editors speak
Chatting with Katherine Baker,
Assistant Editor of Justine Magazine
By Jan Fields
Justine Magazine has just celebrated its first year in print. It’s a
teen magazine read by young women from 14 to 21. We’re delighted to have
Justine’s assistant editor, Katherine Baker, join us to talk a bit about
the magazine, its mission, and how we can play a part in that.
KMW: The readers of Kid Magazine Writers are
professional freelancers and are going to be primarily interested in
“breaking in” options for Justine. What kind of content is open
to freelancers?
KB: Generally all of Justine’s content is open to freelancers, but most
commonly we accept “craft” pieces. You know, the do-it-yourself projects
that we include in our just’design section.
KMW: Does Justine prefer to receive queries? Submissions? Resumes and
samples? Through the mail? Through email?
KB: Justine prefers receiving resumes and clips through regular mail. We
get so much email here at Justine that it would be easy for a submission
to be lost or overlooked in the flood. Submissions made by mail are more
likely to be seen. Keep in mind that no submissions made to Justine will
be returned — sorry!
Just send submissions to…
Justine Magazine
Writing Submissions
6263 Poplar Avenue, Suite 1154
Memphis, Tennessee 38119
KMW: I know part of Justine’s mission to is to be cool without being
embarrassing — that the magazine keeps a certain modesty. How does that
translate into content? How would your topics differ from a magazine
like Teen or Cosmo Girl?
KB: Justine tries to focus more on what the everyday teenage girl would
be interested in — content that they’re comfortable reading. We’re not a
teen magazine for 25-year-olds, we’re a magazine for real teenage girls.
Other magazines certainly feature stories on more mature topics, but
you’ll never see movies, books, content, or clothing that are too mature
for our readers. But don’t get us wrong, Justine is still a very young,
fresh magazine that features trends and pop culture — we just guard our
content a little more and try to give girls content that is empowering.
We’re less “how-to-get-the-guy” and more “how to be comfortable in your
own skin.”
KMW: Are you open to the “traditional teen fillers” -- quizzes and
crafts? How can a writer of fillers catch your eye?
KB: We’re definitely open to the “teen fillers.” Quizzes and crafts are
great as long as they are young and current. We most often feature
quizzes in our just’media and just’life sections. But we’re open to
using them anywhere!
KMW: Do you buy content for your website or does that all come from
your magazine?
KB: Most of our web content comes from our magazine. The site highlights
our biggest stories and features. But you’ll also find additional
content on the web, answers to our crossword puzzle and the names of
giveaway winners—things like that. And sometimes we put additional tips,
instructions, and diagrams for our projects or other articles.
KMW: How can writers get your writers guidelines?
KB: Justine has no writers guidelines set in stone. We just suggest that
potential freelancers read Justine and get a feel for the writing. If
they can pick up the flavor of the tone, their work will be considered.
KMW: What rights does Justine buy from freelancers? Does
Justine pay
on publication or acceptance?
KB: As far as buying rights goes, it depends on the article. And if we
pay, we pay on publication unless otherwise agreed upon.
KMW: Are you open to content from young writers? Some of our readers
at KMW actually are teens — do you accept teen content? Do you buy it?
KB: We love submissions from young writers. Teens obviously know what
teens like — and are often able to say it better than any adult ever
could. We have a regular contributor who is a high-school student in
California who wrote in to us with suggestions, so we gave her a shot at
writing. We loved it so much that we decided to include her in every
issue. What we’d really like to receive are first-person accounts from
teens like this.
KMW: Can you tell us some things Justine totally would NOT accept to
give our readers a sense of the parameters?
KB: We’re always up for new content and suggestions, but just be mindful
that our target audience is a 16-18-year-old girl. Justine wants our
readers, as well as their parents, to be comfortable reading the
magazine. We’re not interested in stories that preach that girls are
nothing without a boy, that sort of thing.
KMW: How has Justine changed in its first year in print? In what ways
have you responded to reader input (I know you’ve expanded your beauty
content)?
KB: In our first year of print, Justine has managed to stay true to our
promise of being hip and wholesome, but we’ve certainly grown along with
our readers. We pay a lot of attention to reader input — after all,
Justine is for them. We’ve seen a huge interest in music, so we’ve just
added our first-ever music section in the June/July issue, and of course
we expanded our beauty section in response to popular demand. We try to
accommodate our readers’ interests by including the celebrities they are
most interested in, while balancing it with out-of-the-spotlight teens
as well. We read every letter and email
sent to Justine and take all suggestions and criticism into
consideration.
This page last updated on 01 May 2005
|
