Interview with Erica, the 19 year old
editor of Kiwibox.com

Leighann: I want to talk a little about the difference between writing for an online magazine and writing in "the real world." What would you say the main difference is?

Erica: You mean kind of online versus print? Or journalism versus novel or paper writing? Sorry, just want to make sure I answer it in the way you mean. :-)

Leighann: Online vs. print.

Erica: Great question. I have never really written for a print magazine/publication before, but I would say that the main difference is the way the writers communicate. Many online sites have the whole internet at their finger tips, so they can have reporters all over the world without having contact with them actually in person whereas many print publications have reporters headquartered in a certain area and only cover local problems. While this is a huge generalization and not entirely true in all cases, I think online magazines allow you to have a much more broad sense of coverage of issues around the world because it puts you in connection with people from thousands of miles away within seconds. Online magazines also allow you to get feedback more quickly than print magazines, which gives the editors an opportunity to respond to it more quickly as well.

Leighann: Along those lines - since there are such a huge variety of reporters and articles that come in, for your site, Kiwibox.com, how do you go about choosing content?

Erica: Usually we try to have themes for each new issue, which is published online roughly every two weeks, so we try to pick articles that relate to the theme for each section. Themes can vary from important events going on in the world at the present time to holidays/cultures celebrated at that time to upcoming entertainment/events of the season. Associate Editors and Senior Editors make up suggestions for the Reporters, and the Reporters are free to write about whatever they want. Also, we try to include important teen issues when they come up. For example, May 7 was the National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, and we ran various articles relating to that topic, from information about how to prevent pregnancy to quotes from teens who are teen parents.

Leighann: And again, in relation to that, what qualifications must reporters/AE's/SE's/etc. have in order to hold those positions?

Erica: Really anyone over 13 can apply to be a reporter as long as they love to write and are consistent and dedicated to the site. If you submit a good application that proves you have good writing skills and are enthusiastic about writing for the site, you will be chosen. When new Associate Editors are needed, we usually have an AE Test, in which the Reporters who want to become Associate Editors must edit 3 or so articles (provided on the test) and make sure they are not plagiarized from anywhere. After we look over the tests and see which ones were completed the best, we then look at their article history to see how many articles were posted, declined, etc., and then we choose from the best of those. Senior Editors are chosen in a few different ways. Sometimes hard-working and dedicated Associate Editors will be bumped up to the Senior Editor position of a section if the section becomes open. Sometimes we need to have a Senior Editor for a certain sect ion actually in the office, though, so we might post on the site that we are looking for interns or post through college websites as well. After doing interviews and all that sort of thing, we will choose someone. Generally, Associate Editors are bumped up, though.

Leighann: How many staff members do you have working in the actual office and what kinds of things happen there? (Technically and so forth.)

Erica: Right now we only have five people working in the office in NYC, plus a few interns. Ivan is the KiwiCoder; he's the guy who basically makes the physical site what it is. He does all of the coding for the look of the site, the games (he actually makes them!), and the many fun features like journals, calendars, polls, and more. Mike oversees KiwiAdvice and KiwiPrizes. He works mainly on advertising for the site; he works to get outside companies/groups to advertise on our site so that we can keep the site free and keep adding new features. Leah is the Rock Senior Editor, but she also works on music interviews for all sections. In addition to that, she works on getting all of the cool contests for the Kiwimembers. Lin is the Original Big Kiwi--Lin, Mike, and Ivan are the ones who originally started Kiwibox.com. Lin kind of oversees everything and makes sure everything is going okay. He pretty much works on everything or whatever needs work; he also wo rks on interviews and promotions for the site as well. He's also working on his management company as well: K2 Ent. Then there's me, the Editor-in-Chief. I oversee everything Editorial. I try to monitor the Reporters, Associate Editors, and Editors. I also come up with new issue ideas as well as ideas for certain articles I want, and I edit articles for sections when my help is needed.

Leighann: Okay. So how did you get to be the Big Kiwi?

