Changing times for Dartmoor Magazine

The following text is an edited version of the extended Editor’s Letter that will appear in the autumn issue (DM155).

I have news! After sixteen years as editor of Dartmoor Magazine I have decided it’s time for me to move on: the upcoming autumn issue will be my last in post. Many of you know that I became editor in 2008 when Edgemoor Publishing bought the business from Elisabeth Stanbrook, and that in late 2013 my brother David and I formed Blackingstone Publishing when David bought the magazine from Edgemoor. Since then I have been involved in every aspect: commissioning, editing, writing, photography, distribution, networking, invoicing, answering the phone, processing orders, stuffing envelopes, social media… and the rest.

This is not a decision I have taken lightly. Long-term readers of the magazine will be aware of how much I love it, and how much work goes into making each issue the very best it can be. But I’ve reached the stage where I need to ‘get on with the rest of my life’, as they say. I am very proud of what designer Becci and I, along with David and our lovely contributors and advertising people, have created and maintained, especially through difficult economic times. But sixteen years is enough for any editor (although I must admit that Elisabeth managed twenty-three!) – even when the magazine in question focuses on such an extraordinarily special part of the country. And I’m not retiring: I have all my other editing, writing and walking work to keep me going (as indicated by the header photo – that’s me at John o’ Groats in June this year!).

Thank you all for your wonderful support over the last sixteen years. It’s been very much appreciated.

I thought it might, at this time, be interesting to share the following!

CONFESSIONS OF A MAGAZINE EDITOR
In December 2018 I was invited to be the guest speaker at the Dartmoor Preservation Association’s Christmas lunch at Ilsington Country House Hotel. Although I was by that time fairly used to giving talks alongside a PowerPoint presentation, it was my first experience of talking without photographic back-up (always handy in terms of diverting attention away from the speaker!). I recently looked back over the notes I made in preparation for that talk – titled as above  – and somehow it feels appropriate to reproduce an edited version here.

CONFESSION NO 1
When I became editor I knew I had a very hard act to follow
I became editor of Dartmoor Magazine in 2008 when Elisabeth Stanbook – who, as many of who will know, started the magazine – sold it to Edgemoor Publishing in Okehampton. Edegmoor’s owner, Simon Lloyd, approached me and asked if I’d like to take on the editorship – I was working as a freelance editor and author at the time.

I knew of Elisabeth, and her husband Tom Greeves (founder of the Dartmoor Society), through their reputation as true Dartmoor experts. I felt somewhat overawed, and didn’t dare speak to either of them if we happened to be at the same event. But on hearing that I had become editor Elisabeth sent me a really kind congratulations card– it’s pretty faded now, but I still have it on the wall of my office – and at the magazine’s thirtieth birthday party (held at the White Hart in Moretonhampstead) in 2015 we cut the cake together. I really didn’t have anything to worry about in that respect.

CONFESSION NO 2
When I became editor there was an adverse reaction from some quarters
The magazine had (and still has) a very loyal following, and when I took over as editor much of that loyalty was attached to Elisabeth. Some subscribers – and one specialist Dartmoor website – seemed to believe that I had just ‘blown in’, possibly from London, and knew nothing about Dartmoor. They weren’t slow in making their opinions known, either face-to-face or online: it was pretty uncomfortable at times. I’d lived in the area since 1980, had twenty years’ experience in a well-respected local publishing house, and had been commissioned by a national publisher to write a book of short walks on Dartmoor – Tom Greeves had checked the manuscript and (fortunately) didn’t find too much wrong with it.

So I took to a spot of targeted name dropping. I quickly learned the value of mentioning that I had been a commissioning editor at David & Charles Publishers before going freelance in 2000. A casual comment  along the lines of ‘Oh – I remember a similar thing happening when I was in the editorial department at David & Charles…’ worked wonders!

CONFESSION NO 3
I’ve never managed to develop an appropriately thick skin in the face of criticism of the magazine
I can’t look at the magazine when it comes in! I open my email inbox rather nervously for the first few days after publication, just waiting for someone to pick me up on a mistake. I try so hard to get everything right, and to present a balanced view of all the important yet often contentious aspects of the moor. There is bound to be the odd mistake – I am only human – and I always print an apology.

I once made an error with a caption on a very small photograph in the News section. The image file was incorrectly captioned and I meant to change it, but forgot. It showed a fritillary butterfly on a southern marsh orchid – clearly not a common blue, as the caption stated! At least five people told me about the mistake, including someone who phoned to say that her husband had written me an email but that she would like to read it to me, including the statement, ‘The captions in the magazine leave a lot to be desired…’ and she also doubted whether it was a southern marsh orchid. I sent the image to an orchid expert just to be sure that my correction in the next magazine was accurate. And (for the person who never fails to correct me) I humbly confess that I know I have a problem differentiating between ‘reeve’ (cleric) and ‘reave’ (prehistoric boundary wall)…

And don’t even get me started on ramsons/’ransoms’ (wild garlic)!

CONFESSION NO 4
I discovered that the roles of book editor and magazine editor are very different
Being a freelance editor is pretty lonely at times, and you have to be a real self-starter. I work on my own in a converted barn in my back garden, editing and writing. And with my walking book commissions I’m often out ‘work walking’ on my own (easier to concentrate).

When looking at a book no one can see what the editor has done. It’s not obvious to what extent author and editor have worked together to produce a publishable manuscript – both in terms of moulding the original proposal and also the physical editing of the words. In fact when editing a manuscript the editor’s work should be invisible.

So when I became editor of Dartmoor Magazine I found it quite hard to get used to having my head above the parapet – there’s nowhere to hide as a magazine editor, particularly when you have to write an Editor’s Letter for each issue and your photo appears on page 1!

CONFESSION NO 5
Things I will not miss

1 People who call the magazine Dartmoor Life

2 People who spend ten minutes looking at every page, then don’t buy a copy, when we’re at a show

3 People and organisations who get featured in the magazine and don’t say thank you or return the favour in some way

4 People who complain that their event has not appeared in the free Diary listing when they just haven’t checked

5 People who assume that the magazine should be free

6 The magazine, when on sale, being positioned out of sight of potential customers

CONFESSION NO 6
Things I will miss

1 Working with all my lovely contributors

2 Commissioning and copy-editing hundreds of fascinating articles

3 Working with so many different Dartmoor organisations

4 Working with brilliant designers Emily, and then Becci, to produce a fabulous magazine four times a year

5 Attending the summer shows and chatting to subscribers and supporters

6 Going out onto the moor to take specific photographs for each issue

7 Chatting with subscribers over the phone, some of whom have supported the magazine since the very first issue in 1980

8 Positive feedback and thanks from readers old and new

9 Being paid to do all of the above!

10 Finally – and most important – the privilege of publishing a well-informed, high-quality magazine about a landscape area I love – and for which I have the deepest respect.