Mr. Magazine

“There’s something about the print magazine that’s special. It’s got the front cover, which is a way to really make a statement. It has a back cover that advertisers love. It has the capacity to package things, because the Internet breaks everything up, so the capacity to keep things together is really valuable. And advertisers see that too.” Nick Thompson…

This year, Wired Magazine will celebrate 25 years of publishing some of the best content in the world of technology. And this year, the brand will also inaugurate its editor in chief’s latest edition to the business model: a paywall. For over six years, Nick Thompson was an editor for newyorker.com and learned the art of the paywall; and the benefits. Bringing that knowledge to Wired, where he has ran the tech-ship for just over a year, he has constructed a new revenue source that he’s hoping will prove that people are willing to pay for quality content, for something they value and that adds value to their lives.

On a recent trip to New York, I spoke with Nick about the changes he’s implemented, such as the paywall. For a tech-savvy man, Nick is a rare breed, because he also believes in the power of print. So, Print Proud Digital Smart is just common sense to him, and Mr. Magazine™ would have to agree. And Mr. Magazine™ also believes in the value of content, just as Nick does. So, the paywall, while tried and failed by many before him, seems possible with the determination and vision that Nick possesses. Not only possible; probable, but also success-able.

From an email to Wired subscribers, and in Nick’s own words, he had this to say about the paywall: “As you may have seen in the press, we’re launching a paywall on WIRED.com—an important and exciting step that will allow us to continue our great work for the next quarter-century and beyond.” Indeed, if the next 25 is anything like the first 25, everyone will be willing to “pixel-up.” And now the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Nick Thompson, editor in chief, Wired. Enjoy!

But first the sound-bites:

On why he thinks it took the industry so long to change from a welfare information society where everything digital was given away freely to one that charges for its online content: I think business was really good in the old model for a long time. We made a lot of money from advertising and it took a while for the industry to realize the problems with that. And it took a long time for the industry to realize that digital advertising wouldn’t replace it.
I believe we came to those realizations too slowly.

On the secret of Wired’s longevity: That’s an interesting question. It’s always been really good, that’s the first thing. When it had rough patches, it figured its way out of them. It never found any of the traps of some of the other tech publications. It had Condé Nast supporting it as well. And because it had been relatively early, it had a lot of loyal supporters and backers. So, it’s always had a really good and strong fan base, and it’s always had a great group of writers.

On Condé Nast’s handling of Wired over the years, and the fact that when most bigger companies buy small, entrepreneurial publications, they end of folding them, but not in the case of Wired: I wonder about that. I think that reflects very well on Condé Nast. They changed editors; they did all of the things that usually happen when a rogue publication is bought by a big company. They changed editors; they changed philosophy, but I think they kept a hands-off approach. A lot of people stayed through; the magazine stayed in San Francisco, and I think Condé Nast realized the independent spirit that Wired had, and managed it well.

On how he would define content today: That’s a good question. You have to think about all of the different places where we publish unique content. There’s the print magazine; the website; the Snapchat channel; the Instagram feed; there are all kinds of things. There are videos that we’re making for Facebook live; YouTube videos that we’re creating. So, it’s all Wired content; it’s all Wired “stuff” and my involvement in it ranges from the print, where there’s a lot, to social where there’s less. And then I’m participating in a lot of it. I’ll do some of the Facebook lives or some of the discussions.

On whether he feels he’s more of a curator today than a creator: No, more of a creator, but the curation is part of it too, because part of what you do is figure out how things should be promoted; what should go in the newsletter; how the newsletter should be structured. I write my own newsletter; I do my own Tweets; I do Facebook; so, there’s that part of the curation element. But most of what I’m doing is writing and editing.

On the biggest stumbling block he’s had to face, or whether it has it all been a walk in a rose garden: You need to do three things when you’re in my job: you need to create the right stories; you need to get them out to people in all the right ways; and you need to build a business model around that. And I feel like we’re creating the right stories and that we’ve built a business model, but I’m not sure that we’ve optimized getting ourselves out there in all the right ways. So, the biggest challenge is how do you get people to read your content on a mobile device? Some people will go to your website on a mobile device, but mostly they’ll go to your Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or they’ll come in through an app.

On the iPad and how Wired was one of the first Condé Nast titles to jump onboard: And it was awesome. My predecessor, Scott Dadich, he designed that, and did a killer job. The issue is, back then we all thought the iPad was the future of magazine reading, right? And that people would have iPads and they would download all of the magazines. But as it turned out, the iPad wasn’t; it turned out to be the phone. The question is, can you take the iPad version and make it work on the phone, that’s something that we need to do here, because we have a great iPad app, but we don’t have an iPhone app.

On how he decides what content goes where and if dissecting that content is getting easier or harder: In the old days, content was created for print and dissected for the other platforms, and here it’s more that we try to come up with content that works on all of the platforms, starting from an idea. The Free Speech package was definitely something we came up with for the print medium, because the idea on how to do it was a big structured thing around it, and that still works when you have the excuse of a print magazine that gets mailed to 850,000 people, and that has a cover and a set number of pages. So, we decided to do that and spread it out on all of the other platforms.

On why he still believes in print: There are a couple of reasons. Number one, because I spend a lot of time on tech, I realize its limitations. You can put out a Tweet and you can look and say that you have 10 million Twitter followers; that Tweet is going to reach 10 million people, but actually it’s not. A thousand people are going to click on it, or 200 people are going to click on it. So, there are real distribution issues on all platforms. When you think about it that way, it helps you remember that the U.S. Postal Service that will deliver 850,000 copies of these to people’s doors, or whatever the exact number is right now, is a pretty good distribution mechanism.

On how he edits the magazine to cater to the geeks and the intellectuals simultaneously: That’s the whole challenge of this job. It’s to cater to both of them and even to people who are coming to technology for the first time. And that’s a challenge with our web content and that’s a challenge with Snapchat content; that’s a challenge with everything we do. That’s less of a print challenge than it is an overall Wired challenge. And there, we try to think of ourselves as a magazine about change, not as a magazine about tech. We think about the way technology is changing our lives; changing our world and the way that we relate to each other. Find the most interesting questions and answer them in the smartest way that we can, in whatever form is appropriate for whatever medium we’re writing for.

On how his job as a magazine editor, especially of Wired, is different today than it was some years ago: The first difference is that, obviously, we’re publishing in more different ways. And the world only gets more complicated; the job only gets more complicated; and your time only gets more disbursed, because you’re not doing a print magazine, you’re doing a print magazine and a website and all of these social platforms. So, that’s different.

On one moment he can reflect on since he’s been editor where he thought the magazine was at the exact place he wanted it to be: This month has been amazing, because I think our Free Speech issue conveys exactly what I want to do with the magazine. It has five essays, all of which are awesome; they read really well together. I think it’s one of the smartest packages put together on free speech.

On whether he thinks it will be smooth sailing from now on: (Laughs) I don’t think any editor in this business would think it’s smooth sailing from now on. We have to think about what comes next, so we have to make the paywall work. We’re just days in and it looks good so far, but that’s nothing. We need to make sure that we optimize and that we figure out the right ways to promote it; that we reduce friction in the subscription process; that we improve re-circulation; that we assign the right content; and that is really hard. Then we also need to figure out how to continue to diversify our revenue streams.

On whether he feels like in his job now he has to hop on and off the train without it ever stopping: (Laughs) No, I feel like the train still stops. Maybe in two years the train won’t stop and I’ll be jumping out the window. Right now it’s okay. It’s funny, because I don’t think the job of editor in chief of Wired will ever get less complicated, because you have to be in the middle of the way technology is reshaping the world, and the nature of technology is that it accelerates, because when you invent something it helps you invent the next thing.

On why he thinks the whole media world is suddenly watching Wired and its new paywall to see if it succeeds or fails: I think the fact that it’s Wired and we’re considered to be at the forefront of technology makes a big difference. I think to some people it’s surprising. You may think that Wired would always make its information free. Though, since the very beginning Wired has talked about the value of content and whether it’s important to make people pay. And there’s a huge debate among the early Wired founders. I’m glad people are paying attention. The more attention, the better.

