Kansas City, MO — When it comes to contributors, do you ever feel like you can’t live with them, but you can’t live without them, either? Unfortunately working with experts in your field can sometimes be more of a hassle than a help to your B2B publication. This is why the luncheon on July 24 at the 2013 Azbee Awards Banquet for the ASBPE Western Region was all about how to work with contributors to create award-winning content.
“A lot of people told me, ‘Oh that’s my favorite magazine and let me tell you why—I love Obenski,’ ” said Kristi Reimer, news channel director for Advanstar Veterinary and editor-in-chief of dvm360 magazine.
Michael Obenski, DVM, was one of dvm360’s two columnists up for Azbee Awards of Excellence this year. The other was Andy Roark, DVM, and Reimer explained how differently the two veterinarians operate. Here’s how she keeps up a good relationship with two of her readers’ favorite writers.
1. Don’t wreck a good thing. Reimer conducts a basic edit on each piece, but tries not to futz with the columnist’s work too much. She figures readers like each columnist’s style for a reason, and this is the perfect spot for his or her voice to shine through the magazine. “I didn’t want to get in there and muck around too much with what [Obenski] was already doing,” Reimer says.
2. Be willing to adapt your communication style. Obenski has written more than 400 articles for dvm360 and most of them he sent to Reimer in the mail—yes, snail mail. He’s since updated his ways, but hey, as long as the column arrived on time Reimer was happy. “Obenski doesn’t like a lot of communication,” Reimer says. “And that’s fine.”
Roark on the other hand uses just about every form of communication—from texting her cell phone to messaging her on Facebook—to get in touch with Reimer. Both contributors’ techniques are OK by Reimer. She says you just have to discover which method works for your contributors and staff.
3. Don’t be afraid to coach—they like it! Often Reimer will give her contributors pointers (e.g., “Can you add some personal anecdotes?” or “Please shorten up these quotes”). “When you treat [contributors] as writers and give them that coaching feedback, it almost gives them a boost,” Reimer says. “And you’re more likely to get what you really want up front.”
4. Pair up your editors and contributors. Each issue of dvm360 features seven or more contributed columns, which can add up to a lot of work. This is why Reimer divides these columns between her content specialists and often, relationships blossom. “It’s fun to see everybody grow,” Reimer said. “This can free up your schedule as well.”
5. Make chicken salad out of chicken … crap. This is one piece of advice Reimer will never forget. She says it can be tempting take one glance at an article and scrap it completely, but we as editors have to put on our hard hats and start mining. “Give it a second look, and you’ll see there’s gold in that pile you received,” Reimer said.
Obenski took home a Silver Award in the “Humorous/Fun Department” and Roark also snagged a Silver Award for “Regular Column, Contributed.” To get a taste of their work, check out one of Obenski’s columns about saying goodbye to the staff’s refrigerator named Therm, and read Roark’s tongue-in-cheek article on how to ditch clients.
Get a sneak peek into the luncheon and browse photos here.
