Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Why You Should Join CAFME

Hi, everyone!

We want to remind you that this week is your last chance to join CAFME!

Why should you join CAFME? First of all, you will get to meet other people who are interested in the industry and love magazines just as much as you do! This is an easy way to not only make friends but to also network.

But you should also join CAFME because it is a club where students meet to

1. Enjoy a love of magazines
2. Learn about internships
3. Learn about jobs and local companies through guest speakers and trips
4. Enable real students like you and I to make friends within our area of interest who later become contacts at various companies and lifelong connections

Breaking into the magazine industry can be hard, and you must research your competition if you want to be competitive. We've all heard “there are so few jobs out there” or “you should pick a more lucrative major.” But then again, we want to do what we love. And for many of us, it’s writing… or taking photos… or using social media … or editing… or creating moving multimedia pieces.

Through CAFME, you can keep an eye on what other students with similar career aspirations are doing and gauge what you need to do to stay involved and be a top-notch journalism student in preparation for when graduation comes and you're thrown into a competitive job market.

But you should also get involved with CAFME to learn about other students' experiences and share your own. We are all in this together. It’s by making connections and meeting people (the right people) that you can make your dreams start becoming a reality (or maybe just draw on their experiences to figure out what you want to do with your life).

There are students who sit back, and there are students who work their way to land their dream job (or just an in-between job for now) or a job in general (upon graduation). Employers will look at how you spent your time in college. Joining CAFME is a great start for students wanting to get involved. Our members hold positions and are part of ALL kinds of campus publications and have completed all types of internships (from small to large, from local to big cities). We are a part of the Ed2010 of UNC (we are all involved in various campus publications as Ed members are involved in all kinds of magazines). We get together and have a good time. We learn together and help each other. Did we mention that CAFME won the Ed2010 Best New Chapter Award last year? That certainly doesn't look bad on a resume.

So please make sure to pay your dues this week. All you have to do is bring $10 to tonight's meeting or pay our treasurer, Ana, outside of the Union tomorrow from 9:30-11:30 a.m. or Friday from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.

If you don't pay, then you will no longer be on our listserv, have access to the blog, or be able to participate in meetings and the great events we plan throughout the year!

If you were a member last year, you must rejoin this year.

We want you to join CAFME not only to help us become a stronger organization, but also to help you become a stronger journalist. We can't emphasize enough the opportunities you will miss out on by not joining CAFME, so we hope to see you this week!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

CAFME Recap for Sept. 14: Tanner Stransky of EW

This week, we had Tanner Stransky, a staff writer for Entertainment Weekly, Skype with us about his job and how he got there. It was a great meeting, and Tanner was a fun, enthusiastic and informative guest. Read below to see what he had to say!

Introduction

Tanner went to Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, for his journalism degree. There, he worked for a magazine called Drake Magazine and interned at a company called Integrated Marketing through Meredith, a magazine publishing house. While at Integrated Marketing, Tanner worked for such magazines as Dodge and Currents.

The summer after his junior year, Tanner was chosen to be an intern for the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME). Through ASME, he interned at the now-defunct Teen People in the entertainment department. As an intern, his duties included transcribing and updating contact lists. Tanner said that the ASME internship program is especially great because it has a huge alumni network, and the people within this network really help each other out.

During his undergrad, Tanner did apply to be an EW intern, but he was rejected (he still has his rejection letter, he says.) He applied again after college, but he was again turned down. Luckily, he made a good connection with the intern director, and he credits this connection with getting him the job he has now.

After college, he moved to New York City and wrote and edited stories for a Meredith magazine called On DirectTV Magazine. He was then offered a position at the New York Post, where he worked part-time for the Weddings and Dating department while working part-time for On DirectTV.

During this time, he still kept in contact with the intern director at EW. Tanner said that every two to three months, he would always find a reason to email her and say hi (to say he loved an issue, to send a clip, etc.). He eventually heard of an editorial assistant opening, and he interviewed for it and got the position. His job was in the DVD department, and he wrote reviews and news stories.

After nine months, an editorial assistant position opened in the TV department. Tanner interviewed for this position and got the job, so he left the DVD department and began working for the TV department. For this job, he had to write a lot of TV features and recaps. He worked as an editorial assistant in the TV department for two years, and in 2009, he was promoted to a correspondent. In 2011, he was again promoted to a staff writer. Now, Tanner writes primarily articles about TV, but he also writes about music and theater.

Q: What is your day-to-day job?
A: Tanner says his day-to-day job is mostly writing, which covers a lot of different content. He writes blog posts and for the magazine, even though he says more than half of what he writes is for the web. He says his job is a lot about writing for and representing the brand of EW.

His assigned beats at EW are currently TV, music and theater. For the TV beat, he covers “Housewives” (Desperate Housewives, Real Housewives, The Good Wife, etc.), Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice, and he’s also covered Happy Endings, Raising Hope and The Middle.

Tanner says he never quite knows where his day will take him while at EW.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

CAFME Recap for Sept. 7, 2011: Magazines 101

Our second meeting was informative and fun, as we talked about the basics of the magazine industry.

We hope you were able to get a copy of our Magazine Cheat Sheet, but if not, click here for the worksheet.

