and finding a way to discover happiness. It’s about making a good dinner for the family; it’s about loving my dog more than I ever have before. Those are “REAL SIMPLE” things. At the same time, this is a very complicated time because uncertainty is complicated.

On how easy, hard, or disruptive was the move to working from home: One of the many surprises about working from home has been how much more connected I feel with my team. We are having Webex staff meetings at the beginning of every day instead of once a week.

On whether she thinks once the pandemic is behind us the way things are done might change or be influenced by the pandemic: So much has changed, but so much is the same. When I’m working on a print product, I’m working with paper, so I often want to see a layout on paper. Right now, we don’t have that luxury.

On whether she thinks readers will be ready to get back to a “normal” mode of operation: I always post the cover of my editor’s letter on my Instagram and social media feeds, and I often hear from readers that way and I watch our REAL SIMPLE feeds. Readers are also excited to get the issue in the mail. It’s this treat that arrives. Bless the U.S. Postal Service. (Laughs)

On whether she ever imagined she’d be working during a pandemic: No, not at all. I’ve read stories about epidemiologists and global health experts warning about a global pandemic and I watched SARS carefully years ago. There’s a certain element of humanity that believes it’s not going to happen to us, or it’s not going to happen in the United States, or the people in charge are on top of it and they would never let it get out of hand.

On any additional words of wisdom: It’s been heartwarming for me to look around at the publishing industry, not just REAL SIMPLE and not just Meredith, but all of our colleagues. When you make a magazine, it’s important to look around and realize how much of what we do is relevant in the best of times, and also during the worst of times. No matter if it’s 9/11 or if it’s a global pandemic, people care about their happiness and their families.

On what keeps her up at night: People who interpret dreams and who charge for it could probably make a killing these days. (Laughs) I will just say that the metaphors of my dreams are quite something. It’s about stress; it’s about, yes, we’re going to come back, the economy is going to come back someday, but we might be in this for a long slog.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Liz Vaccariello, editor in chief, REAL SIMPLE magazine.

Samir Husni: Has it been “REAL SIMPLE” or tough operating during this pandemic?

Liz Vaccariello: It’s been both. It’s been “REAL SIMPLE” because at the end of the day, life is about our families, our homes, the spaces around us, feeling at peace and finding a way to discover happiness. It’s about making a good dinner for the family; it’s about loving my dog more than I ever have before. Those are “REAL SIMPLE” things. At the same time, this is a very complicated time because uncertainty is complicated.

We’re all working remotely. We sorted all of those things out very quickly and we’ve all had to adjust. Change is often complicated.

Samir Husni: How easy, hard, or disruptive was the move to working from home?

Liz Vaccariello: One of the many surprises about working from home has been how much more connected I feel with my team. We are having Webex staff meetings at the beginning of every day instead of once a week.

I speak with every member of the REAL SIMPLE team by phone one-on-one much more regularly. Whereas before in the office this one-on-one communication was less, I’m getting to know people even more. I’m calling them up and asking them how they’re doing; how their family is doing. There has been a higher level of connection in some ways.

Samir Husni: Do you think in the six or so weeks we’ve been dealing with the pandemic, it’s going to force you to change the way you do things once it’s behind us?

Liz Vaccariello: So much has changed, but so much is the same. When I’m working on a print product, I’m working with paper, so I often want to see a layout on paper. Right now, we don’t have that luxury. Everything has gone electronic, which I think is a good thing in terms of ecology and the environment. If we print less paper in our daily work lives, that’s better.

When I’m shipping the magazine, there is this need and desire as an editor in chief to see that one page, that one layout, on real paper. Even though you’ve seen it on your screen a hundred times, the experience of the product is paper. It’s holding it in your hands. I look forward to getting my final proof on paper and bringing out my red pen again.

Samir Husni: Do you think readers will feel the same? Yes, they will see REAL SIMPLE online and they will see a PDF edition, but it’s not the same as when they get their copy in the mail and actually hold their ink on paper magazine?

