Rayjsj Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 just read in the Feb. edition of the MMM that we (they) are getting a new editor ; Daniel Attwood ? can't say i've heard or read his name before ? is he a Motorcaravanner ? hope he is, as otherwise how will he know 'Whats going on' ?? Anyway hope Mike and Jane have a great retirement, did I read that 'Van-Rouge' had been sold ?? if so, how will we recognise you ? And be 'real pain in the Axxes' say hello and share a malt with you ? Anyway 'You did a good job' now enjoy ! All the Best ! Ray, Linda & Wendy the labrador xxxxx ;-) ;-) :-> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnerontheroad Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 This help http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/daniel-attwood/12/45b/8b Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted January 15, 2011 Author Share Posted January 15, 2011 johnnerontheroad - 2011-01-15 12:40 PM This help http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/daniel-attwood/12/45b/8b Dave OK, he knows about Company Cars and the Fleet Market, IS he a Motorcarananner ?? doesn't say, or have i missed it ? We'll see. looked at the 'B2B' website...... err looks like a load of crxp ! nothing to do with Motorcaravans. Am I a cynical old sxd ? Don't all answer at once ! *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Rayjsj - 2011-01-15 12:44 PM ...IS he a Motorcarananner... You don't need to be female to be a gynaecologist, and you don't need to be a motorcaravanner to edit a motorhome magazine successfully. There's been a good deal of "MMM is boring - let's have some changes" forum comments recently, so, if the magazine radically alters direction in the near future, it may not be considered such a bad thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yeti Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 An amount of knowledge of your subject for a magazine would be useful,otherwise it would go down the route of Motor Caravan Magazine (text removed by moderators).I await any changes with interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted January 15, 2011 Author Share Posted January 15, 2011 Derek Uzzell - 2011-01-15 1:32 PM Rayjsj - 2011-01-15 12:44 PM ...IS he a Motorcarananner... You don't need to be female to be a gynaecologist, and you don't need to be a motorcaravanner to edit a motorhome magazine successfully. No, but a bit of 'Empathy' and 'been there done that' helps you in your job. An editor 'Steers' the direction of a newspaper/magazine with either a light touch or a heavy hand, and as I said 'we shall see'. As for complaining about content ?? certainly not from me, my only complaint was against the Distributor and the 'loopy' decision to produce 13 copies a year instead of 12, thereby 'watering down' the content to squeeze more advertising revenue. A decision that could have only come from 'Up there'. But then i'm just a 'Customer' what do I know ? *-) Ray ps How did the 'n' replace the 'v' in motorcaravanner ?? I can spell, perhaps an 'editor' IS required? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 yeti - 2011-01-15 2:24 PMAn amount of knowledge of your subject for a magazine would be useful,otherwise it would go down the route of Motor Caravan Magazine (text removed by moderators).I await any changes with interest. That must have been when Motor Caravan Magazine unwisely asked advice from Fiat about recruitment and they suggested Silvio Berlusconi might be able to recommend suitable people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Having watched the program on CI it was interesting to note that the designer brought in specificaly had no knowledge of caravans, and Alper didn't want him looking at others on the market but he went to home design shows etc. he went on the design the interiors of the best selling caravans ever made. My take on it is that a different pair of eyes sometimes makes a better job, time will tell. p.s. happy retirement Mike & Jane. One thing I've never got around to asking is Mike of 'Jago Jeep' fame? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spospe Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Looking at his list of commitments he is quite a busy man, will have have the time to do a good job on MMM? As others have asked, has he the background knowledge? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Derek Uzzell - 2011-01-15 1:32 PM You don't need to be female to be a gynaecologist, and you don't need to be a motorcaravanner to edit a motorhome magazine successfully. Fair comment Derek - however it does help to have some product knowledge and experience as anyone who has tried to buy any electronic item from the likes of Currys or Comet - or a car from a non driver salesman - or a van from a non motor caravanner - will testify! Similarly it can be hard work having a conversation with anyone on a topic with which they have no knowledge or experience! Nevertheless MMM is very 'samey' month in month out and does need a darned good shake up and as I have no idea how to go about 'improving' it, I for one wish Daniel every success and I hope that we will all reserve judgement for a few months? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 All the best to Mike and Jane. And as Richard says, let's give the new guy a chance. I won't be re-subscribing anytime soon, but I WILL start buying it every time it comes out for a few months, and who knows, Daniel may persuade me. A good start would be for him to look in on here from time to time, so we get to know him. The Ed and Dep of a certain "other" mag are regulars on their forum, and it helps people feel "part of it." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 colin - 2011-01-15 3:31 PM ...One thing I've never got around to asking is Mike of 'Jago Jeep' fame? Doubtful. The Wikipedia entry states that the UK Jago kit-car company was founded in 1965 by Geoff Jago, so Mike would be too young to have been originally involved. Might be a relative of course... