In today’s interview we hear from the editor of Rosemary Conley Diet & Fitness Magazine, Helen Molnar. She tells us all about the magazine, what she finds rewarding about working there, her love of celebrity gossip, and more.
About Rosemary Conley Diet & Fitness Magazine:
Who reads it and how many of them are there?
Mostly women who want to lose weight, look fantastic, feel fit and healthy, and enjoy fabulous food.
We currently have a readership of 226,000, but recent sales show this is on the up!
What subjects do you cover? What stories are you most interested in covering?
We feature exclusive diets written by Rosemary, delicious low-fat recipes, successful slimmer stories, advice from experts including Dr Hilary Jones, effective workouts, the latest fashion from stylist Nicky Hambleton-Jones, beauty tips and much more.
I personally love the food features. I’ve always had a passion for great food (good job I married a chef!) and I like to think this comes through in the magazine. When you think of diet food most people think ‘rabbit food’, but you don’t have to starve yourself to lose weight and I think the magazine highlights that.
I also enjoy meeting the successful slimmers. Rosemary and I take them shopping and direct the photoshoots, so it’s a really personal experience. It’s really rewarding to hear their inspirational stories and learn how the magazine helped change their lives.
What makes you different from the other outlets in your sector?
Rosemary. We’re not just a brand, there’s a real person behind the brand. I work closely with Rosemary on a day-to-day basis and she is an incredible role model. Having an icon like Rosemary so hands on (she reads every word before it goes to print!) helps to give the magazine personality.
People trust her and she is 100% committed to giving readers quality information and value for money (ever noticed how little advertising we have in the magazine?). Our readers get the biggest slimming magazine on the market (20 pages more than any of our competitors) with the most amount of editorial and least amount of ads. We cram a lot of great stuff in every issue. It’s a product we all work hard on and we’re all proud of.
How do you decide the content, front covers and headlines?
A team effort. Editorial meetings involve everyone throwing in their content ideas and seeing which ones we love the most. We decide everything from main food features to what products to try in our beauty tried and tested. I always leave editorial meetings on a high as I can’t wait to bring the issue to life.
Following the slimmers’ photoshoot we select our favourite shots and pick a cover. I then write the cover lines based on the strongest messages in the mag. Most people buy the magazine based on the cover diet message and with a promise such as ‘lose a stone in a month’ – who can blame them?
About PRs and freelance journalists:
Do you use external contributions, and if so, are they for any particular section/type of work?
We use regular contributors but I’m always interested to hear about new ideas.
About you:
Describe a typical day at work: What are you editorial duties/responsibilities at the outlet?
Coming up with ideas, commissioning features, researching creative/visual ideas, creating briefs for photoshoots, subbing and proofreading layouts, subbing copy, checking proofs and much more…
What interests you most about your job?
Everything. It’s so varied. One day I could be shopping with Rosemary and the slimmers and directing a photoshoot, the next I’m in the office discussing layouts with Jen, my super talented Art Editor, and the next subbing layouts and proofreading!
Do you Twitter? Why, why not?
I don’t, but the magazine does. Follow us @DietFitnessMag.
What’s the best advice you’ve been given?
You can do anything you put your mind to.
What media do you seek out 1st thing in the morning?
Daybreak… I love hearing celebrity gossip over breakfast. It’s my guilty pleasure.
[lnk|http://www.featuresexec.com/mo/17762|_self|Rosemary Conley Diet & Fitness Magazine]
[lnk|http://www.featuresexec.com/moc/88916/?hilite=&sId=|_self|Helen Molnar]
[img|jpg|Helen Molnar]