Working on a trend? There’s some weird karma going on in my in-boxes today. As I worked my way through my e-mail after a couple days of travel, I discovered a message from a rexblog reader who’s helping out at the recently-launched Work magazine (remember the one with the party) letting me know it’s ramping up a group weblog. And on the exact same day, one of the founding editors of the magazine Worthwhile (that first launched as an impressive group weblog) sent me their premiere print issue. As both magazines are similarly niched (but I’m certain they’re quite different, however, and you should subscribe to both, no doubt) I thought it was, well, a coincidence.

Worthwhile editorial mission:

The editorial mission of WORTHWHILE is to put purpose and passion on the same plane as profit. WORTHWHILE offers a roadmap for business success that is more personally fulfilling and socially responsible. We live by the motto that it is impossible to have a meaningful life without meaningful work.

About Work magazine:

Work magazine is a quarterly analysis of the U.S.A.’s work culture and its influence over the world. Because Americans spend the quantitative, and often qualitative, majority of their lives working (earning money or learning a skill), the fodder for the magazine is tremendous, even endless. Labor its central theme, the magazine will explore a broad range of issues that all influence why and how we work –from politics to design to health to fashion to travel, the list of the magazine’s topics goes on. Work magazine hopes to improve the way that people consume, practice their trades, and live their lives through innovative approaches to work.

See, I said they were different. Nevertheless, if I weren’t such a nuanced observer of these kind of things, I’d be getting “trend spotting” vibes here. Traditionally, however, a new magazine category is not declared a trend until David Carr declares it such.

rexblog bumper music:Get a Job (Sha Na Na)

Ready blogging: This isn’t going to be a post like the last time I chatted with a government official but yesterday I spent about an hour with Tom Ridge complaining about the long screening lines at BWI airport regarding a new Homeland Security program called Ready Business (ready.gov/business) designed to encourage small businesses to take some basic steps in preparation for a natural or man-made emergency. Not once did the topic of duct tape come up. Unlike meeting with the President, yesterday I was an official “member of the press,” wearing my hat as an editor of a national magazine with a circulation of 550,000 small business owners. Journalists from the other 4-5 magazines you’d expect to be there were also sitting at the table. As the content of what we discussed is pretty much covered on the Ready.gov website and I’m writing about the topic in several day-job venues, I’ll skip that part (bottom line: use common sense).

Rarely is there ever any news in one of these news briefing, round-table things. And yesterday was no exception. We met in a small board-room-like conference room at the Intercontinental Hotel in mid-town Manhatten on 48th. We were asked to be there precisely at nine, I thought for security reasons, but it was mainly so we’d be punctual. I got there early, but the others, all New York-based, walked in at the nanosecond of nine.

While there were only eight-ten people around the table, there was an air of formality. Definitely a “business” meeting. (However, the room got a little warm and Ridge said he should take his jacket off.) The format was chatting, no power-point or presentation beyond Ridge’s outlining why Homeland Security is suggesting small businesses should take the time to prepare for something like a tornado or fire (FEMA is a part of HSA so it’s not all about terrorism was the explanation, although it appears obvious if a small business is prepared for one emergency, it will help in the case of any other kind of emergency).

Ridge reminded me of the actor and former senator from my state of Tennessee, Fred Thompson. Big guy with that central-casting “look” of a cabinet member (while in real life, few actually do look that way) or chairman-of-the-board. Knew his stuff and was comfortable with all the questions. He wears a hearing aid in his left ear, however, and had some difficulty deciphering the mumbled questions from the writers.

(An aside: After having family (and their businesses) threatened by three hurricanes within a few weeks, this whole preparedness thing has become more interesting to me. I’ve coupled working on the topic (for some writing projects) and preparing a plan for Hammock Publishing and the process has been enlightening. One of the items on our still-in-draft emergency plan is a temporary blog that will replace our usual website.)

Update: I must have posted the wrong version of this earlier today as I have now added a couple more links that I thought I had — but hadn’t — earlier — like, for instance, to MyBusiness Magazine.

End of a vaporzine: One of the unanticipated consequences of blogging about vaporzines is that once in a while, a few weeks or months after blogging it, I receive in the mail a premiere copy of a magazine and a note from its founder. Usually the note says something like, “Vaporzine this, a-hole.” But today, I received a premiere issue and a much nicer kind of note from one of the two founding editors of the magazine, Worthwhile, who had actually read the link to the vaporzine definition and knew it wasn’t a derogatory term. (However, I will admit being overly snippy with an early mention of the publication.)

Despite the publicity others are trying to generate for being the first weblog to become a magazine, I believe Worthwhile has a fairly convincing stake to that claim as it launched in the spring as a group weblog with contributions from some blogging luminaries. Note, I didn’t say it was the first online property or website to become a magazine — that’s been done many times — rather, if they want to make the claim, I think they can wear the “weblog to magazine” mantle.

