Jane McDonnell: Publisher of new magazine, The Gloss, launching this week
Jane McDonnell has to give her husband credit for the name of a new Irish women's magazine that will be on news stands from Thursday. When she and her sister Sarah left Image magazine to set up a new company, he told them they would have to market themselves as not just any old gloss, but The Gloss. The Irish Times is an investor in the new publication.
Back in the wintry depths of January, as newly-fledged publishers, Jane and Sarah began talking to women in focus groups about what they wanted from a magazine. They heard about the desire for something more than the usual breeze through the cosmetic counters and shopping aisles of chain stores.
"Women said there was room for a bigger read. Lots of magazines are just full of products, leaving readers unsatisfied. They also spoke about how much they loved something like Vanity Fair because they could sit down to read it at four o'clock and wouldn't be finished by five.
"We want it to be a stylish, intelligent magazine - beautiful and brainy. We want to create something different, change the generic look that women's magazines have, without losing the ingredients that women want."
Jane spent 16 years with Image magazine, launched Image Interiors and was managing director, with Sarah as editor, when the sisters left at the end of last year. Having gained experience with big publishing houses such as Condé Nast in her 20s, Jane is very aware of the identikit formula behind most new magazines. So the cover of The Gloss will not feature a close-up of a beautiful, smiling face. "There will be two figures on the cover, so it's quite different from that point of view." Also, the phenomenon of celebrity, the staple of so much magazine editorial, is something they feel is being done well elsewhere.
"Whenever you talk about magazines, people say, 'Oh there are so many magazines out there.' But there's never a saturated market, just a crowded one. We're building a miniature world that we hope people will like and look forward to coming back to every month." Catherine Cleary.
• The Gloss goes on sale on Thursday, priced €4