merry christmas!

Have a wonderful holiday.

Dream Job TK will return in the new year.

(re)writing better copy

This is from a post on Seth Godin's blog – an inner dialog on improving signage for a coffee brand, which reads "Unlike Any Coffee You've Ever Tasted Before.":

Wait. Why the capitals?

"Unlike any coffee you've ever tasted before."

"Before" is redundant.

"Unlike any coffee you've ever tasted."

Too negative. And why is "unlike" a positive trait? I mean, boiled leech guts is also unlike any coffee I've ever tasted, that doesn't mean I want to drink it. How about:

"The best coffee you've ever tasted."

Well, the thing is, the only coffee that matters is coffee I've tasted, right, so we could get shorter still:

"The best coffee."

The problem with that is that it's nothing but bragging. Of course you think it's the best coffee. So what? You're lying. And even if you're not lying, how do you know it's the best? Compared to what?

This is where the smart copywriter becomes a marketer.

"Better than Starbucks."

Well, it's still bragging. This is the moment where the marketer becomes a smart marketer and realizes that changing the offer or the product is more important than changing the hype.

"FREE TASTE TEST
Are we better than Starbucks?"

now's a good time to start paying interns

Back when I was in university, between my second and third years, I got myself a summer job working for a small theatre company. I can't remember my job title, but I did some administrative work and lots of marketing-type tasks, like compiling media lists and writing press releases. It was a great experience, and one I wouldn't have had without the help of the government. You see, the theatre received money from the government as part of a youth work program to cover a portion of my salary, meaning they were actually able to afford to hire someone.

I always wondered whether there was a similar program that publishers could take advantage of so they could offer paid magazine internships, and now I know that there is. As reported on the Canadian Magazines blog, the Cultural Human Resources Council runs a Youth Internship Program, and will pay up to $10,000 towards the salary for an internship running from four to 12 months.

With the prevalence of layoffs and hiring freezes, you may be wondering what's the likelihood that magazines are going to start paying their interns. But what if we look at it this way: With fewer people doing more work, interns are going to start taking on more duties of entry-level positions (if they're not already doing tasks that most editorial assistants would do). If you can't afford to hire the EA you so desperately need, why not pay half as much for an intern? When the economy begins to pick up and you can afford to hire more staff, you'll already have that cost on your books, which you can continue pay out as a half-decent stipend for an intern even if you're no longer a participant in the government program.

words of wisdom from designer chris pullman

At his retirement party back in October, Vice President for Design of public broadcaster WGBH Boston Chris Pullman shared a few thoughts on what he's learned over the years, from Design Observer.

"Work on things that matter. ... Given all the ways you could use your skills and your valuable time, pick something that serves the greater good."

"Work with people you like and respect. ... Since April, when I first announced my intention to leave WGBH, the private expression of these feelings has been so gratifying, both personally and professionally, that I recently suggested that maybe we should institute the policy of encouraging individuals to make periodic “mock retirement” announcements, with the goal of releasing more regularly the flow of kind remarks for the nourishment of the individual, since we are otherwise so reticent to praise or encourage others in our busy, self-centered daily lives."

"Be nice. And be positive. And be respectful of the work of others. Strive to understand each others professional contributions and then respect them (as you would want them to respect you) with your actions and your comments. Remember: we are all applying our own particular skills towards a shared objective."

"Have high standards. Don’t settle for “whatever.” The corrosive Dilbert mind-set is depressing and demeaning. Wherever you choose to work, don’t give it a foothold. I prefer the “see you and raise you one” escalation of good ideas, even crazy ideas."

mistakes are ok

I'm sure you've heard someone somewhere along the line say that making mistakes is all part of the learning process. It's definitely true, but that doesn't necessarily make it any easier to own up to them. Perhaps you can let the little ones slip by or quickly correct them without notice, but I say the bigger the mistake, the more important it is to take responsibility. Confess quickly and do it right by turning it into a learning experience for everyone. From an article on the Guardian website:

Chartered occupational psychologist Dr Peter Honey thinks the key is to try and shift the focus from blaming people to blaming processes.

Honey says that mistakes are often the fault of processes rather than people involved, and offers a three-point plan for making sure you learn from them. Firstly, there needs to be an honest assessment of the whole situation. Next, you need to tease out some lessons – could you improve any processes so that this cannot happen again? Lastly, work out how, specifically, you would implement the lessons learned, so they're not just left as good intentions, says Honey.

spreading holiday cheer

Mailing (or emailing) Christmas cards this year? Why not add a few more people to the list, like your ex-boss, your mentor, or anyone else in your network of magazine peeps. Sending holiday greetings is a great way to keep in touch and say hi – a friendly way to say, "I enjoy knowing and working with you, and thank you for any help you've provided over the year."

brand you

Here's are a few tips on building your personal brand and making yourself invaluable so your name doesn't become one on the layoff roster. For specifics on how to use social media to do this, read Dan Schawbel's full article on Mashable.

• The first people who get laid off are the ones that are not needed for business to be conducted. If the business depends on your services and expertise, then you will, more than likely, remain in your current position, despite the economic climate.

