Jacqui paces ahead

By Vanessa Lees

On her visit to Preston, the Publishing Director of City Life magazine made MA Magazine Journalism students privy to news so exclusive, that even her staff are yet to be put in the picture.

Jacqui Pacey, who has worked on City Life for 12 years, described her role as "pulling everything together". Her aim is to ensure that the revenue of the magazine greatly outweighs the expenditure, and so she is constantly trying to develop ways to market the magazine and leave her competitors collecting dust on the shelves. 

Her most recent venture, and a concept oblivious to other publications, is the digital edition. If her vision pans out, City Life will appear in totality on the web and be purchased online.

Targeting subscribers

Jacqui sees the digital edition as partly a means of targeting and maintaining subscribers: "City Life goes in the shops on Wednesday but for one reason or another, subscribers sometimes donít get their copy until Friday and so miss half the weekís listings.

"What we would propose is if they donít get their copy on time they will get the digital one free."

Jacqui presented the media kit as the bible of the publishing industry. It contains the answers to what guarantees a magazine longevity, "knowing your readers", and displays enough reader demographics to create a human android.

Convincing advertisers

According to Jacqui, itís then a case of convincing advertisers that your magazine is worthy of their product. Jacqui acknowledged that City Life was in a safe position in one respect as "Mac make-up sure as hell wonít advertise in Saga Magazine".

Students are looking forward to hearing more of Jaquiís ideas when she returns to Preston in late November.

More info:
MA Magazine Journalism >

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See also:
City Life website >

Extra and related information

Our print and broadcast courses are accredited by the The Broadcast Journalism Training Council and the National Council for the Training of Journalists. Our MA Magazine Journalism is accredited by the Periodicals Training Council.