Liz Vaccariello: That’s been one of the delights of this entire experience and I can talk about it in terms of advertisers, readers and staff. First of all, in terms of the staff, when the May “Get It Done”-themed issue came out, it was about the little projects on your to-do lists that you’ve been meaning to get done for the last year and that you seem to never get around to. This came out and I called the Production team and asked them to send me two big boxes of the issue. Then I went to Staples with my mask on, I bought envelopes, my own set of office supplies, and then I mailed a copy of the issue to everyone on my staff. I sent a quick note that read, “Liked your story on dusting,” or “Glad we ran this photo,” or something personal about something they had done with that issue.

I was surprised at how touched they were. I wanted them to see the issue. I almost teared up. We’ve been apart and we’re making this magazine that lives and breathes and exists in people’s hands. To see it and hold it was a point of pride.

We also did a mailing to some of our advertisers in which we provided a digital edition of the issue to people so they could see it. We also continue to mail boxes of magazines that Meredith publishes to our biggest clients and they receive these issues with a note that reads: Happy Reading. And our partners are thrilled because there is something very special and magical about the print edition.

I always post the cover of my editor’s letter on my Instagram and social media feeds, and I often hear from readers that way and I watch our REAL SIMPLE feeds. Readers are also excited to get the issue in the mail. It’s this treat that arrives. Bless the U.S. Postal Service. (Laughs)

Samir Husni: You’ve been editor of Prevention magazine, Reader’s Digest; you’ve seen it all in terms of categories, from health to making life easier. Did you ever imagine that you would be working during a pandemic?

Liz Vaccariello: No, not at all. I’ve read stories about epidemiologists and global health experts warning about a global pandemic and I watched SARS carefully years ago. There’s a certain element of humanity that believes it’s not going to happen to us, or it’s not going to happen in the United States, or the people in charge are on top of it and they would never let it get out of hand.

To your point, I was at Fitness magazine during 9/11. The world can change in a day and that’s what happened here. It’s nice to be able to tell my daughters, who are 15, that this feels like we’re in this pit of something truly awful, and yes, the world has changed, and life will change, but there is hope. Life will go back to normal — a new normal. We will get through this. So yes, there is something to be said for being an old lady like me who has seen it all.

Samir Husni: Any additional words of wisdom?

Liz Vaccariello: It’s been heartwarming for me to look around at the publishing industry, not just REAL SIMPLE and not just Meredith, but all of our colleagues. When you make a magazine, it’s important to look around and realize how much of what we do is relevant in the best of times, and also during the worst of times. No matter if it’s 9/11 or if it’s a global pandemic, people care about their happiness and their families. They want to find ways to be healthier; they want to find ways to simplify their lives; they want to see the world, whether they’re able to travel at that moment or if they want to travel vicariously through others, and so the nature of magazines is to transport our readers. To make our readers’ lives a little better warms my heart. We’re not curing brain cancer, but we do improve people’s lives. It shows by how excited they are when the magazine arrives in their mailboxes.

Our April issue of REAL SIMPLE was the “spring-cleaning issue, spring clean your life.” It hit newsstands on March 20 and people have asked if we knew something, and of course, we didn’t. However, what we do organically is perfect for the times.

When you look at the brands in the magazine industry, they all have that serendipitous connection right now with their readers. This is exactly what readers need at this moment. And that’s why I love this brand.

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

Liz Vaccariello: People who interpret dreams and who charge for it could probably make a killing these days. (Laughs) I will just say that the metaphors of my dreams are quite something. It’s about stress; it’s about, yes, we’re going to come back, the economy is going to come back someday, but we might be in this for a long slog.

So, keeping me up at night is how long the pain is going to be for Americans, for my family, and for my readers. For people who are buying food and trying to put dinner on the table, and who want to maybe make their homes look a little better, or they want to take a trip. I want those people to have that ability sooner rather than later. I’m hopeful, though there is uncertainty.

Samir Husni: Thank you.