Editing

Advertising Age | The Industry Standard | Book/manuscript editing

The Industry Standard was the first newsmagazine designed specifically for the Internet economy. Launched by technology publisher IDG in April 1998, the publication quickly became a must-read for businesspeople who want not just news, but analysis. Alas, it died an untimely death in September 2001.

I was the magazine's first executive editor. Here's a taste of what I did:

1. Pre-Preview issue: October-December 1997
It's a little-known fact that before I joined the staff of the Standard, I worked for three months as a consultant to John Battelle, who left Wired to become founder and publisher of The Industry Standard. I gave myself the ridiculously presumptuous title of "editorial development executive" and got to work.

My responsibilities included:

• Tons of research. Want to start a magazine? Define the market. Ever tried defining the Internet market? I did a comprehensive analysis of every single potential competitor, both print and online. I also worked with our Web producer to develop a model that sized the potential circulation and advertising revenue for the magazine.
• Helping to name the magazine. We discussed names by e-mail. Over martinis at the Cypress Club. In the office. At home. In focus groups. I wanted to name the magazine Catalyst. I lost.
• Developing the preview issue. Read on.

2. Preview issue: January 1998
I worked with the Standard's publisher, John Battelle; Web producer, Matt McAlister; and a freelance designer, Daniel Carter (soon to be our design director) to put out a sample issue of The Industry Standard, the first-ever newsmagazine for the Internet economy. Rather than publish a dummy issue with fake stories, we produced a full-fledged magazine, breaking news in several places. I wrote the cover story, hired most of the writers, edited all the copy and proofed the pages.

3. The Launch: April 27, 1998
It took a 80-hour marathon work week, but our team got the first issue of the Standard out the door. As executive editor of a startup, I wore a lot of hats:

• Cajoled three industry experts (Hambrecht & Quist's Danny Rimer, USA Networks' Alan Citron and Morrison & Foerster attorney Carla Oakley) into writing monthly columns.
• Co-created, with the Metrics editor, the first-ever magazine section devoted to nothing but Internet industry metrics.
• Edited the weekly news summary.
• Developed, assigned and edited feature articles.
• Edited or co-edited all of the news articles.

You get the picture.

4. Business as Usual: May-August 1998
It didn't take long before putting out The Industry Standard became a well-oiled machine. Yeah, right. Ever worked for a startup before? Anyway, this is a bit of what kept me occupied:

• Feature editing.
• News editing, a task shared with the inimitable Michael Parsons, our news editor.
• Managing the editors who worked on New Gig (chock full of articles about recruitment in the Internet economy) and Metrics (the first-ever complete set of facts and figures about the Internet economy.).
• Interviewing and hiring new reporters and editors.
• Managing or co-managing 10 reporters and 8 freelancers.
• Coercing columnists to submit their columns on time each week. Then beating them (the columns, not the writers) into shape.
• Successfully negotiating a columnist contract with cyberlaw expert Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard Law professor.
• Leading the weekly story meeting.
• Brainstorming cover art and cover lines with editor Jonathan Weber and news editor Michael Parsons.
• Writing the weekly "Deals of the Week" graphic.

Thank goodness for the Standard's rooftop parties.

5. Contributing Editor: September 1998-September 2001(R.I.P)
After moving to Seattle, I continued to work regularly with the Standard. Among my projects:

• From November 1999 through June 2000 I edited all the Standard's special reports. Each report consisted of 10 to 15 articles, Metrics packages, infographics and opinion pieces, and covered areas such as Retailing, International, Privacy, Startups and more.
• I helped to produce and moderated a panel on marketing at the Net Returns 2000 conference in Aspen, Colorado. Those who attended said the chance to see nearly 70-year-old ad legend-cum Internet entrepreneur Jay Chiat in funky boxing shoes was worth the price of admission.
• I redesigned and enhanced several of the Standard's e-mail newsletters, including New Gig, Metrics and Net Returns.