Trade Pressed

John Brady – Rebel Without A Contents Page

with 3 comments

John Brady may have lost his mind. In this month’s Folio:, he suggests dropping page numbers. Actually, it’s not that bad an idea — save some editorial space on the TOC and a little bit of time at the end of production. I can just imagine trying to pitch that idea, though. “But we’ve been doing it this way for so long…”

Other things I wouldn’t mind seeing go away:

  • Advertiser index. I just don’t think that’s how readers use magazines. Am I wrong?
  • Reader service numbers. Are we the only ones who still use them? If a reader wants more information, they’ll either go to our website or Google.
  • The upfront news section. You’ve already heard it by the time the magazine hits your desk. I can just about guarantee it. If we need to elaborate, it should be a feature.
  • Every ad’s request for far forward, right hand page. C’mon. Really?
  • Cover blurbs. I know they’re important. I just can’t write them.
  • The four-column page. Every line is hyphenated and I think for regular features it looks bad overall. It can sometimes work for special features/sections, though.

Written by tradepressed

January 15th, 2008 at 9:49 pm

Posted in Writing

Tagged with ,

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3 Responses to 'John Brady – Rebel Without A Contents Page'

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  1. I advertise in magazines and still wouldn’t blink if the Advertiser Index went away. Same w/ reader service numbers. And since many writers can’t write good cover blurbs, most of them just confuse me.

    Upfront news I kind of like, though.

    And c’mon, if I can’t complain about where my ad is placed, what’s left to complain about? :)

    Marcus Grimm

    16 Jan 08 at 9:24 am

  2. [...] w/ John Brady’s idea to trim pages from your publication, the blog Trade Pressed offers some thoughts on where to [...]

    NXTblog - The blog of NXTbook Media » Blog Archive » Clean Up Your Magazine…

    16 Jan 08 at 9:38 am

  3. Good to know. Even the advertisers agree with me. Well, on almost everything. :)

    tradepressed

    26 Jan 08 at 1:57 pm

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