The Oprah Magazine 224 West 57th Street
New York, New York 10019
212/649-4843
212/977-1947 (fax)
Oxygen Media, the cable/Web venture hatched by Oprah Winfrey and Geraldine
Laybourne, continues to gasp for breath, having last week announced another
round of layoffs and plans to snuff out four more of its Web sites. On the other
hand, the talk show diva's magazine - described by the Wall Street Journal
as "a refreshing departure from other women's magazines" - has rebounded from
its editor-go-round and is thriving. Mirabella founding editor Amy Gross
took the reins as editor-in-chief of O last July, replacing Ellen Kunes,
who left after butting heads with the magazine's namesake. (PRN, July12,
17). According to publishers' estimates, the median reader is 38 with a household
income of $61,204, and subscribers are expected to reach 1.2 million by next
month. Media Analysts, Inc. assesses the book's DNA make-up as 27% personal
growth, 5% lifestyle (including sports and travel), 11% beauty/fitness/health,
5% business and technology, 5% home and gardening, 11% food, 11% culture and
humanities (including relationships and books) and 6% entertainment.
Content/Contacts
The magazine touts itself as a "personal growth guide that gives confident, smart women who are 25 to 49 all the tools they need to explore and reach for their dreams, express
their individual style and make choices that will lead to a happier and more fulfilling life." Coverage spans health and fitness, careers, finance, technology, relationships,
self-discovery issues, beauty, fashion, home, design, books and food - basically everything and anything the queen herself might cover on the tube. Appropriate contacts are as
follows:
Beauty - Christine Fellingham, beauty director
Fashion - Lisa Elwell, fashion director
Travel, technology, Internet - Catherine Kelley,
executive editor
Celebrities, movies, television - Mamie Healey,
features editor
Books - Dawn Raffel, executive articles editor
Editorial themes planned for 2001 include reinvention (January), comfort (February), self-esteem (March), joy (April), stepping out of the box (May) and contentment (June).
Pitch Tips
Don't waste time sending email press releases and lengthy, descriptive voice mails about your product or service. Editors prefer pitches by fax, and do not usually welcome
follow-up phone calls, unless you're floating an exclusive.
The magazine has a three-month lead-time. For example, the March issue, which goes on sale Feb. 20, 2001, closes Dec. 18.
Thinking of contacting Editor-in-Chief Amy Gross? Bad move. Thinking of reaching the "Big O" herself? In your dreams. Pitch editors according to their respective beats
(listed at left).
As always, read the magazine first. Story ideas should be compelling and empowering - in short, Oprah-worthy.
Comments
While the TV show and magazine often follow similar themes, their staffs are separate and should be treated as such. "[Oprah] is very involved but the stories are not
correlated with the TV shows," says executive editor Catherine Kelley.
Kelley's editorial pet peeves include phone calls, inappropriate story ideas and exclusives that turn out not to be.
As with many women's magazines content varies from the serious to the fluffy. Recent articles have explored how to find fashions on the Web, how to tame your envy,
aromatherapy facials, 35 acts of kindness, and a profile of a homeless kid who happens to be an ice-skating champion. The December issue includes a "Wise Woman's Guide to the
Holidays," including advice on how to stay sane, savor tradition, and salvage near-crises.
Keep in mind that 13% of the magazine's readers are non-Caucasian.
Say What?
Contrary to popular opinion, reporters who happen to have email are not propeller-head geniuses, capable of deciphering jargon as if it were code. Nor are they inclined to
become translators. Among the most common complaints among Web journalists at last week's PR NEWS Strategic Online Communication seminar: Acronym-laden e-releases that
require added lung capacity just to read the first sentence. And yet, we returned to our offices to find this in our in-box: "The NEON Systems iWave Solution Provides J2EE
Compliant Integration to OS/390 Data and Transactions from BEA WebLogic Server 6.0." (And that was just the subject line.)
Ok, which one of you cheeky seminar speakers is playing a joke on us?