So, what do you do?

I love Fridays, especially those that fall after another successful deadline. Yesterday we sent our April issue to the printers with only the usual glitches. Nothing tastes as good as a collective CLEO sigh of relief feels.

People often ask me what magazine editor does and I usually laugh them off with something like: “wear Prada and drink champagne”. The truth us that even I don’t always know what I’m doing but let me explain as best I can.

Sometimes it feels like I’m living in a parallel universe because we plan so far in advance and I’m often working on three issues at the same time. This week we looked into our crystal ball and planned our June issue, while signing off the April issue and getting started on May (all of which are going to be fabulous by the way). My head is spinning. I can’t decide whether I should be wearing shorts or coats, whether Roxette is hot or not and if letting your roots show is a hair do or a hair don’t.

We discuss features, fashion and beauty while deciding how things are going to look, sound and feel. We plan photo shoots, interviews and competitions all the while trying to keep costs down and quality on the up and up.

Once a month, I sit down with our advertising team to discuss upcoming issues and ad opportunities in the magazine. I’ve often read reader complains of certain mags having too many adverts and not enough content and while I agree that content comes first, people don’t always understand that it’s the advertising that pays for the magazine and without it, we wouldn’t be able to sell CLEO for a mere R19.95. Good advertising isn’t a compromise. It should be something that offers a service, gives value to the readers and makes them think: “I’m so glad someone told me about that sale/sunscreen/cell phone special”. When I was younger I used to pour over beautiful ads for perfume or jeans, cut them out and save them somewhere to inspire myself on bad hair days, fat days and down-in-the-dumps days (don’t tell anyone but I still do this).

I’m also constantly in touch with readers on Facebook and Twitter. I honestly do want to know what you’re up to, what you like about the mag and what you want to see more of. It breaks my heart when people complain about not receiving their subscriptions or prizes and while it’s not always under our control we do try to sort it out, I promise.

We listen to everything you say, even if it’s that you want your granny to be on our cover. While I’m sure she’s as lovely as you say, deciding on our cover every month is not something we take lightly. It’s taken me a long time to realise you can’t please everyone but I’ll be damned if I give up trying. So please don’t stop sending through your suggestions for cover girls. Just don’t be sad if we don’t pick you, Oprah or Courtney Love.
Now for the most unglamorous part of my job: sorting through emails! I get hundreds every day and honestly, not all of them I reply to. There are the mails from PRs wanting to get their clients in the mag (some are perfect for us, some are for tile grouting services), sometimes they want us to publish pictures of glitzy, celebrity event we weren’t invited to (um, no) and sometimes they want our features lists (why they think we would give away our bread and butter I don’t know).

Then there are the many, many intern requests. We can only accommodate so many people and often only for a few days at a time. I know how invaluable work experience is (I myself spent a day at People magazine a million years ago and now I share an office with them) so here are some “don’ts” for those who do send us requests. Don’t cc other magazines on your email, don’t confuse us for another magazine, don’t forget to use spell check (especially if you want to be a writer), don’t send your autobiography (if your cover letter is too long I’m probably not going to get to the end), don’t get your mom to phone or email on your behalf, and don’t harass my brilliant PA and office godsend Melissa if you haven’t heard from us. Of course there are moments of Prada and champagne, goody bags and rock stars but mostly it’s lots of hard work, brain storming and coffee-drinking. And I wouldn’t trade it for the world.