This sheet gives you an overview of positions in the editorial, fashion, beauty, web and art departments of a magazine. It also lists the names of major publishing houses, magazines within these houses, and the names of magazine editors. If you are interviewing for a job or internship at a magazine, it is crucial to know its publishing house and editor, so make sure to check this worksheet out!

Next, we had a discussion and Q&A session about the industry. Thanks to those of you who asked these great questions!

Q: How difficult is it to get photo internships, and if you can’t find one, should you try to intern in a different area of journalism (i.e. reporting) to boost your resume?
A: Photo internships are hard to find, but you can probably find some. If you can’t find any at a major publication, look in and around North Carolina. There are a lot of smaller publications (such as Our State, QSR Magazine, Garden & Gun, Belle Magazine, Pace Communications publications) near Chapel Hill, so try to call and/or email them. Say you are a student at UNC-CH and are looking for a photo internship. If you can work for free, make sure to stress this!

We suggest not going too far out of your field if you can’t find a photo internship because it can be hard justifying how a reporting internship (or something else) has helped your photo skills. An art internship may be the closest thing you can find to a photo internship, so stick to that if you can’t find a photo internship. And, of course, you can always go see Jay Eubank in the J-school for help finding an internship.

Q: What are the sizes of departments in a magazine?
A: This varies among magazines, so we unfortunately can’t give you a specific size. For more information, we suggest doing some research (search, email or call) or go see Jay Eubank in the J-school.

Q: [To Alyssa, who interned for Cosmopolitan this summer] How did you get your start?
A: Aside from working for high school publications, Alyssa got her start as an intern for Girls’ Life Magazine when she was in high school. Since then, she has interned for USA Weekend, The Washington Post Express, and, of course, Cosmo. She has also worked for various campus publications.

Friday, September 2, 2011

CAFME Recap for Aug. 31: A Great Start to the Year!

Wednesday was our first meeting of the year, and we had a great turnout!

In case you missed it, CAFME held a pizza party and magazine fair from 8 to 9 p.m. this Wednesday. We saw some familiar faces and a lot of new ones, so we can’t wait to get this year started!

We (Sierra, Nicole, Alyssa, Carson, Ana and Rachel) first introduced ourselves to everyone and described our sponsor, Ed2010. Ed2010 is a group of young magazine journalists and editors who want to learn more about the magazine industry and teach others about it. If you haven’t checked out Ed2010’s website, you should, as it gives a lot of helpful advice about jobs, internships, networking, etc.

Next, we had representatives from many campus publications talk about who they are and why students should join them:

Campus BluePrint
Who? A non-partisan publication “that aims to offer a forum for open dialogue on progressive ideals at UNC-Chapel Hill and in the greater community.”
How to apply/contact for more information? chelsphipps@gmail.com

The Daily Tar Heel
Who? The student newspaper of UNC-Chapel Hill
How to apply/contact for more information? dth@dailytarheel.com

Black Ink
Who? The official publication of the Black Student Movement at UNC-Chapel Hill
Positions available? Writers, Graphic Designers
How to apply/contact for more information? uncblackink@gmail.com

Her Campus
Who? An online college women’s magazine
Positions available? Writers, Photographers, Real Live College Guy (male advice columnist)
How to apply/contact for more information? bnbass@live.unc.edu

Patchwork
Who? A social justice and world issues magazine
How to apply/contact for more information? ed.patchwork@gmail.com

Uncharted
Who? UNC-Chapel Hill’s only arts magazine, covering campus, Chapel Hill and Carrboro
Positions available? All positions
How to apply/contact for more information? rcollins@unc.edu

Blue & White
Who? UNC-CH's premiere campus features publication
Positions available? Writers, Designers, Bloggers, Online Columnists (no experience required for any positions)
How to apply/contact for more information? bluewhitemag@gmail.com

Scope Magazine (formerly Kaleidoscope)
Who? UNC’s fashion and lifestyle magazine
Positions available? Marketers, Journalists, Bloggers, Editors, Photographers, Graphic Designers, Artists, Stylists, Event Planners, Web Development, Public Relations, Corporate Research
How to apply/contact for more information? kelsey.isenberg@swmediaLLC.com or joinscope@swmediaLLC.com

BoUNCe Magazine
Who? A satirical humor magazine that pokes fun of life at Carolina.
Positions available? Writers, Page Editors, Graphics Editors, Copy Editors, Web Managers, Treasurer, Publicist
How to apply/contact for more information? michelema31@gmail.com

The Well-Being
Who? UNC-Chapel Hill’s premiere health and fitness magazine
Positions available? All positions (especially photographers)
How to apply/contact for more information? twbmag@gmail.com

Carolina Scientific
Who? UNC-Chapel Hill’s first undergraduate science publication (focuses on such subjects as chemistry, biology, physics and research).
Positions available? Writers, Advertising, Design (especially)
How to apply/contact for more information? talmadge@email.unc.edu

And if you want to contact us at CAFME, email us at our NEW email address: unccafme@gmail.com (rather than carolinamagazines@yahoo.com).

Last but not least, we are letting people join CAFME throughout September. Dues are just $10 for the entire year – considering the great speakers, events, information and trips that CAFME provides, it’s worth it!

Thanks for those of you who came out on Wednesday, and we look forward to seeing you again and meeting any new interested students in the weeks to come!