After a lengthy job search, I recently was offered an editor position with a start-up publishing company. The company plans to launch an executive-level, bi-monthly
B2B this year followed by additional titles within 18 months. The key principals are adapting a concept they say has been utilized successfully in Europe and the UK. Their editorial strategy would be to develop magazines comprised of company profiles with a "news" bent (quasi advertorials with a news angle but not identified as advertorials).
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In this way, the ad staff would target those companies being profiled. In addition, they have told me because they are a start-up and they want to keep initial costs down, they'd like to utilize j-students or others who would work for free as much as possible. When I queried them, they insist funding is not a problem although they did not offer any other details. The start-up would be a very bare-bones staff to start off with although they have indicated they anticipate staff would grow substantially over the next 18 months once new titles are launched.
I'm in a quandary about whether to accept this offer. As an editor, it is always an exciting challenge to direct the launch of a new publication. However, I hail from the traditional "fair and balanced" school of journalism, and am concerned about whether this approach is ethical and indeed viable in terms of attracting and retaining readership.
I'm not aware of any U.S. B2B publications that successfully utilize this editorial focus.
Is this a new trend in B2B magazine publishing? What are your thoughts on this?
Concerned Editor
You're right to be skeptical.
Business people are among the most demanding readers there are. I would be surprised if the advertorial content -- published because it supports the advertisers rather than for editorial reasons -- is very sophisticated.
The fact that the managers expect copy to be written by volunteer novices makes me wonder about its sophistication, too.
Be careful with this one.
Coming Tuesday: This reporter loves her new newsroom but despises her beat and the investigative reporting it requires. She would be much happier with human-interest features.