On what someone would find him doing if they showed up unexpectedly one evening at his home: You’ll find me reading magazine stories on my phone, if I’ve finished my work. I tend to go home and work; I work here, then I go home and put my kids to sleep, and I tend to go back to work, in part, because I work with a lot of people in San Francisco, so my 10:00 p.m. is their 7:00 p.m., so we’re synced up pretty well. And I tend to work until 11:00 or 11:0 p.m. And if I finish and have some time, I like to read magazine stories in other publications. And I like to play guitar.

On what he would have tattooed upon his brain that would be there forever and no one could ever forget about him: That I actually really care about my job. I care about Wired because I think it’s really important for society to have these conversations about technology, such as free speech and technology. And I feel like Wired plays a really important civic role. So, I want them to realize that what excites me about this job and what I do isn’t just because it’s a cool job and I work in media. It’s because there’s real civic value in having this thing work and to do it well. And that’s why I try.

On what keeps him up at night: I don’t think any editor in chief of any publication sleeps well, with the business changes over the last few years. I worry a lot that we get stories right and I worry a lot about what comes next for us. What are the product, engineering and business choices we need to make to be sure that we can continue to produce really great journalism. So, that keeps me up at night.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Nick Thompson, editor in chief, Wired.

Samir Husni: You’ve been in the news a lot lately for doing what I’ve always called a common sense thing; if you have good content, people will pay for it. Why do you think the industry waited so long to change from a welfare information society where we give everything away for free to finally charging for content?

Nick Thompson: I think business was really good in the old model for a long time. We made a lot of money from advertising and it took a while for the industry to realize the problems with that. And it took a long time for the industry to realize that digital advertising wouldn’t replace it.
I believe we came to those realizations too slowly.

Samir Husni: Specifically with Wired, as you approach your 25th anniversary; a lot of tech magazines have started up and folded during that same period, all trying to captivate the future of technology and humanizing technology. What’s the secret of Wired’s longevity?

Nick Thompson: That’s an interesting question. It’s always been really good, that’s the first thing. When it had rough patches, it figured its way out of them. It never found any of the traps of some of the other tech publications. It had Condé Nast supporting it as well. And because it had been relatively early, it had a lot of loyal supporters and backers. So, it’s always had a really good and strong fan base, and it’s always had a great group of writers.

I don’t know, I feel like it never even came close to going away. It’s been a good publication with lots of supporters the whole way through, lots of advertisers; a good subscription base. It’s been healthy and strong and it’s managed to never completely screw things up.

Samir Husni: From an historical point of view, when I study all of the magazines that were started by entrepreneurs and sold to big companies, the bigger companies managed to mess them up and fold them. That’s not the case with Wired.

Nick Thompson: I think that reflects very well on Condé Nast. They changed editors; they did all of the things that usually happen when a rogue publication is bought by a big company. They changed editors; they changed philosophy, but I think they kept a hands-off approach. A lot of people stayed through; the magazine stayed in San Francisco, and I think Condé Nast realized the independent spirit that Wired had, and managed it well.

So, I think it reflects well on Condé Nast and I think it reflects well on the Wired team and it reflects well on Katrina Heron, who took it over after the transaction, and then Chris Anderson, who succeeded her.

Samir Husni: As you are moving Wired toward the next quarter of a century, you started by adding a paywall; you’ve been quoted as saying print is not going away, that you still believe in it. So, as an editor today, how do you define content?

Nick Thompson: That’s a good question. You have to think about all of the different places where we publish unique content. There’s the print magazine; the website; the Snapchat channel; the Instagram feed; there are all kinds of things. There are videos that we’re making for Facebook live; YouTube videos that we’re creating.

So, if you were to look at my to-do list for today, I have to read some of the drafts for the next issue of the print magazine; I’ve got to read a bunch of web posts that have gone live, make sure they’re good and figure out how to promote them and how to help the writers improve, or how to work with the writers. I have to think about all of the social media platforms. So, it’s all Wired content; it’s all Wired “stuff” and my involvement in it ranges from the print, where there’s a lot, to social where there’s less. And then I’m participating in a lot of it. I’ll do some of the Facebook lives or some of the discussions.

There’s way too much content for any single human to be involved in, so I just have to figure out how to allocate my time in a way that is most effective, both for specific editing and the more general sense of conveying my view of what a Wired story is. And then the general coaching, managing and cheerleading the staff and all of the stories.

Samir Husni: Do you feel you’re more of a curator today, rather than a creator?

Nick Thompson: No, more of a creator, but the curation is part of it too, because part of what you do is figure out how things should be promoted; what should go in the newsletter; how the newsletter should be structured. I write my own newsletter; I do my own Tweets; I do Facebook; so, there’s that part of the curation element. But most of what I’m doing is writing and editing.

There are 100 different things that could be a part of my job and I try to think about all of them. And I try to weigh whether I can actually be helpful with #96 on the list of things, and if I can, I’ll spend some time on it and if I can’t, I’ll let it be.

Samir Husni: What has been the biggest stumbling block that you’ve had to face since you took over the editorship and how did you overcome it? Or has it been a walk in a rose garden?

Nick Thompson: I’ve been really happy with the print magazine for the last few months. I feel like we’ve gotten a really strong feature well, and we’ve gotten really good covers. If you look at our next cover, which I shouldn’t talk about, but I think it will be exciting. And our free speech cover; the cover about China; the cover on our issue now. We’ve done really good issues. And when I started, it wasn’t like they were bad, they were still good.

But I feel like there has been steady improvement in making sure that the feature well, in particular, has grown and become really close to what I wanted it to be when I started this job. So, that’s good, but it was also really hard, so maybe that’s the answer.

The other thing that’s hard is obviously, you need to do three things when you’re in my job: you need to create the right stories; you need to get them out to people in all the right ways; and you need to build a business model around that. And I feel like we’re creating the right stories and that we’ve built a business model, but I’m not sure that we’ve optimized getting ourselves out there in all the right ways. So, the biggest challenge is how do you get people to read your content on a mobile device? Some people will go to your website on a mobile device, but mostly they’ll go to your Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or they’ll come in through an app.

We don’t yet have a custom IOS app. We have read platforms or a progressive web app, which makes our Android reading experience much better, but we were a little late to optimize ourselves on mobile devices. So, that’s something that we’re working hard on, but we haven’t completely solved yet.

In my ideal world, there would be a fantastic, beautifully-designed way to read Wired through Flipboard, Apple News, Facebook Instant, an IOS app, an Android app, and a progressive web app, but we don’t have that whole suite of things yet. We have some of them, but they require design, product, engineering and business, and so they’re really complicated to get right.

Samir Husni: I remember when the iPad first came into being back in the dark ages of 2009, Wired was a forerunner. I think it was the first Condé Nast magazine to jump onboard.

Nick Thompson: And it was awesome. My predecessor, Scott Dadich, he designed that, and did a killer job. The issue is, back then we all thought the iPad was the future of magazine reading, right? And that people would have iPads and they would download all of the magazines. But as it turned out, the iPad wasn’t; it turned out to be the phone. The question is, can you take the iPad version and make it work on the phone, that’s something that we need to do here, because we have a great iPad app, but we don’t have an iPhone app.

Samir Husni: With your role, and the many hats that you wear, how do you decide what content goes where? From print to digital, and now with the paywall; is dissecting the content getting easier or harder?

Nick Thompson: In the old days, content was created for print and dissected for the other platforms, and here it’s more that we try to come up with content that works on all of the platforms, starting from an idea. The Free Speech package was definitely something we came up with for the print medium, because the idea on how to do it was a big structured thing around it, and that still works when you have the excuse of a print magazine that gets mailed to 850,000 people, and that has a cover and a set number of pages. So, we decided to do that and spread it out on all of the other platforms.

But there are elements of Wired taking on the issue of free speech that have been native to other platforms, like Facebook Instant conversations and Reddit AMA’s. There have been all kinds of interesting elements and add-ons that doesn’t feel as though we’re cutting a piece of meat off of the bone of the big animal. We feel like we actually made a meal for that particular platform.

Samir Husni: You’re one of the few editors of a tech magazine who still believes in print. Why?

