The Art of Making Magazines: On Being an Editor and Other Views from the Industry is edited by Victor S. Navasky and Evan Cornog and is an excellent book that gives first-hand accounts from experienced editors of all types of magazines. Rather than a “how-to” book, The Art of Making Magazines is a far richer collection of recorded talks given by various editors to students of the Columbia University School of Journalism.

The book opens with “Talking About Writing for Magazines (Which One Shouldn’t Do)” written by the prolific John Gregory Dunne. He begins with “In general, it is bad business for a writer to talk about writing” (Dunne 1), which is a starling accusation. Dunne does shares his writing experiences, however, and provides the reader with examples of stories he worked on in his past, including articles about the O.J. Simpson and Teena Brandon cases. Overall, the article seems a little disoriented from the rest of the selections in the book because it lacks focus.

The second selection in The Art of Making Magazines makes more sense than the Dunne article. It is written by Ruth Reichl, the former editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine and food critic for the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times. Reichl provides her humble beginnings as a food critic in the 1970s and provides useful advice to the budding editor: “I learned that the only way to a magazine….is not to underestimate your audience, ever,….and to follow your heart” (Reichl 33). Further on in the article, she gives the audience a glimpse of her typical day in the office as the editor-in-chief of Gourmet and how the magazine had to adapt to the forever-evolving digital space and for the internet [“I got up in the morning, and I Twittered” (Reichl 42)].

The book continues with essays by Roberta Myers, the current editor-in-chief of Elle magazine. This essay was particularly gripping because it allowed the reader to walk along side Myers from her humble beginnings as an assistant at Rolling Stone magazine (in itself the first major music magazine in the United States) to the editor-in-chief of one of the biggest and best-selling women’s magazines in the country. Like Ruth Reichl, she gives great advice to the reader: “You can’t edit a magazine to impress people; you can’t edit a magazine to show your friends how clever you are or what access you were able to get. You really have to edit to, and for, your reader” (Myers 54).

Although a majority of the essays in the books were written by people who have worked as editor-in-chiefs, there are a handful of people mentioned in the book who held different positions at magazine publications. Barbara Walraff describes her experiences as a copyeditor for The Atlantic Monthly in “A Magazine Needs Copyeditors Because…” She explains what a copyeditor does and their importance to the contribution of an issue. In Peter Canby’s selection, “Fact-Checking at The New Yorker,” he dives into the often overwhelming world of fact-checking. Other essays in the book include ventures in to art direction and the difference between a book editor and a magazine editor.

Overall, The Art of Making Magazines is a book written by the experts who have shared their experiences with the readers. Although “how-to” books are extremely useful for fine-tuning this craft, it is refreshing and inspiring to hear from people both currently and formerly in these position that share their advice and experiences to those interested in the field of making magazines.

 

 

Works Cited

Dunne, John Gregory. “Talking About Writing for Magazines (Which One Shouldn’t Do).” The Art of Making Magazines: On Being an Editor and Other Views From the Industry. Ed. Victor S. Navasty and Evan Cornog. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012. 1-28. Print.

Reichl, Ruth. “Magazine Editing Then and Now.” The Art of Making Magazines: On Being an Editor and Other Views From the Industry. Ed. Victor S. Navasty and Evan Cornog. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012. 29-48. Print.

Myers, Roberta. “How to Become the Editor-in-Chief of Your Favorite Women’s Magazine.” The Art of Making Magazines: On Being an Editor and Other Views From the Industry. Ed. Victor S. Navasty and Evan Cornog. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012. 47-60. Print.