Today we speak to Rhiannon Jones, editor of Verge magazine. She tell us more about what interests her about her position at Verge and how the title is the only free national glossy magazine specifically for students.
About the publication:
Who reads Verge magazine?
Students and young graduates aged between 16 and 24 pick up our magazine for free at university campuses, colleges and careers events every quarter. Our next issue is our September fresher’s special edition, distributed to all university and college fresher’s fairs, with a forecasted circulation of 100,000.
What subjects do you cover? What stories are you most interested in covering?
We cover careers, music, fashion, money and lifestyle from a student’s perspective.
What makes Verge different from the other outlets in your sector?
Verge is the only free national glossy magazine specifically for students, covering lifestyle as well as careers and university issues, with an emphasis on fun, young, readable content.
How do you decide the content?
We hold a pitching meeting at the beginning of each issue cycle, which includes contributions from student writers and graduate reporters.
Do you produce a features list?
Yes.
About you and freelance journalists::
Do you like freelance journalists to get in touch with you directly to pitch ideas? And if so,how?
Yes – please email Rhiannon@vergemagazine.co.uk if you’d like to write for us, including your ideas, especially if you are a student or graduate journalist.
Name the three most important attributes that make a freelance journalist stand out for you and would make you use them again?
Good ideas, an informal, funny, relatable style and good spelling!
About PRs:
Do you work closely with PRs or do you keep them at arm’s length
As a lifestyle magazine we do work closely with PRs to learn about new products suitable to our market, and fill pages like “Verge Loves” and our competitions & discounts pages.
If you could make one change to the way PRs deal with you, what would it be?
Please send out competition prizes as soon as you receive the winner’s details! Or we get the flak when the prize doesn’t turn up… that would put me off working with a PR again.
How should a PR approach you about their client?
A brief, friendly introductory email including some high res images of print quality is the best way to ensure your client gets noticed.
What information/input from PRs is most useful to you?
Images and good, descriptive, brief copy.
When is the best time for PRs to contact you & what is your deadline for contributions?
The deadline for contributions for our September 15th issue has passed, and we are looking for contributions to our January issue, deadline November 30th from the 25th of August onwards.
About you:
Describe a typical day at work:
We are a small team so I’ll be dealing with everything from selecting clothes for the fashion pages, sourcing cool new beauty products for our beauty blogger Sammi from BeautyCrush to review,commissioning features, organising interviews with musicians and celebrities, reviewing and attending events, writing
and subbing copy and overseeing the design.
What interests you most about your job?
As Verge is such a dynamic new brand developing day by day, we have the
opportunity to create something completely new and fresh. That means every day is an opportunity to be really creative
and build something great, from scratch.
Do you tweet?
Yes! I’m at @rhiannon__jones.
[lnk|http://www.featuresexec.com/mo/17455|_self|Verge]
[img|jpg|Verge Issue 2]