Nick Thompson: There are a couple of reasons. Number one, because I spend a lot of time on tech, I realize its limitations. You can put out a Tweet and you can look and say that you have 10 million Twitter followers; that Tweet is going to reach 10 million people, but actually it’s not. A thousand people are going to click on it, or 200 people are going to click on it. So, there are real distribution issues on all platforms. When you think about it that way, it helps you remember that the U.S. Postal Service that will deliver 850,000 copies of these to people’s doors, or whatever the exact number is right now, is a pretty good distribution mechanism. The U.S. Postal system and the whole method of people subscribing, they get 12 issues per year, that’s really great. So, that’s one reason.

Number two is there’s something about the print magazine that’s special. It’s got the front cover, which is a way to really make a statement. It has a back cover that advertisers love. It has the capacity to package things, because the Internet breaks everything up, so the capacity to keep things together is really valuable. And advertisers see that too.

And then there’s something about the discipline of putting together a print magazine which is a useful exercise to go through for content. So, having strict limitations on the number of words that you can put in a story is actually good for the story often. Sometimes it’s nice to have unlimited words, but sometimes not having constraints leads to softness in the way you edit it or the way you think about it. Print magazines still do some really good things. My hope would be that we’ll continue to run the print magazine as long as I’m in this job, and that even if the advertising goes down in print, we’ll be able to make up for it in subscription revenue. Right now, it’s a profitable product and I think a really good product.

Samir Husni: How do you manage to create this curated, well-packaged issue, month after month, that caters to the geeks of technology and to the intellectuals of technology simultaneously?

Nick Thompson: That’s the whole challenge of this job. It’s to cater to both of them and even to people who are coming to technology for the first time. And that’s a challenge with our web content and that’s a challenge with Snapchat content; that’s a challenge with everything we do. That’s less of a print challenge than it is an overall Wired challenge. And there, we try to think of ourselves as a magazine about change, not as a magazine about tech. We think about the way technology is changing our lives; changing our world and the way that we relate to each other. Find the most interesting questions and answer them in the smartest way that we can, in whatever form is appropriate for whatever medium we’re writing for.

On the web, you want to write about things that are happening in the present; you want to write about things that are current. In print, you need to write about it in a format that will be relevant two weeks after the story closes or five weeks after the story closes, because that’s when the person actually picks up the pile of mail at the apartment they’ve been traveling from.

You have the same challenge; how do you make the story interesting for all of these different readers? And then you just have different constraints and different kinds of form based on where you’re publishing it.

Samir Husni: How would you describe the job of a magazine editor today, especially Wired? And how is it different from some years ago?

Nick Thompson: The first difference is that, obviously, we’re publishing in more different ways. And the world only gets more complicated; the job only gets more complicated; and your time only gets more disbursed, because you’re not doing a print magazine, you’re doing a print magazine and a website and all of these social platforms. So, that’s different.

But the core is kind of the same. Your job as the editor in chief is to help set a vision with your team; it’s to hire the right people, who do all of the right jobs; it’s to help people grow as writers and editors, to the extent that you can. It’s to be an ambassador, so that’s why you go to different places, like Davos, which I just returned from, to meet people; and it’s also to find really good stories, which is another reason to go to a place like Davos.

Part of my job is to sit at my desk and help move copy along and to read things and to help edit them. And then part of my job is to go out into the world and be a public face for Wired and talk to people about Wired and learn about the kind of issues we should write about. So, you have to just balance your time.

There are different kinds of editors. David Remnick, who I obviously observe very closely, spent a ton of time writing stories, editing stories, and also a ton of time promoting them, like on The New Yorker Radio Hour and on television and radio. Other people focus more on one element, like Adam Moss, who is an absolute genius at how he puts together New York magazine, but he’s not as much out there talking on television or on the radio. He’s just kind of in his office making the thing amazing. So, there are different roles. And the way I’ve chosen to do it is to do lots of things, maybe for good or for ill.

Samir Husni: During this short period since you’ve been editing Wired, can you reflect on one moment where you said to yourself, wow, this is the Wired I want?

Nick Thompson: This month has been amazing, because I think our Free Speech issue conveys exactly what I want to do with the magazine. It has five essays, all of which are awesome; they read really well together. I think it’s one of the smartest packages put together on free speech.

And free speech is something that I really don’t have a handle on. I know that the view on free speech in the tech industry has massively changed. I know that it’s complicated, but I came to it not thinking that “we need to stand up and really fight against the way the tech companies are now censoring.” Or “I really think that debate about free speech is going in the right direction.” I was very conflicted when we started this package. I felt really good that we put together an issue that had these five essays; the cover worked and the whole issue felt right. So, I felt great about that.

And then we went to the paywall and we actually hit our deadlines and the early returns are great. So, January and the first couple of days of February have been fantastic for Wired. I feel like we put out a great issue and we created a new business model, which is something I talked about my first day on the job. And it came to fruition.

Samir Husni: Is it smooth sailing then from now on?

Nick Thompson: (Laughs) I don’t think any editor in this business would think it’s smooth sailing from now on. We have to think about what comes next, so we have to make the paywall work. We’re just days in and it looks good so far, but that’s nothing. We need to make sure that we optimize and that we figure out the right ways to promote it; that we reduce friction in the subscription process; that we improve re-circulation; that we assign the right content; and that is really hard. Then we also need to figure out how to continue to diversify our revenue streams.

What we’ve done this year is try to grow advertising as much as possible. I’ve worked very carefully with our business side to understand what we do in advertising and what works. And what we can do more of; where are there opportunities for growth. But at the same time, trying to diversify. So, we started an affiliate revenue stream, where we massively expanded our efforts. If you read a review on the best headphones at Myer and you click on one and buy it, we get a small cut. And that’s useful.

Now we have three really good revenue streams, but the question is a year from now we’ll want to have diversified even more. We’ll want to have done better in all the things we do, but we’ll also want to have other revenue streams. So, what will those be? Wired has very limited audio efforts; should we go hard in that? There are a couple of other things that we’re looking at; a relatively limited conference business. We do one big event, but other publications that are similar to us do lots of events; should we do that? It’s competitive, but we could do more of that.
And then there are a whole bunch of other things that we’re thinking and talking about.

One of my big questions for next year is what’s next? From the product and engineering side of my job, we’ve had two big products. First, we moved our CMS’s (Content Management Systems) to the corporate CMS’s “Copilot,” which was a huge project and that was really the first six months of my job. Then the next six months was the paywall. So, now the product and engineering roadmap is complicated and the business roadmap is complicated.

Meanwhile, you can’t let your foot off the gas and spend so much time thinking about these things, or have your team spend so much time thinking about them, that you let the other stuff slide, and you have days where the website isn’t interesting or the magazine isn’t good. You don’t ever want that. So, that’s the challenge. It’s not like the old days where you just hire 100 new people or something. You have to do evermore within constraints, real constraints.

Samir Husni: Do you feel in your job now that you have to hop on the train and hop off the train without the train ever stopping?

Nick Thompson: (Laughs) No, I feel like the train still stops. Maybe in two years the train won’t stop and I’ll be jumping out the window.

Samir Husni: (Laughs too).

Nick Thompson: Right now it’s okay. It’s funny, because I don’t think the job of editor in chief of Wired will ever get less complicated, because you have to be in the middle of the way technology is reshaping the world, and the nature of technology is that it accelerates, because when you invent something it helps you invent the next thing. And so technology will constantly be creating, so the train only moves faster and the job only gets harder. So, ask me that in three years. (Laughs)

Samir Husni: Do you feel that you are living in a glass house now, because everybody is watching you. With all of the other entities that tried paywalls and other things like that, they weren’t talked about as much as Wired. Is it specifically because it’s Wired or because it’s Condé Nast? Why do you think that the entire media world is watching you to see if you’re going to succeed in this experiment or fail?

Nick Thompson: I don’t know. Maybe because I talk about it a lot. (Laughs) I’ve given lots of interviews about paywalls; I talk about it all of the time and I care about it a lot. I felt like my experience at The New Yorker was one of the most interesting things I’ve ever done, so I speak about it a lot and I feel good about what we did at The New Yorker. So, that probably helps a little bit.

I think the fact that it’s Wired and we’re considered to be at the forefront of technology makes a big difference. I think to some people it’s surprising. You may think that Wired would always make its information free. Though, since the very beginning Wired has talked about the value of content and whether it’s important to make people pay. And there’s a huge debate among the early Wired founders. I’m glad people are paying attention. The more attention, the better. And I hope that people subscribe. We’ll see. And if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work, but it’s already worked. We’ve already gotten tons of new subscribers and we’re just days into it.