However, I think the magazine underplays its association with the weblog other than prominently featuring articles from the A-List bloggers who also contribute to the group blog. Because of those involved, I think the magazine has an opportunity to explore the role of print in a conversational-centric brand. The editors do a much better job than I could to describe their position and mission, so I won’t try. There are aspects of the magazine that remind me of the early days of Fast Company, back when it was good. It definitely addresses issues confronting all those of us who are passionate about both personal and business pursuits.

Another thing. As this whole web thing is about “linkages” — or at least that’s what one of your contributing author-bloggers has written about for the past decade — wouldn’t it be more link-friendly if the magazine appeared on the website in a form one could link to and blog about rather than as PDF files? Not criticizing, just wondering.

Congratulations on graduating from vaporzineness.

observation
<b>Ready blogging:</b> This isn’t going to be a post like the last time <a href=”http://www.rexblog.com/2004/02/19#a2576″>I chatted with a government official</a> but yesterday I spent about an hour with Tom Ridge <span style=”text-decoration:line-through;”>complaining about the long screening lines at BWI airport</span> regarding a new Homeland Security program called <a href=”http://www.ready.gov/business/index.html”>Ready Business (ready.gov/business)</a> designed to encourage small businesses to take some basic steps in preparation for a natural or man-made emergency. Not once did the topic of <a href=”http://www.ready.gov/faq.html#q5″>duct tape come up</a>. Unlike meeting with the President, yesterday I was an official “member of the press,” wearing my hat as an editor of a national magazine with a circulation of 550,000 small business owners. Journalists from the other 4-5 magazines you’d expect to be there were also sitting at the table. As the content of what we discussed is pretty much covered on the Ready.gov website and I’m writing about the topic in several day-job venues, I’ll skip that part (bottom line: use common sense).

Rarely is there ever any news in one of these news briefing, round-table things. And yesterday was no exception. We met in a small board-room-like conference room at the Intercontinental Hotel on 48th. We were asked to be that precisely at nine, I thought for security reasons, but it was mainly so we’d be punctual. I got there early, but the others, all New York-based, walked in at the nanosecond of nine.

While there were only eight-ten people around the table, there was an air of formality. Definitely a “business” meeting. (However, the room got a little warm and Ridge said he should take his jacket off.) The format was chatting, no power-point or presentation beyond Ridge’s outlining why Homeland Security is suggesting small businesses should take the time to prepare for something like a tornado or fire (FEMA is a part of HSA so it’s not all about terrorism was the explanation, although it appears obvious if a small business is prepared for one emergency, it will help in the case of any other kind of emergency).

Ridge reminded me of the actor and former senator from my state of Tennessee, Fred Thompson. Big guy with that central-casting “look” of a cabinet member (while in real life, few actually do look that way) or chairman-of-the-board. Knew his stuff and was comfortable with all the questions. He wears a hearing aid in his left ear, however, and had some difficulty deciphering the mumbled questions from the writers.

(An aside: After having family (and their businesses) threatened by three hurricanes within a few weeks, this whole preparedness thing has become more interesting to me. I’ve coupled working on the topic (for some writing projects) and preparing a plan for Hammock Publishing and the process has been enlightening. One of the items on our still-in-draft emergency plan is a temporary blog that will replace our usual website.)

Micropersuasive: Yesterday I was in NYC and had lunch with blogger-PR-pundit-newly-web Steve Rubél (accent added by me). While it was our first official meeting with each other, we were able to pick up several conversations mid-sentence from having followed each-other’s weblog. Steve’s been married a little over a week and has that, well, glow, still. As I was leaving, I told him the day-job reason I was in town yesterday and he seemed perplexed why I wasn’t blogging it. I told him I was having to write about it too many other places. Made me think, however. It seems odd not to blog it. So, I will (the one two posts above this one).

Brilliant marketing: Typically I don’t blog non-North American magazine launches, but I’m making an exception for this customer magazine from Barclay’s Bank as I’m always looking for self-serving examples of how enlightened corporations and associations use magazines published with the services of outsourced custom publishing companies like, well, you know what self-serving direction I’m heading with this.

Free at least: WSJ.com is going to knock down the subscription wall for five days starting November 8. I guess it’s like when the local cable company offers a free weekend of access to a premium movie channel. (via PaidContent.Org)

Abundantly clear: Rather than actually blog this, I decided I’d be environmentally conscious and merely recycle what Michael Shields reports in a trade version of a “How magazines get started (continued)” feature story.

Quote:

Plenty will launch with an impressive array of advertisers for an independent startup, including Benjamin Moore, British Airways, L.L. Bean, Sierra Club, Stonyfield Farms, the State of Maine, and White Wave. The magazine will publish six times in 2005 at a rate base of 100,000, with distribution centered in upscale bookstores, airports, and college campuses. Spellun says that the enthusiasm for Plenty has made this launch go more smoothly than expected. “People have responded so well,” he said. “I had the idea for this magazine in January, and we will be on the newsstand in November

I could recycle some old comments I’ve blogged about first issues — like “paid” advertising and “an impressive array of advertisers” are not always the same thing, but I don’t want to poke a hole in the vaporzine layer.