editors speak

Kiki Magazine
Jamie Bryant, Editor

This month we’re delighted to speak with the editor of a brand new magazine: Kiki Magazine. This quarterly magazine targets tween girls who are interested in “style and substance.” Kiki is a fashion magazine but as editor Jamie Bryant says, “Kiki is not like anything you’ve ever seen. Most magazines just give you stuff to read about. Kiki gives you space to try out your ideas. Part magazine, part studio, each issue of Kiki can become a piece of your personal style portfolio.”

Because the goal of the magazine is exploring creativity through fashion, the contents will contain a lot less “go buy this” and more “what can you do with your creativity to develop your own sense of style through self-expression.”

Bryant says the impetus for Kiki came from her own tween daughters and their intense interest in fashion. “I know first-hand the challenges facing today’s parents when it comes to media. Both girls enjoy the color and creativity of fashion, so my husband and I shopped long and hard for a magazine they would enjoy and we could endorse. We found nothing.” So into this void of creative fashion magazines for girls, Kiki magazine was born.

KMW: Thank you so much for sharing with us about your wonderful magazine – we do love to let folks know about new magazines for young people, as you know, KMW loves magazines.
JGB: My daughter seems to be entering the stage you describe on your website - discovering there are magazines that exist just for her, and I remember going through that stage myself. Those who think magazine writing is inferior to book writing, or that a magazine can't be high quality, need to check out the magazine section at an independent bookseller rather than the rack at the grocery checkout.

KMW: We’re very interested in how the creative aspects of your magazine’s approach will play out in ways freelance writers can participate. I know your magazine will encourage girls to express their creativity right on the page – but how can writers help? Will you have a lot of how-to content?
JGB: We do anticipate having a good deal of how-to content. How-to content is a big part of our goal of letting girls explore fashion through their own creativity and self-expression. Another key part is for girls to use our how-to ideas and creative prompts as starting points for their own creative endeavors.

KMW: I can see from the sample on your website that you're going to look a lot at clothes and designing. What other areas of fashion design will you consider -- hair accessories? Jewelry? Decorating or altering ready-made clothes?
JGB: We are looking at starting with fashion (including accessories) and, as we gain momentum with readers, expanding to include designing personal space. That's another key area where style and personal expression intersect. At present, we've started asking our designers-in-training to provide photographs of their workspaces so that girls can get a sense of how real student designers work. Altering ready-made clothes is a big concept of ours because there are so many body types out there (not to mention hand-me-downs from siblings, not necessarily of the same sex). Being able to take a plain garment and make it into a personalized fashion is part of developing one's own style.

KMW: Can you explain this to me, from the submission guidelines: "Unless submission is stated to be a possible work for hire, submission will be considered property of Kiki magazine." I assume by "possible work for hire" you mean that you want all rights for anything you buy, but it's unusual for a writer to have to specify that a submission isn't a gift. It's an unusual inclusion -- what brought it on?
JGB: After being in textbook publishing for so long, I wanted to be clear about rights. Textbook publishing contracts are very explicit about the granting of rights and the duration of those rights, and I thought it would be best if as a new publication we were clear about rights and usage. We want to purchase the rights for submitted work and own exclusivity for a long enough period of time to benefit from the competitive advantage derived from the freshness and creativity of the material. But a writer in a work-for-hire situation can negotiate to regain access to the rights to the material after that period of time if she or he thinks the work could be repurposed for publication in another magazine or work. To date, we've been soliciting articles written on specific topics. That is, editorially, we've been mapping the entire layout and coming up with article concepts to outsource to professional writers. Because the origin and concept have come from Kiki, we want Kiki to be the primary beneficiary of the writing work we place, but we don't to prevent a writer from being able to benefit from reworking or rewriting the piece for another publication after it's published in Kiki.

KMW: Your submission guidelines seem to focus on feature-style articles, judging by your source requirements. Are you also open to how-to pieces related to creative fashion like jewelry making or creating other kinds of accessories?
JGB: Absolutely. We'd love to have how-to articles on things like jewelry making, recycling clothing, creating fashion accessories, and even care topics (how to polish your shoes, how to wash your face, how to fold your clothes, etc.). The main requirement for any submission to Kiki is that (a) it be original material created expressly for Kiki; (b) it be researched and multi-sourced in such a way that the material is original and permissions are not at issue; or (c) the writer owns all rights to the material and grants Kiki permission to use. There are a lot of craft and how-to publications out there, so we need to be very sure that the concept and instructions are original to the author and not borrowed from another source. Having said all that, however, we'd love to hear from crafty, creative people who want to give girls some tools to practice their own creative genius.

KMW: Thanks again for sharing with us – Kiki sounds like an exciting new magazine!
JGB: We are really excited to bring real writing, relevant information, and opportunities for creativity and are delighted that you'd like to open that message to your readers.

This page last updated on 01 October 2007