Erica: I became the Big Kiwi a little over a year ago. I was a Reporter for many years (since 1999), then I became the Associate Editor of School and later CD Review. Last year, Kiwibox had a contest: "Who Wants to be the Editor?" or something like that. In order to apply, we had to write an application that stated why we thought we should be the Big Kiwi. The top applications were posted anonymously on the site, and the Kiwimembers then voted on their favorites. The top few who received the most votes were interviewed by the KiwiStaff last year, and then they made their pick.

Leighann: Awesome. So is the job harder or easier than you expected it would be?

Erica: Hmmm...good question. I knew that it would be a lot coming into it, but I think it's a little bit harder than I expected in that juggling school and Kiwibox is a lot. I'm a full-time college student on top of being the Editor-in-Chief, so it makes it hard to find a balance between time to work on the site, time to do school work, and free time (which I have very little of). However, I do enjoy working with everyone on the site, so it definitely has its rewards.

Leighann: What obstacles and stresses come from running a site like Kiwibox?

Erica: One of the main stresses I have is making sure good articles are coming in. Although we have hundreds of reporters, we don't always get a consistent number of well-written articles, so there's always that stress of whether or not we have enough well-written articles for an entire issue. Also, just making sure everything is done for each section for a new issue is quite stressful, especially when you find some stuff hasn't been finished or not enough articles were written for the section. Also, just coming up with new issue ideas that appeal to teens is quite stressful because we have covered so many themes already (we're almost at our 100th issue!) that it makes it hard to come up with fresh ideas. Another stress is keeping the users happy on a day-to-day basis. It's hard to keep everyone happy, especially because the site is run by so few people, it's hard to keep on top of everything, like prizes for contests and stuff like that. We definitely work really hard to get stuff like that done in a timely manner, but sometimes something else will come up, like a glitch in the site somewhere, and we need to concentrate on that for a bit rather than mailing out prizes, which causes a delay and leaves many unhappy. Trying to keep everyone happy is one of the hardest things I find, and I get very frustrated when I can't keep everyone happy. Realizing that I can't make everyone happy at every moment was one of the hardest things, but it's something I finally did accept (although I still try my best to make everyone happy, sometimes staying up at all hours to do it because I hate when people are unhappy). I kind of rambled on that one...sorry

Leighann: Haha. That's okay. I know I'm taking up your time but I have one more question for you and it's kind of two questions. Haha. What do you see Kiwibox becoming in the future and what is your advice to anyone wanting to start an e-zine or wanting to write for one?</b>

Erica: Don't worry about taking up my time, this was fun! :-) I think Kiwibox will continue to grow and expand in the future. New generations will come on to the site and bring their ideas, and the site will just continue to evolve with time. In the near future, I hope to add some new sections as well as maybe incorporating more charity/volunteerism on the site, but we'll see how that goes. My advice to anyone wanting to start or write for an e-zine is do it even if you don't think you can. When I first applied to become a reporter for Kiwibox, I was just a high school student from a small town in New Jersey, and I really didn't think I would get the job, but I did. Just work hard and practice writing; if you love it, it will be fun anyway so you will want to do it constantly. Get experience wherever you can, whether it's at a school newspaper or online. And mainly, just keep dreaming. If anyone had said to me two years ago, even one year ago, that I would be the Editor-in-Chief of an online magazine, I would have laughed and said you must have the wrong person. I never thought I would be here, especially by my 19th birthday, but I am. You really can be or do anything you want to as long as you work hard and put your mind to it.

Leighann: Thanks so much, Erica! I really appreciate it.

Erica: No problem! Thank you for taking the time! :-)

If you're a writer and would love to have 1.5 million teens from all over the world read your work, both fiction and articles, consider applying for a position as reporter at Kiwibox. Kiwibox is always in need of qualified teens who can write! Check it out at http://www.kiwibox.com/kiwijobs.asp?id=2

~

Copyright 2000-2006 ~ All Rights Reserved.