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Er, a little bird tells me they aren't retiring, just handing overall editorial responsibility to Daniel. However, I'm sure "madmick" will be along shortly to clarify! :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 I would like to say a great bit thank you to Mike and Jane for all the hard work they've done over the years to produce the UK's BEST motorhome magazine. Some people love it, others don't, but I think we can all be very grateful for the expertise and knowledge of the contributors and writers, especially when we've been in a pickle and need advice, want ideas of things to do, reviews of vans and equipment, campsites, places to visit etc, etc, etc. The knowledge I have gained from reading the magazine has been immense so I am very please to be able to say again, many thanks Mike and Jane and I hope you enjoy a bit more freedom as that's what it's all about! :-D As for Daniel, I haven't heard of him but there's no reason I should have, he's obviously done variou jobs within the journalism profession and will no doubt be able to bring that to his role and I certainly wish him very well - I'm sure he's chomping at the bit to get his 'teeth' well and truly into it!!!! :-> (Forumites should read his previous jobs and you'll get the joke there.) I'm also sure that we'll all be informed in the next issues of the magazine, which will be Daniel's first, about his previous experience and 'qualification' for the job ... I wonder if he got a company 'motorhome' with it????? (lol) :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 "I wonder if he got a company 'motorhome' with it?????" I doubt it, Rachel deputy Ed hangs onto that long term test van with a good grip! C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timetraveller Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Editing a magazine may come easy to journalists but surely you have to have some background knowledge of your subject matter as an essential requirement? As said earlier look what happened to Motorcaravan Magazine. Also when P.M. brought in a new assistant editor who, I believe, had little or no knowledge of her subject matter i.e. motorhomes. It then so wrankled with me for a long time to read her articles as she wrote as if she had been driving & using motorhomes for years, & soon giving advice & opinions on various motorhome models. I thought it was a bit like a child telling the teacher how to do things - two minutes into the job & she appeared to know sufficient to offer advice to people who had been motorhoming for years!! If memory serves me correct one of her offerings was to start a 5 van stop over which soon fizzled out before it was resurrected by joining forces with the Motorhome Club who already had a small network of sites. P.M. now seem to advertise these sites as their idea & the Motorhome Club get second mention. No doubt others may think differently, but surely editors should have a good background knowledge before trying to give others advice? Thanks to Mike & Jane - I hope they enjoy their 'retirement'. (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dikyenfo Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 I think the understanding most people have of magazines is to publish things according to the title. Not so, the purpose of a mag. is to open up a huge profit margin before a copy is sold. This is done by employing a person who may know nothing about the subject matter of the mag but who can persuade advertisers to take a page or whatever of advertising. If this means that 500 sides of adverts are sold then the mag owners can allow various small articles to appear and to make it easy they carry the same headers so that a years copy of the articles can be done in advance. If required some outside authors can be brought in if the regulars dont perform. Bit cynical? pretend you are an advertiser and ring for a quote for a page of advertising and see what the prices are. Then ratio the live bits from the dead bits and you maybe in for a surprise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobalobs Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 A few years ago a local motorhome dealer advertised for a salesman and I contemplated applying thinking the fact I have had motorhomes for more than twenty years would make me suitable. However when I read the job specification it said "no product knowledge wanted". I questioned this with the manager some time later and he said "Most people can gather sufficient product knowledge fairly quickly but most people can not sell well". I wonder whether motorhome knowledge formed any part of the Editorial job description. Many people will write the articles but few can run a profitable publication . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted January 16, 2011 Author Share Posted January 16, 2011 Oh dear! I have heard a lot of these cliches before ' a manager doesn't have to know anything about the product he just has to manage' a bigger load of rubbish was never spoken, my experience of over 45 years as an engineer the BEST managers were always folk who knew their 'Product' 'inside out', they got things done, without expecting the impossible, handled people well, and got the best out of everyone. The 'Worst' ones were folk who came from totally different backgrounds, upset everyone by 'demanding the impossible' astounded customers by their lack of knowledge, and treated all their employees as 'Stepping stones' in THEIR career path. 'cause I'm not saying editors are like that, are they 'managers ? (?