We’ve noticed a rise in the move to digital subscriptions for online access to our favorite magazines, as well as options to bundle your print magazine deliveries with exclusive online access. Taking a page from their traditional print counterparts and even streaming subscription services, these digital memberships provide readers access to the promised land behind the paywall: fewer ads and more great content.
National titles from publishers including Hearst and Condé Nast have hopped on the trend, including ELLE Decor, House Beautiful All Access, and Town & Country All Access. Industry leader Architectural Digest has gone a step further with their AD Pro members-only community similar to the trade leader, Business of Home. Tapping into readers’ online subscription support helps even the largest publications afford to keep publishing their print titles and avoid becoming too bogged down by ads on their websites.
What does this mean for your pitching efforts?
This new frontier presents more opportunities than ever for coverage. But as in any attempt to get press, the most important step is reading and studying the pages before pitching. And that means subscribing.
Editorial departments for print and online teams once attempted to operate as separate entities. Increasingly, however, we’ve noticed them working together, with bylines on the pages and online, and playing off of and expanding all material being pitched.
As the Recipe for Press team tracks editors and new positions in editorial to curate our annual Media List and pitch client products and projects, we see the blurring of these roles. And remembering these pointers, below, will help to bring you the most pitch success!
- Online placements are a springboard for an interior designer to see their project in print. It’s all about building relationships and exposure to your work and point of view, over time.
- There’s no shortcut to understanding the kind of material editors are looking for than reading the pages and observing the types of articles and angles they are already sharing. Observing their bylines also aligns you with the right editor to pitch.
- Good photography and editorial rights to those images fast-track your chances of being published.
- Online lead times to print are a lot closer than print editions (which is usually six months or more out) so coverage can come quickly. It also moves off the page just as fast so be sure to have a plan to maximize the exposure once it’s live.
For more pitch tips, industry trends and Media List updates, you can find our team’s adventures by following @amyflurry and @recipeforpress on Instagram!