Following on from our fist feature on Women of the Web on thread.co.nz, Megan chats with more women in local media who have made the move from print to web and who form the new face of publishing…
Following on from our fist feature on Women of the Web on thread.co.nz, Megan chats with more women in local media who have made the move from print to web and who form the new face of publishing. We talk to Helene Ravlich, erica Kent, Tamsin Marshall and Melissa Williams-King about their blogs and websites.
What is your name and your own background?
Helene Ravlich. I’ve been a freelance journalist and editor for around 14 years and a copywriter for eight. I’ve written – and still do write – for publications as diverse as Harpers Bazaar, FQ, Grazia, NZ Women’s Weekly, Rip It Up and French Rolling Stone, and I’m also the Features Editor of KAREN magazine. I keep busy!
Tamsin Marshall (nee George). I started writing for magazines while I was at Auckland University. I started with Pavement Magazine and then freelanced for a few months and wrote for The Listener, Viva, Metro (bar reviewer), plus I had some columns in the NZ Herald. I really wanted to get a full time role and started at ACP on The Australian Women’s Weekly and Kia Ora Magazine. I did a mixture of writing and styling for a few titles like Taste. Oh and I was fashion and beauty editor at New Idea.
What is your new website, what’s it all about, and when did it / will it launch?
Helene Ravlich: It’s not really new! It’s called Pretty Beautiful and can be found at www.mshelene.com. It’s predominantly about skincare, makeup and haircare products that I come across and love, with some health pieces and giveaways thown in for good measure. It launched almost two years ago.
Tamsin Marshall: I started beautygoss.com when I was pregnant waaay back in 2008 (it launched June 2009) as a way of keeping myself in the industry while I was effectively at home on maternity leave. Last November I launched mummygoss.co.nz which is a lifestyle site for Mums. There’s a bit of parenting and relationship on it but it is mostly beauty, fashion, food, travel and interiors.
What is your goal in doing it?
I just had a lot to say about some truly amazing products and not as many outlets as I would have liked to write about them. Beauty really is my buzz and I’m always being asked for advice on products and treatments, so why not have a bit of a rave every day and spread the word? I’ve never done any marketing for it but have built up a frighteningly big readership, leading to a little perormance anxiety at times!
Tamsin Marshall: As much as I love print, and I am a hoarder of magazines, I think that online is the future of publishing and I really wanted to be a part of it. I love the immediacy of it but I just wish that New Zealanders would write more comments. In every other country a reader will take part and weigh in on the conversation but here we seem to be too reserved, unless we are being bribed for a competition. In my opinion, reader comments are just as much a part of the story as the article. My goals are to keep writing, keep sharing, informing and inspiring. Hopefully I’m doing a good job!
How are you finding it different already working on the web compared to your long illustrious career in print?
Helene Ravlich: I work solely for myself on the web so get to have a lot of fun with what I write, and pick and choose what I shine a light on. I actually went through about two hundred magazines in the weekend to clip my stories and was amazed at some of the dull things I’ve had to write about! When I’m my own boss that just isn’t an issue and I love that. Having said that, I’ve written about some equally amazing things for seriously cool publications, and I’m very thankful for that.
Tamsin Marshall: There are so many differences but for me the first one is layout. Finally website layouts are becoming prettier and more picture heavy. I really disliked the first lot of design that was very templated and boxed. I think it’s nice to see a big picture with less text. I also think you should write less online than you do in print. You’ve got to make it easier to follow. And now with mobile devices and tablets, website’s designs need to be mobile and tablet friendly. Things change A LOT faster online than they do in print. But I still love them both. Sometimes it’s hard to put myself out there and be personal about things… but that is what people really want online… they want to know the writer. You have to be confident and to have a thick skin.
What from your career in print do you think still applies to your new life online as a blogger?
Helene Ravlich: I’m not sure what to say as I still write predominantly for print, both as a journalist and a copywriter. I guess I’m still disciplined with my own blog in that I post every day, at least five days a week – I don’t see the point in random posting as people just stop coming by for a look at what you have to say.
Tamsin Marshall: Fact checking is really important, grammar and spelling.
What differences and/or benefits do you think we hold as older bloggers compared to the young bloggers in fashion? Any observations as a Gen X blogger to add?
Helene Ravlich: I’m not a fashion blogger but as a beauty writer I don’t think age is a factor – there are 16 year old bloggers with incredible knowledge and dedication to research when it comes to fashion and beauty writing, and 35 year olds who turn up at a launch for the free perfume and then re-hash a press release once a week on their blog.
I guess as an older writer who works across both mediums I am more fastidious than most when it comes to spelling and grammar, and absolutely refuse to look at sites and blogs where these two factors are completely ignored. I just won’t put myself through it – I want to take to my laptop screen with a red pen!
Tamsin Marshall: I think we appeal to an audience in the same life-stage – that’s why I started MummyGoss. It’s fun to read about fashion and to be light and frivolous but as you get older you seek a different type of conversation and it’s good to have more writers online who cover that. My most startling observation is how these bloggers behave in front of potential clients. You need to be very polite and remember that you are a guest. Complaining about parking, the food, the venue, and bringing up a products faults is not very endearing.
Any other points?
Helene Ravlich: Keep buying magazines, people! Nothing tops the feeling you get when you see someone reading a beautiful magazine featuring one of your stories… even after all these years I still get a little thrill.
Tamsin Marshall: Even though I have been online for a few years, I feel like I am still at the beginning. There is so much to learn and so much that keeps evolving…. it can be daunting, but exciting.
Megan Robinson 24 July 2012
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