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted January 16, 2011 Author Share Posted January 16, 2011 dikyenfo - 2011-01-16 8:57 AM Not so, the purpose of a mag. is to open up a huge profit margin before a copy is sold. This is done by employing a person who may know nothing about the subject matter of the mag but who can persuade advertisers to take a page or whatever of advertising. The reason folk buy the magazine is NOT to read the adverts (you could read any back issue going back to 2004 and still see the same advertisers 'mostly') It is to be 'Informed' about our pastime and read Interesting and Funny (andy of course !) articles and see Road tests and decide which 'New' van you would buy (if ONLY you won the lottery !) MMM does all of those already. Most of the 'extra' advertising 'Bumpf' goes straight into the recycling anyway. Don't Kill the goose that is laying the 'already Silver' if not Golden Eggs. *-) Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dikyenfo Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 rayjsj There is no goose with golden eggs, that belongs entirely with the mag owner. This is why if someone writes and cares for accurate accounts of say road tests and proper fault reporting these adverse comments[how could they not be] will be removed long before proofing. A long association with various editors has proved this many times. If you were paid to take adverts worth tens of thousands you would make damm sure that some bleating pratt who bought this rubbish is not going anywhere your cherished golden goose telling the real truth about most of the things that we on here have to sort out for people who the system badly lets down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted January 16, 2011 Author Share Posted January 16, 2011 Luckily the 'Bleating pratt' who did stand up and say 'This is wrong' was Andy Stothert , without his honest reports about Sevel reversing problems many folk would have been 'stuck' with a Sub-standard product some still are. So far ... MMM have been very good about this sort of occurance, The notice informing readers about the fault. a case in point. IF the 'Trade' had the ability to stifle information as important as that, would be the day i stopped reading the magazine.....I have a choice. We are NOT stupid sheep, whatever the trade might think. 8-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 So here's the Job Description:-About The RoleThis is your chance to take the helm at the UK's best-selling motorcaravanning magazine. As Editor you will be ultimately responsible for ensuring a top quality and innovative title is produced, as well as managing and developing your editorial team. You'll work closely with the Publisher to develop and deliver the long-term publishing print and on-line strategy and continue the development of MMM magazine. You will be an ambassador for the title and will use your creative and editorial skills to plan the editorial structure and content of each issue, commission freelancers and pass copy and layouts for publication. Maintaining and building relationships with the motorcaravan industry and promoting growth of the circulation of the magazine are also key parts of therole.About You To secure this ambitious role, you will need a combination of proven editorial skill, initiative and commercial acumen. With previous experience as an Editor or Deputy Editor you will have an excellent understanding of the market. Your experience will be predominantly from a news-stand magazine but also with an understanding of how on-line publishing supports the title. You should be able to demonstrate your editorial talent, people management skills and creative flair. You should have experience of building and maintaining relationships with the vehicle industry.Who would you suggest would be better qualified than Mr Attwood? (I can't see anything there about owning a motorhome.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 When the enthusiast in his shed is knocking out his new invention, his priority is the product itself. If his product is really good, he grows into a big company, at which point he forgets all about the product as his priority is now the performance of the Company, as defined by his accountants and lawyers. This happens in every industry - Google is a case in point, so's Virgin! The same is true for magazines - the late great John Hunt was the enthusiast in the shed, and unfortunately he was too successful. No-one's fault, that's just how "business" is. So don't knock those who now run a market-leading magazine like - well, a market-leading magazine. If you don't like it, start your own (in your shed!) and see what happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david lloyd Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Rayjsj - 2011-01-15 12:03 PM just read in the Feb. edition of the MMM that we (they) are getting a new editor ; Daniel Attwood ? can't say i've heard or read his name before ? is he a Motorcaravanner ? hope he is, as otherwise how will he know 'Whats going on' ?? Anyway hope Mike and Jane have a great retirement, did I read that 'Van-Rouge' had been sold ?? if so, how will we recognise you ? And be 'real pain in the Axxes' say hello and share a malt with you ? Anyway 'You did a good job' now enjoy ! All the Best ! Ray, Linda & Wendy the labrador xxxxx ;-) ;-) :-> Have not had chance to read the Feb magazine yet (it arrived whilst we were away enjoying ourselves!) but I can confirm that Van Rouge was sold and Mike and Jane are the proud owners of another IH Motorhome - an IH Tio M which is a rear lounge Panle Van on the Mercedes chassis. The piece about their change appeared in one of the recent editions before Christmas. I do hope they are not leaving entirely as they have done a great job in the years that I have been reading MMM. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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