Helping Put It ‘All Together’

After working for more than a decade helping transform the Robb Report from a Rolls-Royce aficionado title into the luxury lifestyle magazine it is today, John Treworgy left his role of vice president of operations and associate publisher and took on a new role when the brand was sold several years ago. With a wealth of experience under his belt, he was soon approached by consumer magazine publishers seeking his advice to improve their efficiency.

Today, Treworgy serves as president of Publishing Services Group, a consultancy that helps publishers set up or revamp their infrastructure. His main focuses include helping streamline manufacturing, marketing and retail distribution. He spoke with Publishing Executive Inbox this week about the issues he’s working with his clients on today.

Inbox: Why are so many publishing companies calling on consultants to help them these days?
Treworgy: I think really in the past 10 years the whole retail magazine environment has changed dramatically. It’s undergoing an evolution as people are consolidating and trying to own the different parts of the distribution channel. It makes it difficult [for] publishers to keep up. A lot of publishers are going virtual. They’re using a lot of people at home and [as] freelance. What they’re losing are the nuts and bolts of putting your magazine together and getting to market. A lot of times, people neglect the fact that you need a supervisor. Those who used to hold the function of product managers are often ignored now. You’re talking about the knowledge base of publishers that is more academic and less in the production side. Ultimately, you have to have a physical product. One of the things I do more and more is help them set up an infrastructure. I help them arrange [their deals] with vendors. I help them find the efficiently with manufacturers. I help them review their distribution channels. I help them put it all together.

This is surprising to me, but I help put together a production schedule. I help them to develop a time schedule so they can get their title to newsstands on time. If you don’t meet their expectations, you don’t get on newsstands. If it doesn’t show up, chances are you’ll lose your retail space. If you’re inconsistent, you’ll probably lose it permanently. It’s something so simple—putting together a realistic production schedule and having them stick to it. It’s really something I fight with my clients all the time about. … One of the things I do is review the basic infrastructure of how they run their companies. I don’t necessarily tell them how to do it. I say, “I want to know what you’re doing.” What happens so often is they hold the dates open so they can sell more advertising. They [make] another X amount of dollars, but they lose it on the other end. A lot of times it has long-term effects.