Samir Husni: When Wired was started it had a massive subscription price and you couldn’t even get it billed; you had to pay before you received the magazine.

Nick Thompson: When I launched the paywall, I got a note from the guy who founded the magazine saying that people should be willing to pay for the stuff that they spend their time with and value. You’re adding value to people’s lives and they should be willing to pay for it.

Samir Husni: If I showed up unexpectedly at your home one evening after work, what would I find you doing? Having a glass of wine; reading a magazine; cooking; watching TV; or something else?

Nick Thompson: You’ll find me reading magazine stories on my phone, if I’ve finished my work. I tend to go home and work; I work here, then I go home and put my kids to sleep, and I tend to go back to work, in part, because I work with a lot of people in San Francisco, so my 10:00 p.m. is their 7:00 p.m., so we’re synced up pretty well. And I tend to work until 11:00 or 11:0 p.m. And if I finish and have some time, I like to read magazine stories in other publications. And I like to play guitar.

Samir Husni: If you could have one thing tattooed upon your brain that no one would ever forget about you, what would it be?

Nick Thompson: That I actually really care about my job. I care about Wired because I think it’s really important for society to have these conversations about technology, such as free speech and technology. And I feel like Wired plays a really important civic role. So, I want them to realize that what excites me about this job and what I do isn’t just because it’s a cool job and I work in media. It’s because there’s real civic value in having this thing work and to do it well. And that’s why I try.

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

Nick Thompson: I don’t think any editor in chief of any publication sleeps well, with the business changes over the last few years. I worry a lot that we get stories right and I worry a lot about what comes next for us. What are the product, engineering and business choices we need to make to be sure that we can continue to produce really great journalism. So, that keeps me up at night.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

“As you know, across all different kinds of areas our industry is definitely changing and we know that our audience gets her ideas, inspiration and information from so many different sources, so we make sure as a brand that we’re giving her information both digitally and in all the ways that she needs it. But, in terms of the magazine, she still definitely needs that as well.” Amy Conway…

“I think that weddings can be overwhelming and stressful things to plan, and when you go online and there’s this incredible wealth of information, sometimes that can make it even more overwhelming. When you have a magazine in your hands, as we all know, people who love print; it’s a really personal relationship that you have with your magazine and what can be more personal than planning a wedding?” Amy Conway…

Weddings are a blessing and oftentimes also a “stressing.” The bride and groom are anxious to have that perfect circle of love moment, all the while trying to deal with also getting that perfect dress, perfect ring, perfect bouquet, and perfect – everything. That’s when they turn to that perfect magazine that can help them do all of that with as less stress as possible.

Enter Martha Stewart Weddings. Martha Stewart Weddings was launched as an annual publication in 1994, and was expanded to quarterly in 1999. So longevity is certainly something the magazine knows about, proof positive that its handling the job of stress relief quite nicely. From the beautiful printed pages to its savvy website, Martha Stewart Weddings is carrying the mantra Print Proud Digital Smart to the extreme Mr. Magazine™ likes to see happen.

Amy Conway is editor in chief of the magazine and has been with the Martha Stewart brands for many years, holding a bevy of senior roles within the company. I spoke with Amy recently and we talked about the brand and how she thinks the magazine stands out from all of the other bridal and wedding titles out there on newsstands. With Martha Stewart’s own DIY style that is hers and hers alone, Amy believes that Martha Stewart Weddings reflects that same confidence and sincerity that Martha herself exudes. It’s a personal thing, Amy added. The Magazine helps couples define their personal wedding style, bringing each and every unique celebration to life.

Indeed, the magazine is and always has been a contender when it comes to creating the perfect wedding. So, I hope that you enjoy this delightful “walk down the aisle” with Amy and I. And whether it’s your first and only trip or one among many, the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Amy Conway, editor in chief, will certainly put all of your wedding issues in perspective and turn the stressing into a blessing.

But first the sound-bites:

On why she thinks an ink on paper magazine is still needed for the Martha Stewart Weddings brand: As you know, across all different kinds of areas our industry is definitely changing and we know that our audience gets her ideas, inspiration and information from so many different sources, so we make sure as a brand that we’re giving her information both digitally and in all the ways that she needs it. But, in terms of the magazine, she still definitely needs that as well. And I think one of the main reasons is that weddings can be overwhelming and stressful things to plan, and when you go online and there’s this incredible wealth of information, sometimes that can make it even more overwhelming. When you have a magazine in your hands, as we all know, people who love print; it’s a really personal relationship that you have with your magazine and what can be more personal than planning a wedding?

On whether all of that information that’s out there makes her and her team’s job tougher and harder when it comes to curating content: No, I don’t think so, because we basically start from scratch with every issue. We look at what’s happening in the weddings world; we look at what’s inspiring us, and really things begin with the magazine for us. We create something that feels really special and individual. The basic idea of Martha Stewart Weddings hasn’t changed since the very beginning; it’s giving brides and grooms personalized ideas that they can use to make a distinctive day that really reflects them.

On the fact that once a reader gets married, the magazine basically loses that member of the audience and how she and her team deal with that: What we need to do is cover these topics with a different spin all of the time, and to come at them in a new way. What we can’t do is get so esoteric; we can’t ever say that we did bouquets two issues ago, so we can’t do bouquets again. We have to cover these core areas again and again, but we just need to do it in a way that always feels fresh, because with the way that trends in weddings change, it’s kind of a natural evolution as well.

On what she’s doing to ensure that Martha Stewart Weddings stands out at the newsstand over all the other bridal titles: That’s a great question. Sometimes I think brides just buy every magazine out there. And when they first get engaged, what often happens is they’ll buy all of the bridal magazines and then they will go and take a look and see which one is for them. And the brides who feel that Martha Stewart Weddings is for them are the ones who want beautiful and elegant ideas with a little bit of a hint of DIY. And again, we really provide ideas in a way that no other brand does, which is so important because brides and grooms are looking to make that wedding feel so personal. And that makes us stand out.

On how they fare on newsstands since many people do not subscribe to bridal and wedding magazines: We do have more than a handful; we have a lot of industry people who subscribe. And we do sometimes hear from people who just enjoy the magazine and they like to keep getting it because they use the ideas for entertaining and things like that, even once they’ve gotten married. But of course, we’re predominantly a newsstand magazine and I would be lying if I didn’t say that it was challenging. It’s definitely a challenging environment right now for newsstand, for sure. But we’re out there among all of the other magazines and we like to think that we stand out in that crowd.

On whether she and publisher, Daren Mazzucca, work together on marketing the magazine: Daren Mazzucca, who you mentioned you spoke with, is the publisher of Martha Stewart Weddings as well, so he and I work together really closely. Actually, he, Elizabeth (Elizabeth Graves, editor in chief MSL) and I talk a lot as well, because there are a certain amount of similarities in the brand and we’re all about Martha in a lot of ways. Darren is really amazing and I work closely with him and also our marketing director in coming up with different ideas and the events that we’re doing. So yes, there’s a lot of collaboration and conversation.

On how she makes content into an experience: Our ideas are very actionable. We’re communicating with an audience who is very passionate. You don’t idly look through a bridal magazine, or idly go onto a website; you’re there because you’re looking for ideas and information. So, I think naturally we have a really motivated audience who is actively pursuing ideas. In terms of an experience; digitally, we have a very active following on Instagram. And we communicate with our readers in all different ways.

On how she creates Martha Stewart’s wedding instead of Amy Conway’s wedding: That’s a good question. For one thing, it’s not just me or Martha; we have a staff of really creative, amazing people who make the bouquets and who come up with the ideas for the favors; who go out and choose the prettiest dresses. It’s a whole collaboration, and that’s always been the case at Martha Stewart Weddings.

On the secret sauce for the longevity of the Martha Stewart titles: I think she started this really before anyone else did and she’s just made this connection with a lot of people, and she has transcended; there is Martha the person and Martha the brand. And she doesn’t appear in the pages of Martha Stewart Weddings for the most part, unless she’s at one of our weddings, but you feel her presence there on every page, because the brand is so consistent and so strong.