• When it comes to branding, you want to own a word or phrase in the minds of others. It’s also beneficial to be someone that gets called upon when a specific need arises.

• Those who are confident in their own abilities, skills, internal network and the future, will survive and thrive during a period of economic struggle. If you see an opportunity, go and grab it. You need to be branded as a go-getter so people trust you with more work and are assured of the outcome.

• If you have a loud enough voice and take a stand on a topic, you can be a brand that is spoken about by people you may not even know. These individuals might actually be able to pull you into a new opportunity at some point.

• Collect endorsements throughout your life like you would collect baseball cards. You are the chief marketing officer for the brand called you, but what others say about your brand is more impactful than what you say about yourself.

do you know what your coworkers do for a living?

Seems like a silly question, doesn't it? I was reading a post on Eye magazine's blog, which gives a behind-the-scenes look at the printing of an issue. On MagCulture.com, Jeremy Leslie commented that it was a good reminder that everyone in a magazine art department familiarize themselves with the process, and it made me think that it would benefit a magazine's entire staff to see it.

You may have been lucky enough (or unlucky, if you didn't enjoy yourself) at some point to visit a printing press. Even if you get the concept, nothing compares to seeing the live-action version of printing. You begin to understand the physical limitations of the medium.

Likewise, I think it's a good idea if everyone gets to know what people in other departments do. Not just "I'm an assistant editor" or "I'm an associate art director," but what are each person's actual duties? What's the process of getting a story, a layout, done from start to finish? What are the steps?

There are a few ways to teach this. Perhaps a presentation by each department. Or maybe a day of job shadowing. I think it would give everyone a new found respect for what everyone else does. When you know what's involved, you understand why things are done the way they are and why they take the time that they do.

the art of the rejection letter

Writing a rejection letter in response to a pitch is rarely a pleasant experience. As Jean Hannah Edelstein says in a post on the Guardian's Books Blog, "[I]t is not easy to achieve and balance the two central goals of a truly accomplished rejection letter: trying not to make the writer feel distraught whilst also discouraging him or her from ever contacting you ever again."

Edelstien's comments come in response to the call for submissions of rejection letters for a new book, "Other People's Rejection Letters"(perhaps you have your own to contribute). While Edelstein points out that the purpose of the book is likely to provide comfort to rejectees (of every sort, not just writers), it has potential to be an excellent teaching tool for editors. I suspect it will be filled with the most crass, ill-thought-out letters out there, essentially making it a what-not-to-do guide.

I'm curious, though: rejection letters were never covered in any of my schooling; have you ever been coached on how to craft one?

gladwell on success

Maybe success has less to do with talent than we think.

Last night I had the opportunity to see superstar author Malcolm Gladwell speak as part of the Rotman Integrative Thinking Experts Speaker Series. (How does one become a Thinking Expert, I wonder?) Gladwell is making the rounds to promote his latest book, Outliers, which explores the idea that things beyond your control, such as your birth date, may greatly influence whether or not you're successful (and we're not talking astrology).

A few ideas that came up during his talk that I thought I'd share:

Some disadvantages are actually advantages. Gladwell named a few of the top-performing NFL players, pointing out that most of them were not the top draft picks. Because the players were lower down on the wanted list, they were more inclined to work harder to prove themselves. Meanwhile, you get first-round picks skipping out on practice. So in the world of magazines, might we say that a smaller budget is a disadvantage that's actually an advantage? If we use awards as a yardstick, the smalls measure up pretty well.

There are two approaches to success: Capitalize on your strengths or compensate for your weaknesses. I say do both. The key here is to know what you're good at and what you're not so good at. Then work like the dickens to improve where you're weak, and don't neglect to market your strengths.

Being conscientious can lead to being successful. "You have to believe the application of effort gets you somewhere," said Gladwell, pointing out that this belief is lacking in Western cultures (many of us learn at a young age that working harder doesn't necessarily mean higher marks). I say, be conscientious and you'll stand out beyond 90 percent of the workforce.

It takes 10,000 hours of doing something to master it. Gladwell cites the concept that the top "geniuses" – artistic, business or otherwise – in the world have one very important thing in common: they've all spent about 10,000 hours practicing their craft. He talked about spending many years at the Washington Post as a reporter and the intense apprenticeship he went through as a writer. Writing nearly an article every day, he had the opportunity to hone his skill. But it wasn't just the time he put in: he also had the benefit of a slew of senior editors pushing him to do better work, teaching him how to become a better writer. And I couldn't help but think, are we missing this apprenticeship relationship in our field? Do we spend enough time teaching the young up-and-comers? Do we demand enough of them?

And finally, bon mots of the day: "Google is eroding the competitive advantage of those of us who are willing to go to the library."

More Malcolm:
• Talking about Fleetwood Mac at Gain: AIGA Business and Design Conference (Oct. 23–25, 2008).
• A feature on Gladwell in New York magazine (Nov. 9, 2008).
• Malcolm Gladwell's blog.