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You are a Tenacious MFer
Anne Lies, Words to Work
In the editorial wrap-up session for the day, “The Good News Is That There Is Some,” David Carr gave attendees plenty to mull over. He also proved one thing above all else: you can’t beat a good opening line.
“You are the most tenacious motherf***ers in the industry,” he told the appreciative crowd. “You can’t be killed.”
Based on what he is seeing at the New York Times, Carr is convinced that the worst of the perfect storm is over. Ad revenues are stabilizing, and the Times is seeing quarter-over-quarter improvement. Magazine launches are rebounding as well, up significantly over spring of 2009. “You have just survived the worst cyclical, secular recession the magazine industry has been through in modern times,” he said. “But your very existence proves your relevance—you are satisfying a reader and advertiser need.”
Carr also put a different twist on the new industry math. He argued that with fewer publishing employees, each one has more power than ever before. And with the Web, they have a perfect way to exercise that power. While content mills certainly create online clutter with watered-down information, they also have created an opportunity for “brand-name” reporters. He also pointed out that the economic shift has taken down some of the competition. “If you’re still standing, you can do well.”
In the end, Carr stressed that publishers are now in the database management business. “Print endures,” he said, “because it endures. Because of its thingy-ness.” But the online environment is where to grow, and there it is all about getting your readers to give over information about themselves. That includes everything from demographic data to help with measurability, all the way to credit card numbers, to help with, well, cash flow. It’s important to start slow and grow incrementally.
To that end, Carr told the crowd to make friends with technology and new media. He exhorted editors to embrace what the online environment offers, specifically the ability to tailor content and publication schedules to real, actual communities of interest. Web tools allow you to measure and know your audience and scale what is working. New “toys” such as the iPad are breaking whole new ground for presentation, and paving new routes to the consumer. He even warned, “If you’re in the publishing business, and you haven’t spent time with the iPad, you do so at your peril.”
Carr’s big takeaway? Keep moving forward. “Forces that tried to lay you low, but didn’t get you, won’t get you now—as long as you are willing to innovate.”
Jim Tarbox, editor of History Channel Magazine, summed it up another way. “In 35 years in journalism, I’ve been called a mother-effer a few times,” he said. “But this is the first time it’s been a compliment!”
Anne Lies is a freelance writer and editor.
Comments (2)
Beautiful
Posted by Sherry Collins at 9:47 PM (5/19/10)
The new site looks so great!Connecting with Intern
Posted by Aileen Hough at 8:32 PM (5/28/10)
Has anyone had continued success linking up with sources to locate and keep in touch with potential interns? We've found our success by word of mouth, but there has to be a better way?