On the biggest challenge she’s had in her career: In terms of personal career development and growth, I don’t mean to sound Pollyannaish, but I have been really fortunate to have had a long career working largely for one brand or one company and all of its different guises. I’ve probably had 12 or 13 different jobs working for Martha, which is an extremely rare thing in our industry, as you know. So, on a personal basis, I just feel really lucky to have had all of the experience that I’ve had. I don’t really feel like I’ve hit a lot of stumbling blocks along the way. If something can be described as hard, it would be just navigating our way as the media landscape changes. I think that’s hard for all of us editors. But, we’re doing our best to roll with it.

On one singular moment since she’s been at Martha Stewart Weddings that was so pleasant it made her think or say wow: I was working on Martha Stewart Living before I came to Martha Stewart Weddings, and Weddings is definitely a different industry. There was one time that I can remember going to my first bridal market, which is the week when you have all of the bridal fashion shows, and getting to go and see those beautiful dresses in person and the amazing designers and the shows that they put on. You know you can say that all wedding dresses are white and elegant and there are definitely a lot of similarities, but when you see them coming down the runway one after the other, you can really appreciate the craftsmanship that goes into them. I have to say that it was a really exciting moment for me, getting to go to my first bridal market, because Martha Stewart Living is not a fashion magazine, and getting into that fashion world was really exciting.

On what she would have tattooed upon her brain that would be there forever and no one could ever forget about her: I would have to say that the glass is half full.

On what someone would find her doing if they showed up unexpectedly one evening at her home: Most week nights you would probably find me cooking dinner with my boyfriend for my two teenaged kids. And after dinner, you might find me watching, these days, “The Great British Baking Show,” which my kids and I have been binge-watching on Netflix.

On what keeps her up at night: It might be my pug; my dog, pugs are very noisy. The things that I think about, if I can’t get back to sleep at night, are often the little things like, did I remember to return that person’s email or something. Those things seem like a bigger deal in the middle of the night, and then in the morning those little worries have gone away. But it’s usually those little things at night that keep me up. In terms of the big picture, the really big stuff in life, I just feel like it has a way of working out.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Amy Conway, editor in chief, Martha Stewart Weddings.

Samir Husni: Bridal and wedding magazines used to be some of the biggest print magazines in the country. I remember days where you needed both hands to carry magazines like Bride or Modern Bride, they were so full. But with digital and social media arriving on the scene, things have changed. Why do you think that you still need an ink on paper Martha Stewart Weddings magazine?

Amy Conway: As you know, across all different kinds of areas our industry is definitely changing and we know that our audience gets her ideas, inspiration and information from so many different sources, so we make sure as a brand that we’re giving her information both digitally and in all the ways that she needs it. But, in terms of the magazine, she still definitely needs that as well.

And I think one of the main reasons is that weddings can be overwhelming and stressful things to plan, and when you go online and there’s this incredible wealth of information, sometimes that can make it even more overwhelming. When you have a magazine in your hands, as we all know, people who love print; it’s a really personal relationship that you have with your magazine and what can be more personal than planning a wedding?

So, when you’re looking at an issue of Martha Stewart Weddings, you’re basically getting curated ideas that are meant for you, with exactly what you’re doing at that moment. You’re getting the newest ideas and the best information all in one place. And that makes it feel current; it feels like that intimate relationship that you have with that magazine. We hear from vendors all of the time that brides still come to the florist and the caterers; they bring in their copy of the magazine with dog-eared pages; they’re ripping out ideas. So, we know that our couples are getting information from so many different sources, but definitely from magazines as well.

Samir Husni: Does this make your job easier or harder with the abundance of information out there? Do you feel like your job and your staff’s has changed dramatically and now it’s even tougher and harder on you to curate all of that information?

Amy Conway: No, I don’t think so, because we basically start from scratch with every issue. We look at what’s happening in the weddings world; we look at what’s inspiring us, and really things begin with the magazine for us. We create something that feels really special and individual. The basic idea of Martha Stewart Weddings hasn’t changed since the very beginning; it’s giving brides and grooms personalized ideas that they can use to make a distinctive day that really reflects them.

So for us, the information chain begins with the magazine, and from there we work with our digital team and our ideas go online and they create a lot of their own ideas as well, and there’s a lot of social media. But I wouldn’t say that it makes our jobs harder per se, because the team who works predominantly on the magazine; we just love what we do and are excited to do it every issue. We have new readers almost every year. And we’re always covering dresses, cakes, flowers, favors and all of those details and etiquette; there’s always a new way to do it. We could repeat ourselves year after year, but we don’t do that, and it’s actually surprisingly easy not to. There’s always another way to make a bouquet; there’s always new dresses coming out in the market.

You have to keep in mind everything that’s happening digitally, but in terms of creating the magazine from scratch the way we do every issue, I don’t think that’s harder.

Samir Husni: You mentioned that your readers change all of the time. I always use the bridal magazines as an example when I talk about the three types of relationships that can be had with the audience: the one-night stand, where a celebrity dies and you grab a magazine about that celebrity; then there’s the love affair, you get engaged and you go and get all of these wedding magazines, you get married and that’s it, there’s no need for the magazine anymore. And then of course, there’s the long-lasting relationship; you get Better Homes & Gardens for the rest of your life and you get used to receiving it. How do you deal with that changing audience? We know that weddings aren’t going to disappear, but when you meet with your team, do you discuss the fact that once someone gets married, you’ve lost that reader?

Amy Conway: What we need to do is cover these topics with a different spin all of the time, and to come at them in a new way. What we can’t do is get so esoteric; we can’t ever say that we did bouquets two issues ago, so we can’t do bouquets again. We have to cover these core areas again and again, but we just need to do it in a way that always feels fresh, because with the way that trends in weddings change, it’s kind of a natural evolution as well.

And Martha brands, in general, Martha Stewart Living and Martha Stewart Weddings, tend to be more classic and timeless. So, you can look at one of our issues from 18 -20 years ago and the ideas really hold up and they still show up on people’s online inspiration boards. The ideas are really timeless, but at the same time there are certain trends that we need to reflect on and report on. Certain things stay the same and certain things change, and we have to be right there with the brides and the things that they’re thinking about and looking for.

Samir Husni: What are you doing to ensure that when that bride-to-be sees Martha Stewart Weddings on newsstands, it jumps out at her over all of the other bridal titles?

Amy Conway: That’s a great question. Sometimes I think brides just buy every magazine out there. And when they first get engaged, what often happens is they’ll buy all of the bridal magazines and then they will go and take a look and see which one is for them. And the brides who feel that Martha Stewart Weddings is for them are the ones who want beautiful and elegant ideas with a little bit of a hint of DIY. And again, we really provide ideas in a way that no other brand does, which is so important because brides and grooms are looking to make that wedding feel so personal. And that makes us stand out.

And we actually reflect that on the cover as well. Again, if we’re just trying to stand out on the newsstand, for us we often have an idea on the cover. It might be a cake or a bouquet; sometimes we do have a model in a dress or a real bride or couple on the cover, but we know that some of our bestselling covers are those ideas; the really iconic shops that just make people feel like they want that bouquet or that cake.

Samir Husni: With the status of the newsstands and the nature of bridal and wedding magazines; how are you faring on newsstands? People rarely subscribe to bridal magazines.

Amy Conway: We do have more than a handful; we have a lot of industry people who subscribe. And we do sometimes hear from people who just enjoy the magazine and they like to keep getting it because they use the ideas for entertaining and things like that, even once they’ve gotten married. But of course, we’re predominantly a newsstand magazine and I would be lying if I didn’t say that it was challenging. It’s definitely a challenging environment right now for newsstand, for sure. But we’re out there among all of the other magazines and we like to think that we stand out in that crowd.

Samir Husni: I spoke to Daren Mazzucca not too long go about the mother brand, Martha Stewart Living. As editor in chief of Martha Stewart Weddings, do you spend time with your publisher? Is marketing now also a part of your everyday job?

Amy Conway: Daren Mazzucca, who you mentioned you spoke with, is the publisher of Martha Stewart Weddings as well, so he and I work together really closely. Actually, he, Elizabeth (Elizabeth Graves, editor in chief MSL) and I talk a lot as well, because there are a certain amount of similarities in the brand and we’re all about Martha in a lot of ways. Daren is really amazing and I work closely with him and also our marketing director in coming up with different ideas and the events that we’re doing. So yes, there’s a lot of collaboration and conversation.

