American Philatelic Society Names New Editor

http://blog.stamps.org/2017/09/21/aps-new-editor/

American Philatelic Society Names New Editor

Bellefonte, Pennsylvania — Today, the American Philatelic Society announced that Martin Kent Miller of Greer, South Carolina would become the new Editor for the Society. Miller will serve as Editor of the APS flagship publication, The American Philatelist, a monthly journal dedicated to stamp collecting and the Philatelic Literature Review, the quarterly publication of the American Philatelic Research Library.

Miller, 49, joined the APS in 2008, but has been a stamp collector since 1974. His collecting interests include philatelic materials related to the USS North Carolina, the 1934–35 National Parks series, and a single-issue collection of the 1937 West Point commemorative. He is currently President and Founder of The Image Forge, a corporate communications firm in Greer in operation since 2003. In 2012, Miller branched out into the social media world as Co-Founder and Director of Marketing for Socialtopias in Charlotte, NC. He was Global Communications Manager for Michelin Aircraft Tire Corporation in Greenville, SC from 2000 to 2003 and Vice President and General Manager of Hell Gravure Systems, North America in Schaumburg, IL and through their relocation to Inman, SC. Miller holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from Harding University in Searcy, AR where he graduated Magna Cum Laude.

"We're excited to have Martin joining the team," said Scott English, Executive Director of the APS, "He brings a wide range of experience in publication, marketing, and branding to our organization. We hope to leverage his talents not only with the publications, but leading the way in growing our online presence to promote the APS and the hobby."
While Miller's primary responsibilities will be managing the two publications of the APS and APRL, he will also lead the efforts to revamp the APS website and develop the online strategies for promoting the APS and the hobby to a whole new audience.

"Philately has always been the unifying point of my varied interests — art, design, printing and history," commented Miller. "I'm honored to now have the opportunity to combine my professional experience with the hobby that holds my love and passion."

Miller officially joins the APS team on October 1, 2017, but will begin working with current Editor Jay Bigalke immediately.

A warm welcome to Mr. Miller, sounds like he has a strong resume for the position. I drove past his former Greenville, SC Michelin headquarters this weekend going from Charlotte to Clemson.

Has the APS ever considered maintaining a philatelic forum of its own?

Yes they have and have chosen not to create one. It seems that they do not want members to interact online under the APS umbrella. Many think this is a mistake but I believe it is partly fear. For example, would they bar discussion by members of the donation flap?

First you may be surprised over who sides on who's side on the donation, just saying dangerous to assume.

I don't see a positive with an APS forum. Just too many strong personalities that might turn off future members like myself. We join for different things not the political b.s. that a strong vocal but minority group liked to chat about.

I wish the best for the new editor and I look forward to what he will bring to the organization.

It would be nice to see APS designate SCF as an "official" affiliate. Not sure what the up-side or down-side would be for either, except potentially more traffic to each others site.

they would both have links pointing to the others website.

It would be the other way around. SCF would submit to be an affiliate by meeting some criteria (do not think it is a big burden) but do not think it will impact SCF either way. The Stamp Forum, another discussion forum, is an affiliate.

What percentage of member stamp articles versus editor stamp articles in a philatelic publication is acceptable?

Is this a concern about the AP? There is only one editor column but there are numerous staff columns (Prez, Ken Martin, etc) and APS ops stuff (Sales Divison)

Martin Miller doesn't appear to have very strong print editorial credentials. If he was the most qualified candidate who applied the AP and other APS publications may be in trouble

Guess we will just have to wait and see.

Don

Don --

In course of Martin's positions, he edited and produced print materials for companies ranging from not-for-profits to large corporations. He has also been an ongoing instructor of Adobe Suites, which includes InDesign, the editing application the APS uses for magazine layout, at the college level. We had several applicants, including Martin, with substantive print editing experience. As we noticed in the announcement, what separated Martin was his extensive marketing, social media, and web experience which is also part of the work the Editor leads.

You're welcome to see Martin's work at: http://www.theimageforge.com/index.html

I'm glad to have someone with Martin's talents offer up for the position and relocate to Bellefonte to join the team!

Scott

Please do not mix APS with this WW Forum as many members have no interest in US org and belong to their appropriate Country's org
I am an APS member but soon they will ask my renewal which I will not.......do not hate them ! I am simply not from the same Country and have my affiliates now - incl Insurance.

This forum is specifically dedicated to the APS business and I post here to keep our members updated on events.

I'm sorry you do not find benefit in belonging to the APS. We have thousands of international members and enjoy support from over 50 nations outside of the U.S. Aside from serving members in the U.S., we work with international collectors, we work with many international philatelic organizations to support the hobby all around the world. We would like to keep you as a member and I would be glad to answer any questions you might have.

Scott

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The role of an editor is not to write the articles, but to oversee the entire editorial process, although it is a common practice for the editor of a publication to write a regular column. In the September AP, the cover article was written by a magazine staffer, but the other five major articles appear to be "outside" submissions. (I'm not counting the regular monthly fixtures such as the President's Report or the editor's short monthly colunm which filled two-thirds of a page). In the October issue, six of the seven full-length articles, including the one illustrated on the cover, were not written by the AP editorial staff. I believe this is a typical ratio for most hobby or special interest, niche publications, that most of the articles are written by freelancers. So I am not sure what was meant by "acceptable" percentage.

The role of an editor can vary depending the publication. In some publications they do write a lot of the material. A good editor is able to set a direction for the publication and get articles to support that direction.

Much depends on how big the editorial staff is to edit, proofread, etc. It helps for an editor to have philatelic knowledge who know something about what is being written and improve articles if needed (that is, spot weak articles).

But then it requires basic skills such as the ability to work with deadlines and get it done.

Scott:

Good to know. Thanks for the additional info. Looking forward to seeing his first issue of AP.

Don