JB. Magazine Blog : The Happy Mag For All of Us!

The most engaging magazine is also the coolest kids magazine around. Cathy Olmedillas tells us how to do it without being corrupted by brands. We're thrilled! www.anorak-magazine.co.uk

Anorak is not like other kid’s magazines. It is made for children whose imagination is not corrupted by brands and who can enjoy a good story and stimulating illustrations. And for their parents, of course. Parents who wish a magazine like Anorak had been around when they were kids.

Cathy Olmedillas writes most stories herself. They are never predictable and never lack a message. Some characters are wild others are scared or angry. Every child knows these feelings and easily identifies with them. Anorak’s colourful title pulls into the world of a magazine where every page holds at least one surprise. It’s a fantastic kid’s world where children are at the center of things. Anorak is published four times a year, more than 5.000 copies are distributed worldwide.

Please give me a brief introduction. When did you first think about making a magazine for kids?
I have always loved magazines. When I became a Mum I looked around the magazine market for kid’s titles and realized there was not much out there I liked. There are a lot of kid’s magazines but they tend to be quite commercial and tied to a TV program, cartoons or well-known toys like "Yugi-oh"-cards. Most people I talked to believed that you need to have one well-known character in there, like Harry Potter, in order to sell the magazine. But I said, look at The Simpsons. Everything is in there, the stories are multi-facated and not narrowed down. Why not make a completely different title that is not connected to any brand at all? Why not make a real magazine – but for kids?

Your idea proved to be a success. What do you know about your readers? The responses you get on facebook or twitter are not written by young kids. Our readers are a wonderful mix of people! Kids, parents, teenagers, creative people, we seem to attract all sorts of people. I think the reason is that we have brought out a product that is genuinely different and not concerned with statistics or demographics. I’m not really interested in the lives of celebrities, but once Gwyneth Paltrow posted a note on Anorak Magazine on her blog and as a response we sold out some of the older issues, which was fine with me.

Why did you choose the name Anorak?
Anorak is a British word for geek or nerd, mostly associated with teenagers and children who have an obsession with things that are definitely off the common habits or interests. And Anorak is a piece of childhood, almost every child has one of those specific jackets for the wet season.

How do you set up an issue? How many people are involved?
Each issue has a theme that gives us a focus. They are usually set for the year, although it does happen that I become obsessed with some idea and decide to change a theme. Once that's decided, I think about the main feature for the theme. Stories are written whenever someone sends us a nice story or whenever they pop in my head! Once both the feature and the stories are written they get subbed. Then I pass them on to Rob who commissions illustrators. We work with various artists who illustrate our stories and also create their own. There is about a dozen of us working on one single issue but only Rob and I have been working in the same place for a few months.

Rob Lowe (Supermundane) has been part of the magazine from the start. Where have you both met?
We both worked for the same magazine (Sleaze Nation) but not at the same time. So we never actually met but we had friends in common. When I mentioned to a friend that I wanted to launch a kid’s magazine, she said Rob would be perfect as the Art Director. She was absolutely right! I love working with Rob, because we have a great laugh doing Anorak. We complement each other well, I think. Although we are vastly different, we both enjoy the same working ethos: do it and do it well.

What about advertising?
We have two main advertising partners, H&M and Little Fashion Gallery. We are talking to other brands but we are very careful of who we pick.

You have been busy in the publishing world, but you decided to work independently. What 's the main reason?
I have worked in publishing for about 8 years, at big companies like Emap, and at smaller indie groups like Wagadon (who owned The Face and Arena) and at Sleaze Nation. I am not very good in corporate environments because I hate the amount of time spent dealing with office politics and I don't enjoy meetings. I much prefer getting things done. Working for yourself allows for a greater creative and commercial freedom and you can react quicker. When my son was born, I knew I couldn't be part of that world any longer. I wanted to spend time with him and decided to start Anorak by myself at home.

What else is cooking?
It's our fourth anniversary this year so we decided to celebrate by printing nice things. Our new recruit Lewis has just put together a brilliant activity book with a host of super talented people. There will be an activity book every quarter. We have also created some mini colouring books with illustrators who have worked with us from the beginning. We published a hardback book called the Gardens of Mayland. A German edition is being done at the moment by Off One’s Rocker Publishing and is available now. A French edition will come out in Spring 2011. It's quite tough to translate the stories in Anorak because a lot of illustrations are hand-drawn. Some stories and features we can translate easily but others will be re-done.

Interview: Jenne Grabowski JB. Magazine