Love It! launch staff swap sides in real-life battle

Two former members of the Love It! launch team have been made editors of competing titles in the fiercely fought real-life sector.

Former Love It! associate editor Liz Jarvis is the new editor of Full House, the latest in a long line of reshuffles in the market by its newest competitors.

Jarvis replaces Samm Taylor, who was also on the Love It! launch team. Taylor has been named the new editor of ACP-Natmags’ Real People.

Jarvis was part of the launch team on IPC’s Pick Me Up, but left alongside Karen Pasquali Jones in December 2004, weeks before the title was launched. They were drafted in to News Magazines’ first foray into standalone magazine publishing, Love It! with Pasquali Jones taking up the editor’s role. Taylor was Love It! deputy editor at launch, but moved to Burda’s Full House as acting editor in 2006, at a time when both titles were experiencing a raft of staff departures. Full House was the first launch by the German giant in the UK, and the company bought Essential Publishing, with managing director Luke Patten taking over the running of all titles.

On the appointment of Jarvis, Patten said: “Liz has extensive experience in the market and we are pleased that she is joining the magazine and continuing the good work that has been put in.” At Real People, Taylor succeeds Vicky Mayer, who left the title she helped launch in May last year. Louise Court was acting editor in the interim, but has since been appointed Cosmopolitan editor. Taylor, who freelanced at Real People following her departure from Love It! in the summer, said she was looking forward to the challenge in “a tough but really great” market.

Both titles published their first ABC figures last summer, with Real People debuting at 318,105 and Love It! reporting a circulation of 405,441, hitting its 400,000 target.