Over 30 PEG members attended the February meeting of the Cape Town branch, which was held as usual at the Book Lounge. We were fortunate to have Sharon Sorour-Morris as our speaker. Currently Assistant Editor of Drum, Sharon is a well-respected industry stalwart who has worked at the Cape Argus, Reader’s Digest, Femina and various trade and consumer publications.

Before Sharon’s talk, John Linnegar, PEG’s newly elected Chairman, got the PEG business out of the way.

• A Cape Town committee was elected for the new Cape Town branch. The following members were nominated (and seconded) to be on the committee: Kristina Davidson (Chair), Sharon Montgomery (Events), Carol du Toit (membership/treasurer) and Ken McGillvray (member at large).
• An advance notice was given to members about the Book Fair (13-16 June 2009), inviting them to submit business cards and flyers for inclusion in the goodie bags that will be handed out at the Fair.
• A report back on the AGM held on 31 January 2009 was given: 42 members attended and voted unanimously for all the proposed changes. These include the moving of the AGM to June and alternating between Gauteng and Cape Town. The next AGM will take place only in June 2010 to coincide with the Book Fair and possibly a mini-conference will be organised.
• The national PEG executive and major portfolio holders will be meeting on 21 March 2009 to thrash out the way ahead, especially with regard to the Continuing Professional Development plans.
• A full report of the changes agreed upon at the AGM will be published in the next PEGboard.

This PEG housekeeping was followed by a most entertaining talk and a lively Q&A session.

Sharon spoke about the future of magazines and print media in the Internet Age. To survive, smart magazines find a niche market and if necessary reinvent themselves. She used three examples of publications where she has worked: Reader’s Digest, Femina and Drum.

Reader’s Digest is a subscription-based magazine with an ageing and dying readership. It lost a lot of ground because it didn’t keep up with what was happening in the magazine industry. The magazine has kept its basic style and content but updated the look. It is currently trying hard to regain its stature.

Femina was sold to Media24 about four years ago, by which time it had lost its image of the “thinking woman’s magazine” and had not managed to attract a mass audience. Magazines need a brand, e.g. Cosmopolitan and Woman & Home both have strong international brands. The future of Femina is still not clear. It has reinvented itself as a magazine for women aged 40+ but the circulation figures have not improved.

Drum is a good example of how a magazine can adapt to changing circumstances. Today’s Drum is a far cry from the iconic publication of the 1960s but is extremely successful. A sister publication to You and Huisgenoot, Drum knows how to speak to its readers, who are predominantly black. The black market (especially so-called black diamonds) is the only consumer magazine market that is growing.

In the Q&A session that followed, Sharon imparted some valuable advice on:

• Rates for writing articles/stories. These depend on the contract and can vary from R1.50 to R3 per word. For short stories the going rate is R500 for You, Drum etc.
• Finding work. First find the sort of magazine that you would like to work for and look at their style. Look at whether their stories are written by people on their staff or freelancers. Then come up with ideas to submit to the magazine. If you are a copy-editor, you could offer to do some editing for free to show the quality of your work. 
•  Who to contact. For writers of articles and stories, contact the Features editor. For copy-editors, it’s best to make an appointment to see the chief sub-editor. 
• Proofreaders. Most magazines don’t have proofreaders. The chief copy-editor is the final eye. Magazines do outsource work to freelance copy-editors and to translators.

Kristina Davidson (4 March 2009)