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http://www.fastcompany.com
The Wind Up
Nearly 10 years ago, when the founders of Fast Company were starting to assemble their editorial staff, they called John Byrne, a senior writer at BusinessWeek, to see if he
was interested in the top spot on the masthead. "I loved the idea but it wasn't going to happen," says Byrne. Fast Forward to Spring 2003. The once high-flying Fast Company, which
Gruner + Jahr bought in 2000 from real estate magnate/publisher Mort Zuckerman for nearly $500 million amid the Internet craze, had come crashing back down to earth following the
dot-com debacle. Founders Alan Webber and Bill Taylor were ready to move on when they gave Byrne another ring. With the economic froth from the late 1990s gone Byrne now saw
opportunity to reinvent the publication, taking on the reins in April as Fast Company editor-in-chief. "It's a terrific opportunity to reshape a magazine a lot of people still
care for," he says.
"The magazine greatly benefited from the hubbub of the new economy and came of age at that time," Byrne adds. "But the magazine's original DNA wasn't really supposed to be that
way but was intended to be Rolling Stone, US News & World Report and the Harvard Business Review combined; a magazine of ideas, with a lot of service journalism to work
smarter and lead better." Byrne has made significant editorial changes in the last several months, with 60% new staffers. He's retired the 'Up with People' business tone that
characterized the magazine in the 1990s and is putting proven business executives on the cover, such as hip-hop/fashion impresario Russell Simmons in November. New edits include
"The Corporate Shrink," in which a corporate psychologist addresses business issues and "Office Handbook," irreverent pieces on how to suck up to your boss and behave at office
parties, for example. Toward the feature well, the focus is on long-form journalism, neatly packaged. One recent article homed in how Hewlett-Packard landed a $3 billion contract
with Procter & Gamble against the likes of IBM. "We need to get inside the world of competition because that's the world of business," Byrne says.
The Pitch
Fast Company's circulation, which climbed steadily through most of the 1990s, remains at 725,000. Ad pages, while down 6% year-to-date, according to PR NEWS sister publication,
media industry newsletter, have improved compared with the last couple of years, when ad pages were typically down by at least 25%. "We have an opportunity to take advantage and
say, 'Hey, if you're going to choose a business magazine that's more feature related you should be picking us,'" Byrne says. "Why? Because we're going to run stories that you're
not going to read in The Wall Street Journal or BusinessWeek, because we're far more eclectic, funky and thought-provoking than Forbes or Fortune." The two main editors to pitch
are Executive Editor Mark Vamos, who is charge of features, [email protected], and Deputy Editor Keith Hammonds, who edits front-
of-the-book items, [email protected]. Both prefer to be initially contacted by e-mail; the best time to contact them is mid-
month, right after close. Meetings are kept to a minimum - just two a month. The magazine will be covering more mainstream companies than it has in the past but will still cover
"small, interesting, sort of cool organizations and people who are doing new and different things. But the emphasis will be on results," Byrne says. "Different is really
important; a lot of great ideas come from unusual places and we're far more likely to treat ideas from unusual places with respect than our competitors because that's what we're
all about." Byrne has also started a Fast Company "Book of the Month" club. Every month, five business titles are nominated and excerpts are put online for readers to vote on one
of the five books. The winner gets a full treatment in the following issue, featuring an interview with the winning author.