The Lines Are Open
By Maria Weiskott, Editor-in-chief -- Gifts & Decorative Accessories, 6/1/2006
I had one of those “Ah-ha!” moments recently.
You know the kind I mean: those defining moments of clarity when you finally understand the “why” of something you've been wondering about for awhile — like me wondering about the amount of feedback we get here at Gifts & Decorative Accessories.
When I first came on board at G&DA, I was struck by the warm welcomes that arrived daily via email, snail mail, phone, invitations to lunch and even office drop-ins. “This is amazing,” I thought both silently and aloud.
Now, I have to tell you…I've been around the publishing block more than a few times (!) and have covered more industries than I care to mention. But I had never experienced anything like the welcome I received from this one.
“Could it be,” I wondered (again both silently and aloud), “That the gift industry is actually more friendly than others? More friendly than, say, platinum and steel? Than shipping and logistics? World trade? Even more friendly than toys?”
At first, I figured it was just the novelty of a new editor that evoked such a groundswell of response. Not!
You see, the responsive part never stopped; it just changed over time.
The words of welcome eventually morphed into words on other subjects — from e-mails praising a particular story (“Your editor really did her homework on the gift card story”) to critiques about one of G&DA's new e-products (“I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy getting the market recaps”) to constructive criticism of a news brief (“Who do you think your audience is, Harvard PhDs?”). Reader responsiveness just never let up.
Even after actual converstaion while after walking miles from showroom to showroom, booth to booth; writing hundreds of thousands of words and breaking countless pieces of bread — I was experiencing no less response from our readers than in those first few weeks.
“Amazing, absolutely amazing,” I thought ever again.
Well, at almost exactly the halfway point of my first year's tenure (but who's counting?) as editor in chief, I had that “ah-ha!” moment.
This is the gift industry, after all; it's all about giving. And, obviously, the gifts don't necessarily have to be tangible. They can be words, too. The gifts are welcoming words, words of praise and sometimes even that unwelcome gift of criticism.
Words, words, words. What better gift for an editor?
