It’s not very often we get an insider’s take on the media industry—the first star of Her Campus JHU’s “Meet the Editors” series is Dan Koday, Digital Director of Teen Vogue.
Koday oversees Teen Vogue’s website (TeenVogue.com), and all of its social channels. But his position entails more than day-to-day editing; it’s also based on strategy, managing the digital team, and refining Teen Vogue’s online editorial process. His background, which is rooted in the digital realm, includes writing and editing for a site, working with social media, and working with the tech side of web properties. At Teen Vogue, he also handles content strategy and acts as the editorial liaison to the publishing team. “My favorite parts of my job are the everyday surprises of it. I like things to be constantly changing and shifting,” he explains. The Internet keeps Koday on his toes, but especially at Teen Vogue, no two workdays are alike. “Last weekend I was in LA in a mall parking lot for a [back-to-school] event, and today, I’ve been in front of my computer editing copy for the last three hours.”
Another challenge Koday faces is bridging the gap between print and digital. “Most people get confused and think that what works for digital works for print or vice versa, and I don’t think that that’s always the case. Print stories should be hard to translate online, so I think the most important thing is deciding which format makes the most sense for a story. Some stories we do in digital would never make sense for print, and some stories they do in print would never make sense for digital.” Because the Internet and social media have become major news outlets for users, certain “breaking news” articles only have a home online. Nowadays, you’d never run a full recap article on the Teen Choice Awards in a monthly magazine, because that same article could run online just hours after the awards show. “I think it’s important to know the formats of the stories and think about what’s going to make sense where,” Koday says. The Teen Vogue digital team publishes anywhere from 10 to 15 articles per day, most of which are entertainment or style-related. Because a headline can sell a story so quickly, the team “labors over headlines specifically,” at weekly meetings for evergreen stories, and at the daily 10 am meeting for immediate pieces. “And we tweet the hell out of those headlines because at the end of the day, there’s so much competition [for readers] on the Internet, you really have to be strategic in how you promote things.”
When Koday was a student at Fordham University, there was no news or digital media major, but he knew early on he wanted work at a magazine. “I was always a digital person when I was growing up. The Internet was around, but it was in its earliest stages (think AOL), and I loved being online. I thought it was the coolest thing, so when I did get to college, I started to realize there was this intersection between the digital media and magazines.” His first internship in college was at Seventeen, and it solidified his decision to work specifically on the web. “I excelled at and loved the digital world. It married the things I loved about writing and editing.” Koday never thought, “I’m going to be a digital editor,” because at the time, the position barely existed. He admits he had the advantage of being in New York throughout his college years and stresses the importance of meeting and networking with the editors who are working in the industry. “If you’re not here, try and find a way to be here. Live here for a summer, do the intern thing, make connections—if you know you want to do this, you have to be here. Building a network is really important.” Even though Conde Nast no longer hires interns, Koday suggests that college students complete internships, even if they’re unpaid. If you’re interested in working at a youth publication like Seventeen or Teen Vogue, being hyperaware of what’s happening in your world can set you apart as a candidate. “I’m Teen Vogue’s digital director but I’m about to be in my thirties. I’m not a teenager anymore, but you’re closer in age to that segment of the population.” Knowing that all the twenty-somethings are on Tinder, and that the pre-teens are obsessed with 5 Seconds of Summer, actually matters. There’s no website without content, so having a fresh take on the youth perspective can make all the difference.
But that doesn’t mean getting a job in magazines is easy. It’s gotten a lot tougher since Koday was an intern. There are less internships and lot of the paid ones have disappeared. Magazines have become twice as selective in who they hire because they need to know you’re coming into a job with a broad knowledge base (understanding how to use a CMS, knowing what it means to find a tear sheet, etc.) Koday never backfills any job opening with a candidate that he hasn’t known already. “There almost has to be a level of trust before you’re willing to press the Go button, because we just don’t have time for someone not to work out or to train someone on every little thing.”
As we wrap up, I ask Koday about the best piece of advice he’s ever received. And with a smile, he replies, “Don’t think about the money. It will come later. When you start out in publishing, in any type of publishing or media, your salary—it’s not a secret—is going to be very low and you have to find ways to make it work. But if you really love what you’re doing, and most people that enter this industry do, the money will eventually come. It’s not immediate, but you won’t be poor forever!”