Rachel Surgeoner
Editor of Four Thousand and UV Magazine, Thousands Brisbane, The
Written by Lauren Burvill on 2008-10-09
What would you define FourThousand as?
It’s a web based magazine. Right Angle Publishing, which is responsible for Four Thousand and the other ‘Thousands’ publications refer to it as an ‘EDM’ – Electronically Delivered Mail. Right Angle does publish some things such as Melbourne and Sydney city guides and they are currently working on one for Brisbane at the moment. But FourThousand and the other ‘Thousands’ publications have never been printed. FourThousand is all about trying to stand out online and in terms of the online industry I think a lot of Bloggers are going to be eventually drowned out. While the concept of FourThousand is similar to websites such as City Search, it’s a completely different in that it is all about have a voice that people can trust.
You are also the editor of UV Magazine, what are your future plans for the magazine?
Publishing the magazine has become very difficult just due to funding issues, so in order to counteract that we are currently planing to take the magazine online. It will be like a word press or I guess a blog with a few contributors. And then we plan to publish a really unique edition and only print 100 copies for people who who want to buy it, rather than trying to appeal to the masses and printing a few thousand copies. So that’ll be interesting to see how we translate our print presence to as online one, which I’m sure will be a challenge but it will be interesting to see how people take to it.
What do you see happening in the next five years in the online industry?
It sounds really geeky but we’re currently in the age of web 2.0 where there are a lot of bloggers, and everyone has a voice and it’s quite chaotic. Now they’re talking about a move towards web 3.0 where people who have a genuine voice will be appreciated and their voice will be considered as valid content. Bloggers will still be around but those who have an authoritative voice will be more defined and respected. So with this shift magazines are definitely becoming more viable online as the print industry is really tough. Being online gives so much more presence and flexibility to a business and as a result, more things are moving online. So along with the evolution of moving towards a new internet, the goal of Four Thousand is to be considered an authoritative and interesting voice and to be more interesting and have people trust in us.
What are the biggest challenges you and your organisation face as a member of the Brisbane media community?
Brisbane is a tough one. Our biggest challenge is getting the product out there and getting subscribers. I often will go along to events and approach people to sign up for the weekly emails and while sometimes this is a good strategy, sometimes it’s a bad one because it is an online magazine and we would rather people sign up online. But approaching people can work because people don’t often seek things out for themselves. We do also have a lot of people that look up the website without subscribing which is good also. But our biggest problem is getting subscribers and also the manner at which we want to approach people in.
What are the most important/valuable skills that graduates can bring to your industry?
I think good, clear and original communication skills are so important. Also I know it sounds really cheesy but being really passionate and motivated. I think within the industry it’s important to think outside the box. With the FourThousand articles (which are around 150 words), you can either just say the things that need to be said, or you could choose a different angle. I think it’s creativity that we promote at FourThousand that makes our articles a lot more interesting and unique. I think it is really important to work on your writing and always keep trying different approaches.
How would you rate the performance of Brisbane-based media organisations in comparison to other national and international media hubs?
Due to the population in Brisbane, this is a tricky one again. There are other online based magazines such as Flavor Pill which is centralised across the states. They do weekly publications in a few cities such as New York, San Francisco Los Angeles and they are in London now too. They are a very big organisation and thus have a lot of people working for them. But they have a very intelligent political tone, with a strong focus on the arts and theatre, quite different to the ‘Thousands’ publications. In Australia we have lost a few online publications such as Life Lounge, Lost At E Minor, and Vice Magazine of course has just become a huge entity. Some publications appeal to the lowest common denominator. FourThousand tries to find a happy medium. As far as Brisbane goes there isn’t much competition, in comparison to Sydney and Melbourne. Map Magazine has begun to start to do an electronic mailout, and they would be the strongest lifestyle street press in Brisbane and I think they do really well. However FourThousand has slightly different audience to Map.
How has new media such as the Internet and mobile communications revolutionised your workplace?
Well without the internet we wouldn’t exist. Everything that we do is done online, including communication. Working in Brisbane and our offices being in Melbourne and Sydney, rarely do we use the phone. It is so much easier to send an email. And when communicating with contributors we use Google Docs to register and co-ordinate content and it’s really effective. I have the previous editor Elliot Bledesloe to thank for that. I was a bit hesitant at first to use it but now it’s part of the routine. And also Wireless internet is a big bonus. If wireless was readily available it would change everything. Places like Alibi Room and Urban Grind have free wireless which is great for work meetings – since we don’t have an office (yet)!