Samir Husni: Today I’m hearing from editors that they’re no longer just content providers, but they’re experience makers. Do you feel that you’re an experience maker with the audience engaging with you, with the magazine, and with the digital platforms? And how do you make the content an experience?

Amy Conway: Our ideas are very actionable. We’re communicating with an audience who is very passionate. You don’t idly look through a bridal magazine, or idly go onto a website; you’re there because you’re looking for ideas and information. So, I think naturally we have a really motivated audience who is actively pursuing ideas. In terms of an experience; digitally, we have a very active following on Instagram. And we communicate with our readers in all different ways.

Samir Husni: If you were an editor of just a weddings magazine, you would be the creator of the ideas, but how do you channel Martha’s concepts into your own? Do you morph yourself into thinking like Martha? How do you create Martha Stewart’s wedding instead of Amy Conway’s wedding?

Amy Conway: That’s a good question. For one thing, it’s not just me or Martha; we have a staff of really creative, amazing people who make the bouquets and who come up with the ideas for the favors; who go out and choose the prettiest dresses. It’s a whole collaboration, and that’s always been the case at Martha Stewart Weddings.

I’ve worked for Martha for a very long time and what I have to say is if you’re really someone who understands the brand, which you need to be to work here, and you want to share the basics and what’s important to this brand with other people, then Martha is the guiding force, basically. I wouldn’t say that we’d ask: what would Martha do, but she embodies the brand and she works closely with the people who work for her. So, people really understand what makes an idea a “Martha” idea versus something that’s not on-brand. It’s really following the brand’s ethics and what it stands for. And that’s not a hard thing for the people who work here.

Samir Husni: Since you’ve worked with Martha for a long time, what do you think the secret ingredient is for the longevity of her celebrity-based titles, Martha Stewart Living and Martha Stewart Weddings?

Amy Conway: Martha came along, doing what she does, before anyone else did. She really struck a chord with people who were looking to get more out of their lives and their home lives. Some people used to say that they would get stressed-out, looking at our magazines because there is so much to do and they couldn’t do it all, and I remember Martha saying, if you just make one recipe or one idea from the issue and it improves your life a little bit, that’s what she wanted. The brand is really about helping people improve their lives.

I think she started this really before anyone else did and she’s just made this connection with a lot of people, and she has transcended; there is Martha the person and Martha the brand. And she doesn’t appear in the pages of Martha Stewart Weddings for the most part, unless she’s at one of our weddings, but you feel her presence there on every page, because the brand is so consistent and so strong.

Samir Husni: What has been the biggest challenge and how did you overcome it?

Amy Conway: In terms of personal career development and growth, I don’t mean to sound Pollyannaish, but I have been really fortunate to have had a long career working largely for one brand or one company and all of its different guises. I’ve probably had 12 or 13 different jobs working for Martha, which is an extremely rare thing in our industry, as you know. So, on a personal basis, I just feel really lucky to have had all of the experience that I’ve had. I don’t really feel like I’ve hit a lot of stumbling blocks along the way. If something can be described as hard, it would be just navigating our way as the media landscape changes. I think that’s hard for all of us editors. But, we’re doing our best to roll with it.

Samir Husni: Is there one pleasant moment that you always recall, a day that made you think or say wow?

Amy Conway: From my job right now?

Samir Husni: Yes.

Amy Conway: I was working on Martha Stewart Living before I came to Martha Stewart Weddings, and Weddings is definitely a different industry. There was one time that I can remember going to my first bridal market, which is the week when you have all of the bridal fashion shows, and getting to go and see those beautiful dresses in person and the amazing designers and the shows that they put on.

You know you can say that all wedding dresses are white and elegant and there are definitely a lot of similarities, but when you see them coming down the runway one after the other, you can really appreciate the craftsmanship that goes into them. I have to say that it was a really exciting moment for me, getting to go to my first bridal market, because Martha Stewart Living is not a fashion magazine, and getting into that fashion world was really exciting.

Samir Husni: If you could have one thing tattooed upon your brain that no one would ever forget about you, what would it be?

Amy Conway: I would have to say that the glass is half full.

Samir Husni: If I showed up unexpectedly at your home one evening after work, what would I find you doing? Having a glass of wine; reading a magazine; cooking; watching TV; or something else?

Amy Conway: Most week nights you would probably find me cooking dinner with my boyfriend for my two teenaged kids. And after dinner, you might find me watching, these days, “The Great British Baking Show,” which my kids and I have been binge-watching on Netflix.

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

Amy Conway: It might be my pug; my dog, pugs are very noisy. The things that I think about, if I can’t get back to sleep at night, are often the little things like, did I remember to return that person’s email or something. Those things seem like a bigger deal in the middle of the night, and then in the morning those little worries have gone away. But it’s usually those little things at night that keep me up. In terms of the big picture, the really big stuff in life, I just feel like it has a way of working out.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

“We want to continue making our print-brand publications better and brandier. And updated in line with what people expect and where we see revenue success today…” Brian Hart Hoffman

“It is a different proposition for the company to be launching a brand that does not necessarily have the print product first or the print counterpart to the digital platform, but I think you will see the same dedication to content creation and the user-engagement experience to have just as much thought put into it as we do for our print brands…” Brian Hart Hoffman

Believing in and promoting top-quality print products is something that Hoffman Media has been doing since its inception in 1983 when Phyllis Hoffman DePiano founded the company as Symbol of Excellence Publishers, Inc. It was renamed Hoffman Media in 1998. Today the company’s flagship brands like Taste of the South and Southern Lady are thriving, and newer titles like Bake From Scratch and Southern Cast Iron are becoming flagships in their own right.

Brian Hart Hoffman is president and chief creative officer for Hoffman Media, and has a passion for the brands and the company that is only exceeded by his energy and vision for the business. With the success of newer titles, such as the ones mentioned above, Bake From Scratch and Southern Cast Iron, and coupled with the readers’ dedication to the look and feel of these titles, Brian and the team at Hoffman saw an opportunity to up the quality of their legacy titles even more by adapting the wider format and giving them a fresh, new look for the fresh, new year.

I spoke with Brian recently and we talked about Hoffman Media and its continued efforts to always lead with quality for their readers. Putting their audience first is something that Brian said they will never cease doing. From investing in the paper, the photography, and the content, Hoffman’s hallmark of producing beautifully done and exceptionally well crafted magazines is something that the entire company takes pride in. And with their continued commitment to the digital space, their online users are never disappointed either.

So, I hope that you enjoy this Mr. Magazine™ interview with a man who wants to continue making their print-brand titles better and “brandier” for all their customers – Brian Hart Hoffman, president and chief creative officer, Hoffman Media.

But first the sound-bites:

On the changes taking place at Hoffman Media: I would say the biggest thing happening that would address all of that, concerning new publications and some of our flagship publications that have been in print for many years; we’re seeing readers really demand the quality and that’s something that Hoffman Media has always taken pride in, publishing top quality magazines. We invest in paper; we invest in photography; and we invest in the content. But with our flagship brands now, we’re having to look back and realize that there’s even more room to upgrade that quality.

On whether Hoffman Media will continue to make its print publications printier and brandier in 2018: The Hoffman Media position on that is absolutely; we want to continue making our print-brand publications better and brandier. And updated in line with what people expect and where we see revenue success today.

On whether the success of Southern Cast Iron, Bake From Scratch and other more recent titles had something to do with the refresh of established magazines like Taste of the South and Southern Lady: Sure! I would absolutely say that us successfully testing publications that were on wide format and $12.99; they’re more expensive than the cover price of these publications still, and the success we saw from it and the demand from the audience was amazing.

On the new title Cook: Real Food Every Day: That publication was something that we saw as what we have called the savory sister to Bake From Scratch, where just an opportunity in the market to present food that’s very flavorful with fresh ingredients and solutions for how to serve them on these busy days where you may be working full-time or taking children to and from various school and sporting events, but you still want to get an amazing dinner on the table. We really just saw a lot of demand in the marketplace for that level of content and so we put out that first test issue.

On how he balances being president and chief creative officer of all the Hoffman Media titles and his baby Bake From Scratch: It’s definitely a balance. I have a really great team that I work with here at Hoffman Media. We have a dedicated editorial staff for Bake From Scratch that I have the pleasure of working with, probably daily. I do spend a lot of time overseeing that brand and all of the editorial planning and content meetings.

