I've been putting pen to paper in this space for over 10 years now, starting with my first letter from the editor in Theatre Crafts International in the fall of 1996 to my letter in the inaugural issues of both Entertainment Design in 1999 and Live Design in December of last year. I've had a blast writing in this space over the years and have always gotten good feedback about my musings, so I guess if you were sick of me prattling on, you were kind enough to keep it to yourself.
I bring that up because this month's missive will be my last column in this space for the magazine. Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere; you can't get rid of me that easily. I'm going to be focusing more on the publishing side of the book in 2007, so I'm giving the reins of this space, and the general editorial direction of the book, over to editor Marian Sandberg. Everyone knows Marian; she ran a tight ship on Lighting Dimensions before we merged ED and LD and did phenomenal work stabilizing that troubled book. Plus, she wrote the edit letter for LD, so this is old hat to her. You'll be in good hands.
As for me, I'll finally be able to adjust this weird, two-pointed hat I've been wearing of editorial director/associate publisher. There aren't very many of those job titles out in the wilds of magazine publishing, and certainly not within my company. But the editorial product of Live Design is, I believe, on exactly the right course, and I have full faith in Marian to continue to make it better. So the powers that be here decided the time was right to give me an opportunity to completely screw up the publishing side of things.
Oops, I meant to improve the publishing side of things. Look folks, I'm not a business guy; I'm an editor. But I have a passion for this product, and after 13 years here, I better know a thing or two about the market. So I'll be working closely with our awesome new sales team — Jeff Donnenwerth, Michele Kanatous, Albert Margolis, and Greg Sutton — to help the advertisers of our print and online products and the sponsors of our live events get the most they can out of our brands. These veterans know a lot more about sales than I ever will, so I'll be in good hands.
But all that doesn't mean I don't still want to hear from you. If there's one thing I'm most proud of about Live Design, it's the dialog we've been able to create with the industry. They always say that a magazine lives or dies by its readership; if that's the case, then we're all in good hands.