Matthew Teague - Editor, Popular Woodworking
1/5/2012
By Kevin Miller
With a readership ranging from novice to professional ability in their field, relaying information with concise and expert detail is imperative when it comes to a craft as established and time-honored as woodworking. Having a wordsmith with experience as an associate editor at The Oxford American helps in finding the right words and phrases to describe and define these important concepts, and it helps even more if that wordsmith is also a third-generation woodworker and furniture-maker himself.
Newly appointed editor Matthew Teague joined Popular Woodworking in December after spending almost three years as a contributing writer for Fine Homebuilding Magazine. Teague also has six years under his belt as the managing editor of Fine Woodworking Magazine, succeeding a five-year tenure as an associate editor of The Oxford American. His switch from literary content to professional woodworking is one that may seem odd, but a strong family history in furniture-making and a fondness for the craft brought Teague to Fine Woodworking and eventually lead to starting his own shop.
“I’ve always had these two loves, one was words and one was building things,” he said. “To me it’s kind of a dream job. For the last eight years, I’ve been running a furniture business and writing about it, writing about building things.”
At Popular Woodworking Teague plans not only to employ his literary skills to give voice to woodworkers, who may labor for the precise words, but to also show in greater detail how processes and techniques are utilized in projects included in the magazine each month.
“Just coming up with new ways [to be] effective, and occasionally new ways to relay the information, in as clear a way as possible—it’s more about how the information can be understood. The photos really have to be composed in the right way…just because it is such a teaching tool,” he said.
Teague recognizes that the magazine has to be selective when demonstrating projects to readers. Choosing the right pictures to display alongside the editorial content is important for the audience in understanding how development unfolds and where each step is in the process. One of his first undertakings as editor is enriching the interaction between the editorial and visuals.
“You’re going to see a re-design in the next year, it will probably slowly evolve, it won’t be an overnight thing. Photos will get larger—we’re going to work a lot harder on the content of the photos—to see that the words and pictures are working together,” he said.“That’s the biggest thing for print, more than the content even.”
Coming to the magazine, Teague knew meticulous professionalism and high standards were held for content; expert craftsmen and professional woodworkers are employed as writers and pieces are “hands-on from the ground up.” However, building off of a strong foundation and progressively strengthening the publication are the goals he has set not only for himself, but for the magazine in all facets. With a large following of hand-tool woodworkers, he not only wants to find ways to better present the information provided for this demographic, but also develop a stronger audience with power-tool projects and a mix of both.
“The magazine has been doing [hand-tool coverage] pretty hardcore for about the last five years, and it’s gotten just a little more esoteric because you cover the mainstream topics and you keep getting smaller and smaller,” he explained. “So we’re now at a point where we can revisit some of the things we’ve done in the past, try to make them different, try to do them better and also open up to some different readers that haven’t seen us before, while still giving the readers we’ve always relied on the same good information they expect from us.”
Teague also finds posting content online as another method for reaching the audience in a more in-depth and educational setting. The website includes videos and blogs that provide detailed information on projects and interactive opportunities for readers to get involved in the community. Readers can additionally receive feedback from the writers and editors at the magazine, as well as fellow woodworkers on the site.
“Certainly video and blogs and things like that existed eight years ago when I was at Fine Woodworking, but they weren’t emphasized nearly as much as they are today. It gives you an opportunity to say, ‘Ok, here’s what we have in the magazine with these four photos, if you want to see it online, there is a short video explaining the process.’ The other stuff used to be just secondary, and now it’s become just as important as the print publication.”
While conceiving video and photographic accompaniment for editorial content creates an easier model for both the reader and writer, it creates more opportunities for the writer to “drop the ball.” Thus, writers at the publication create precise and thorough plans for their projects, while always keeping in mind how the visual aspect of the assignment they are undertaking will be displayed. Teague adds that creating projects around specific concepts or ideas help make for more appealing, and ultimately rewarding, articles both in print and online.
“It gives you a unique opportunity, because if there’s a certain technique, or a certain anything that we want to cover in the magazine, you can design a project almost around that. If you want to learn how to install a certain type of hinge for instance, it might be a really dry article on its own, but if you make that a third of a project article it becomes more interesting to people.”
Teague is personally involved in the editorial content, contributing his own articles and seeing that the publication continues to create and maintain a high level of content for its readers. He is always looking to enhance an already stellar product, and educational tool, for the woodworking community.
“I’m real happy with what the magazine has been doing. That said, if I didn’t see room for improvement, I wouldn’t have taken the job. I don’t want to take a job and just keep up with what’s already there, I want to move it to the next level.”
Pitching Tips
Teague requests that all pitching include photos of the project, process or profile being pitched.
“If it’s a profile of a woodworker, for instance, we would like to see some of his work, or her work.”
He added, “We get pitches for ideas for things and we’ve never heard of the writer, they don’t include any of their writing, they don’t include any photos of what they’re building and there’s nothing to work with. You can’t trust somebody you’ve never heard of that this is a good idea. From the proposal we need to picture what it’s going to look like in the magazine.”
Teague also advises PR professionals to be familiar with the magazine. “It’s not a magazine that you can pitch blind from a list of magazines. Your chances of hitting the mark otherwise are almost nil.”
Find the editors of Popular Woodworking on Twitter at @pweditors