World Literature Today Managing Editor Michelle Johnson-Final Project

Photo courtesy of World Literature Today

Michelle Johnson has worked at World Literature Today, an internationally read magazine produced by the University of Oklahoma, since 2004 and she has worked as the Managing editor for one year.

World Literature today is 84 years old and used to be an academic journal called Books Abroad. In the last 10 years the journal evolved into a colorful magazine, but has not lost its academic stand point. The magazine covers literature, culture, music, dance and architecture.

"This magazine has undergone a complete renaissance, because it used to be an academic journal which was all black and white, few pictures and lots of text, it was interesting but it was a journal," Johnson said.

WLT also hosts the Neustadt fesitval in the fall and the Puterbaugh festival in the spring. WLT is a non-profit publication.

"This is really fun because it isn’t driven by a profit motive, so you don't have that as your primary mental preoccupation and that is freeing in a way," Johnson said. "You are producing something that is intelligent, but it's not just for an academic audience anymore, so we are getting to think about an audience that is broader, and that's exciting."

Her job as managing editor entails copy editing the entire magazine, finding new authors to contribute to the magazine and meeting creative people all over the world.

"I meet a lot of interesting people, meeting the authors and the guests that come, it's a lot of fun," Johnson said. "That's not dull, that's not boring, working with creative people can be a lot of fun."

Johnson went to Oklahoma City University and has a bachelor's degree in English and a law degree. She practiced law for many years, but finally decided to stop and look around for something new. She was on the law review in law school which drove home a real love of producing and putting out a piece of work. And so a job in magazines was just what she wanted.

"I love the subject matter of the magazine, I love that we actually produce something, that we make something and I think that what we produce is valuable and I love how much I get to learn," Johnson said. "I feel like what we are producing is really neat, something that I want to tell people about, that I'm excited about."

Magazine Industry and Internet Presence Today:

Experts agree that the circulation of hard copy magazines are down and are continuing to be so. However, those who work in the magazine industry think that magazines will never completely lose their hard copy print editions.

Michelle Johnson, managing editor of World Literature Today, said that she believes magazines’ death are being prematurely reported.

“I think that there are people like me and people much younger than me who just like to hold a magazine and who like to go into a book store and buy one, who like to hold it in their hands and that’s not going to change,” Johnson said. “I don’t think that you will ever have a complete death, these things are going to swing back and forth.”

Lori Brooks, faculty advisor for the features office at the University of Oklahoma, says much the same thing.

“I will forever say that there is something about holding a publication in your hands that has a connection that you can’t have any other way,” Brooks said.

Even though circulation is down for magazines since 2008, magazines have promise in the online business. So far online profits have not been substantial enough to make a difference in magazine profits, but ‘Slate’ editor-in-chief, Jacob Weisberg said he is betting on internet and online profits to get better because online business is inherently better. State of the News Media said they estimate online profits to be a small but fast-growing part of the magazine business. They said in 2009 online revenues grew, but are still unlikely to make up for declines in newsstand profits.

State of the News Media quotes mediafinder.com which says the number of online only publications is growing. In 2009 there were 694 online magazines which grew from 168 in 2004. This of course means more jobs, because more content is needed to fill the unlimited space that the internet can provide.

“Magazines are doing better than newspapers now, partly because they do have that online presence, because they do have that online interactive piece and a written kind of piece,” Brooks said.

Brooks said that OU alumni have found that their jobs at magazines require more than just writing now. They are expected to blog, Tweet and send out enewsletters. She said for those seeking a job in this industry, they should expect to be asked to do much more than simply produce content.

Johnson said World Literature Today has taken advantage of the opportunities the internet has afforded.

“There is just so much connectivity back and forth between what’s inside a magazine and what’s online, and I think that that is a key change in the magazine industry from the past decade and it will be interesting to see where that goes,” Johnson said.

Sources:
Michelle Johnson, managing editor of World Literature Today, June 28, 2010.
Lori Brooks, faculty advisor of features office, University of Oklahoma, June 30, 2010.
State of the News Media, journalism.org, Magazines. June 30, 2010