On the biggest challenge he thinks he’ll face as chief creative officer in 2018: I would say the biggest challenge for all of us in the industry, and for us at Hoffman Media, is just finding the avenues to see continued success for our flagship titles and our new titles. We talk a lot about the new face of magazine media and adapting daily to whatever the newest technology is that’s going to come onto the scene that’s viewed as a threat or competition to the print brands.

On anything new that might be in the hopper for 2018: The only thing that we’re exploring is the Cook: Real Food Every Day brand and we’re continuing our development and relaunch plans for cooking.com, so those two brands are in the hopper for 2018, you could say. We’ve heard an enormous amount of positive response from the first issue of Cook: Real Food Every Day, and if that same heartbeat is there that I think is, you’ll see more of that this year from our company. And the exciting launch of cooking.com as well.

On how Hoffman Media plans to balance cooking.com, a digital brand that doesn’t have a print component, with their other print/digital brands: Our plans aren’t at a state right now where I can tell too much, but I will be in touch with you the minute I am able to, so that you can get the scoop on it as well. But it is a different proposition for the company to be launching a brand that does not necessarily have the print product first or the print counterpart to the digital platform, but I think you will see the same dedication to content creation and the user-engagement experience to have just as much thought put into it as we do for our print brands.

On his definition of content in 2018: I would say that content is defined as anything that we produce and include in our print and digital products that provides the reader and user solutions for their lives. And whether it’s travel or food; cooking and baking, the time and energy that we put behind our products, from cover to cover, and everything on our website that we produce, is content. That’s how we look at content.

On whether he thinks the industry is reaching a saturation point when it comes to the amount of content that’s out there on topics such as food and travel, or he thinks there’s no such thing: I would say that there’s no such thing because of the different voices and messages by which we deliver the content. Sure, some of our content can be viewed as similar or overlapping in certain subject matters with other publishers or content creators, but I think we all bring a different perspective and voice to those conversations. I don’t know that there’s a saturation point as long as we continue to see engagement from our audiences that’s on the positive side and growing. We are certainly not at the saturation point here at Hoffman Media.

On the biggest surprise he had in 2017 when it comes to Hoffman Media: I guess when I look at the sheer volume of work that our employees and content creators here at Hoffman Media are producing. Last year was a record year for us with growth on the newsstand, both in volume and engaged readership. But I had a big wow when I realized that we published over 150 issues of magazines that went into distribution last year. (Laughs) That was my biggest wow.

On whether he is where he expected to be after coming back to the business, or he is pleasantly surprised at his role: In September of last year it was 10 years since I joined the business, and when I look back over that decade; I can answer your question in multiple ways. When I started 10 years ago, I never expected what I have experienced now, a passion and love for our industry and the story that’s not yet told, and the growth opportunities that are in front of us. But my passion and fire has just grown more and more every year. So, no, I did not see this coming, but it is a dream job that I am so on fire for every day.

On Classic Sewing’s cover price of almost $25 and whether he thinks there is a ceiling on what people are willing to pay for a single copy magazine: I think when they see the value that meets and exceeds that expectation, and it is a subject matter that they are more financially invested in than other areas; obviously, they’re buying and selling materials and various finishes, and with the machines that people are using to sew on; when they pick up a copy of Classic Sewing and realize that the content that’s in that issue and the packaged pattern that’s included in the polybag, the value exceeds $25 each issue.

On how his book sales are going now that he’s an author: Yes, it’s going wonderful. Last year, the Bake From Scratch cookbook was a number one new release and number one bestseller in some of the baking categories on Amazon. We had enormous success and had a second printing midway through the year to get through the holiday time. And the second volume of the Bake From Scratch cookbook is going to be released on March 1, 2018.

On what he would have tattooed upon his brain that would be there forever and no one could ever forget about him: The tattoo would say passionate.

On what someone would find him doing if they showed up unexpectedly one evening at his home: I love to go home and cook and bake, and spend time in the kitchen with my husband. I unwind by doing more of what we do every day, but I actually get to get my hands in the kitchen and bake. I’m trying to limit the number of items I’m baking in a week, just because the consumption is not as fast as the desire to bake it. It’s truly a passion and a therapy for me all at the same time. I like to unwind by doing more of that with a glass of wine or a cocktail.

On what keeps him up at night: The to-do list for this year’s plans for 180 magazine releases. (Laughs) I think doing the best job that we can every day for our employees; for our company; for our brands; and for our readers. I’m always thinking about the next opportunity or ways to make sure that our employees feel appreciated and our magazines stay top-quality, and deadlines, deadlines, deadlines. Those are the things that stay on any magazine editor’s brain, I think.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Brian Hart Hoffman, president/chief creative officer, Hoffman Media.

Samir Husni: Congratulations on all of the changes that are taking place.

Brian Hart Hoffman: Thank you.

Samir Husni: You’ve implemented the changes with the new magazines that you’ve started and now you’re going back to the established titles and making them bigger, glossier, printier and brandier. What’s going on with Hoffman Media publications these days?

Brian Hart Hoffman: I would say the biggest thing happening that would address all of that, concerning new publications and some of our flagship publications that have been in print for many years; we’re seeing readers really demand the quality and that’s something that Hoffman Media has always taken pride in, publishing top quality magazines. We invest in paper; we invest in photography; and we invest in the content. But with our flagship brands now, we’re having to look back and realize that there’s even more room to upgrade that quality.

We just see an enormous amount of demand for the wide format publications, and giving them each a new fresh look for the New Year. Southern Lady is celebrating 20 years, so it was time for a little refresh, while maintaining the same commitment to the editorial that readers have come to know and love. We aren’t tampering with a lot of the editorial missions, we’re just upgrading the quality proposition.

Samir Husni: Is this a glimpse of what we’re going to see from Hoffman Media in 2018; making print printier and the brands brandier? And do you think some people are still hesitant to believe in print the way Hoffman does?

Brian Hart Hoffman: The Hoffman Media position on that is absolutely; we want to continue making our print-brand publications better and brandier. And updated in line with what people expect and where we see revenue success today.

My industry wish-list would be that we all embrace that same commitment to print and publishing high-quality publications, because I think as an industry that would benefit all of us. But at the same time, I can’t say that I see it happening across the board at other publishing companies, nor would I want to speculate or address why they do or they don’t do that. Our commitment and our business strategy is purely for Hoffman Media.

I don’t feel like what we’re doing would be considered a need-to of anyone that we see in our competitive set or in the industry, we just continue to listen to our own customers and what they want. And I think that’s a hallmark of Hoffman Media. We’ve always kept that line of dialogue and feedback open with our audience, and what they want to see more of.

Samir Husni:, After you launched Bake From Scratch, Southern Home, and Southern Cast Iron; all of these were launched in the larger format, was that the reason that you felt like Southern Lady and Taste of the South also needed to move in that direction, because of the success of the other titles?

Brian Hart Hoffman: Sure! I would absolutely say that us successfully testing publications that were on wide format and $12.99; they’re more expensive than the cover price of these publications still, and the success we saw from it and the demand from the audience was amazing.

We did get a lot of questions from readers about whether Taste of the South and Southern Lady were going to have the same upgrades that they saw with the newer products that were coming out of Hoffman Media. And I think that definitely motivated us to look at our flagship brands and the opportunities that would lie in front of us if we transitioned to the wide format and did some refreshing of the branding. So, absolutely, I think our own data drove us to look at the decision on these two titles.

Samir Husni: Talking about new titles; late last year you launched the premier issue of Cook: Real Food Every Day, and I chuckled when I saw it on the newsstands because I remembered your editorial where you said that you bake, you don’t cook. (Laughs)

Brian Hart Hoffman: (Laughs too). Yes, but other people cook. That publication was something that we saw as what we have called the savory sister to Bake From Scratch, where just an opportunity in the market to present food that’s very flavorful with fresh ingredients and solutions for how to serve them on these busy days where you may be working full-time or taking children to and from various school and sporting events, but you still want to get an amazing dinner on the table. We really just saw a lot of demand in the marketplace for that level of content and so we put out that first test issue.

Samir Husni: Every time I chat with you, the magazine that brings the biggest smile to your words is Bake From Scratch. How do you balance between being president and chief creative officer of all the Hoffman Media titles, and your role with your baby, Bake From Scratch?

Brian Hart Hoffman: It’s definitely a balance. I have a really great team that I work with here at Hoffman Media. We have a dedicated editorial staff for Bake From Scratch that I have the pleasure of working with, probably daily. I do spend a lot of time overseeing that brand and all of the editorial planning and content meetings.

But I have a wonderful team of editors, and tenured employees who are editors and brand directors of our other publications, so we all just have a really great synergy and work relationship where we believe in hard work. And we believe that I can be the editor in chief of Bake From Scratch and lead the creative division of Hoffman Media, because we all wear a lot of hats.

I think in previous interviews with you, we have talked about the fact that day-to-day we all wear a lot of hats, and about that being another trademark of Hoffman Media. When my mom started our publishing company 35 years ago, as the editor in chief of one publication, she continued to grow more brands. So, I guess I would say that I’m walking in her footsteps a little bit with that same balance of being editor in chief of one brand, but managing all of our other titles as well.

Samir Husni: As you move forward in your role as chief creative officer, what do you think will be your biggest challenge in 2018?

Brian Hart Hoffman: I would say the biggest challenge for all of us in the industry, and for us at Hoffman Media, is just finding the avenues to see continued success for our flagship titles and our new titles. We talk a lot about the new face of magazine media and adapting daily to whatever the newest technology is that’s going to come onto the scene that’s viewed as a threat or competition to the print brands.

But we’re really working hard to keep our brands growing in the digital space, while still keeping that strong commitment to the print product. I would look at that as my biggest challenge for the last number of years. But going into 2018, just remaining deeply committed to our print products, but seeing their growth and avenues for opportunities in other media spaces as well

Samir Husni: Is there anything in the hopper for 2018, in terms of new titles?

Brian Hart Hoffman: The only thing that we’re exploring is the Cook: Real Food Every Day brand and we’re continuing our development and relaunch plans for cooking.com, so those two brands are in the hopper for 2018, you could say. We’ve heard an enormous amount of positive response from the first issue of Cook: Real Food Every Day, and if that same heartbeat is there that I think is, you’ll see more of that this year from our company. And the exciting launch of cooking.com as well.

Samir Husni: The theme for this upcoming ACT 8 Experience in April is Print Proud, Digital Smart. And Hoffman Media is a perfect example of being just that; you didn’t throw out the baby with the water. (Laughs) So, what are the plans for cooking.com? How are you going to balance a website, such as cooking.com, that really doesn’t relate to a specific magazine brand, but to the genre of the brands.

Brian Hart Hoffman: Our plans aren’t at a state right now where I can tell too much, but I will be in touch with you the minute I am able to, so that you can get the scoop on it as well. But it is a different proposition for the company to be launching a brand that does not necessarily have the print product first or the print counterpart to the digital platform, but I think you will see the same dedication to content creation and the user-engagement experience to have just as much thought put into it as we do for our print brands.

You’ll see content that’s not just content, but it’s vetted, quality content and fun. There will be sources where you’ll see success with recipes and the content that lives on the site.

Samir Husni: This is a question that I’ve been asking all of the editorial people who I have been interviewing; what’s your definition of content in 2018?

Brian Hart Hoffman: I would say that content is defined as anything that we produce and include in our print and digital products that provides the reader and user solutions for their lives. And whether it’s travel or food; cooking and baking, the time and energy that we put behind our products, from cover to cover, and everything on our website that we produce, is content. That’s how we look at content.

Samir Husni: When you look at all of the content that you’re producing, and you look at all of the content that’s out there when it comes to food, travel and the Southern lifestyle; do you feel that we’re reaching a saturation point or there’s no such thing?

Brian Hart Hoffman: I would say that there’s no such thing because of the different voices and messages by which we deliver the content. Sure, some of our content can be viewed as similar or overlapping in certain subject matters with other publishers or content creators, but I think we all bring a different perspective and voice to those conversations. I don’t know that there’s a saturation point as long as we continue to see engagement from our audiences that’s on the positive side and growing. We are certainly not at the saturation point here at Hoffman Media.

Samir Husni: What was the biggest surprise for you in 2017 when it comes to Hoffman Media?

Brian Hart Hoffman: I guess when I look at the sheer volume of work that our employees and content creators here at Hoffman Media are producing. Last year was a record year for us with growth on the newsstand, both in volume and engaged readership. But I had a big wow when I realized that we published over 150 issues of magazines that went into distribution last year. (Laughs) That was my biggest wow.

Samir Husni: It’s been a few years now since you’ve been back in the publishing business, since you became involved with your mother and twin brother in the Hoffman Media operation. Did you expect to be where you are now when you came back, or were you pleasantly surprised, or you asked what have I done?

Brian Hart Hoffman: In September of last year it was 10 years since I joined the business, and when I look back over that decade; I can answer your question in multiple ways. When I started 10 years ago, I never expected what I have experienced now, a passion and love for our industry and the story that’s not yet told, and the growth opportunities that are in front of us. When I started 10 years ago, I was managing our company’s special events and I was traveling some, but I wasn’t involved in the editorial process day-to-day.

And I saw areas of that process that I wanted to be more involved in and I got excited, so I jumped in and started doing what I could and learning from the years of experience that my Mom had in the industry, and from the wonderful team of editors that we work with here at Hoffman Media.

But my passion and fire has just grown more and more every year. So, no, I did not see this coming, but it is a dream job that I am so on fire for every day. I love seeing our flagship brands continue to be loved by the readership. I love being a part of the new magazine launches, with new ideas that are meeting different voids in the marketplace. And everything in between. Engaging with our readers, and just our industry as a whole; I still see a lot of energy and fire from young creators who believe in the magazine industry. So, that gives me excitement every day. I would say that the energy level grows every day, and 10 years from now I’ll be even more excited.

Samir Husni: One of your magazines has a cover price of almost $25 per issue: Classic Sewing. Do you think there’s a ceiling on how much people are willing to pay for a single copy issue of a magazine?

Brian Hart Hoffman: I think when they see the value that meets and exceeds that expectation, and it is a subject matter that they are more financially invested in than other areas; obviously, they’re buying and selling materials and various finishes, and with the machines that people are using to sew on; when they pick up a copy of Classic Sewing and realize that the content that’s in that issue and the packaged pattern that’s included in the polybag, the value exceeds $25 each issue.

For a publisher to go to that level or really any level of price, the readership has to be able to see and find that value easily. And if they do, we don’t see a resistance to them paying the price. But they’re getting high quality and they’re not getting ripped off, let’s put it that way.

Samir Husni: How are your book sales going? In addition to being chief creative officer, you’re also a book author now.

Brian Hart Hoffman: Yes, it’s going wonderful. Last year, the Bake From Scratch cookbook was a number one new release and number one bestseller in some of the baking categories on Amazon. We had enormous success and had a second printing midway through the year to get through the holiday time. And the second volume of the Bake From Scratch cookbook is going to be released on March 1, 2018. So, we’re expecting another big year from another book coming out with my name on the cover.

Samir Husni: If you could have one thing tattooed upon your brain that no one would ever forget about you, what would it be?

Brian Hart Hoffman: The tattoo would say passionate.

Samir Husni: If I showed up unexpectedly at your home one evening after work, what would I find you doing? Having a glass of wine; reading a magazine; cooking; watching TV; or something else?

Brian Hart Hoffman: I love to go home and cook and bake, and spend time in the kitchen with my husband. I unwind by doing more of what we do every day, but I actually get to get my hands in the kitchen and bake. I’m trying to limit the number of items I’m baking in a week, just because the consumption is not as fast as the desire to bake it. It’s truly a passion and a therapy for me all at the same time. I like to unwind by doing more of that with a glass of wine or a cocktail.

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

Brian Hart Hoffman: The to-do list for this year’s plans for 180 magazine releases. (Laughs) I think doing the best job that we can every day for our employees; for our company; for our brands; and for our readers. I’m always thinking about the next opportunity or ways to make sure that our employees feel appreciated and our magazines stay top-quality, and deadlines, deadlines, deadlines. Those are the things that stay on any magazine editor’s brain, I think.

Samir Husni: Thank you.