The View from the Editor’s Desk

Eric Herman has served as the editor of WaterShapes magazine since its inception in 1999. During a career spanning more than 25 years, he has written and edited articles across a broad range of industries, technical subjects and business interests.

According to WaterShapes publisher Jim McCloskey, “Eric has always played the vital role in shaping the magazine. The contribution he’s made through his commitment to excellence and his understanding of the watershaping industry has been enormous.”

Recently, we spoke with Eric about changes at WaterShapes, the current state of the industry and what he sees for the future of both.

Why has WaterShapes shifted from a monthly to a bimonthly publication?

As is true of many businesses in the watershaping industry, we’ve been affected by the economy during the past two years. Becoming a bimonthly was a necessary step for us and will enable us to continue providing the quality publication our readers expect.

Are you optimistic about the magazine’s long-term future?

Very much so. We think our long-term survival will be secure based on a simple fact: We do a very good job for our readers and the industry as a whole. In the short term, however, we’ve had to adjust and figure out what we need to do to stay in the game.

What can readers expect from the shift to being a bimonthly publication?

Every other month, they will see the same high-quality publication that WaterShapes has been from the beginning. We’ll continue to explore the best our industry has to offer and will provide an ongoing platform for some of the industry’s most creative minds. I’m confident that the issues we’ll continue to publish will be some of the best we’ve ever done.

How has this shift changed the way you approach producing the magazine?

If anything, it has caused us to sharpen our focus and take a really hard look at what the most important aspects of watershaping are. It’s made us examine how we can be most useful to our readers.

What role will the Internet and e-mail play in the future of WaterShapes?

Becoming a bimonthly magazine is allowing us to devote significantly more time and energy to our Web site. Just in the past few weeks, we’ve already dramatically upgraded what we do digitally. To speed reader access to web-specific articles and interviews that won’t ever appear in our print magazine, we’re publishing an electronic newsletter that will guide readers to more information than we’ve ever been able to offer before.

What have readers told you about the way they’ve been affected by the current economy?

Plenty, believe me. In the case of more volume-oriented businesses, they’ve told me they’re having real problems because homeowners are having trouble financing major purchases. The banks just aren’t lending, and even though the phones are ringing and there’s interest, the financing simply isn’t there in many markets.

At the same time, I’ve heard from a lot of people — mostly high-end, custom designers and builders — who say they’re as busy as ever, if not more so. They’re working with clients who aren’t as dependent on the credit system and banks to get what they want.

It’s clear in all of this that operating on the high end and working with affluent clients has proved a good approach in the past few years.

Not everyone can be a high-end builder.

That may be true, but I tend to think that change is required in today’s marketplace. I have the sense that those who are hurting have resisted change while those who are successful have embraced it. On that level, it might have more to do with attitude than with the economy. Success may hinge on finding ways to achieve clients’ objectives at prices they can afford.

Are there indications that a recovery is underway?

I think so. In mid March, I noticed that, all of a sudden, I was talking to industry people who told me their phones were ringing off the hook or that they’ve been busier than at any time in the past two years. One of the things we’ve suspected during the economic downturn is that the demand for our industry’s products and services has not gone away. What has been lacking is confidence in the economy and the availability of financing. I believe both of those situations are beginning to turn around.

What will be the key factor driving the industry’s future growth?

In the past, the watershaping industry usually promoted itself as providing affordable commodities, whether the conversation was about a pool, a spa, a fountain or a pond. In the future, watershapers need to embrace and promote the benefits these features provide: recreation, stress relief, health and fitness, relaxation, family togetherness, aesthetic beauty and so forth. I’m convinced that once we show people we can turn their dreams into reality — and we back that up with quality design, engineering and construction — the industry will prosper enormously.

In recent years, some watershapers have claimed that a “new industry” is evolving. What are they talking about?

I think they’re talking about an industry that is focused on overall exterior design at the highest level. Not just a commodity industry that drops pools or spas or ponds or fountains onto properties at the lowest possible price and with the least possible involvement in the overall setting. This may sound pie-in-the-sky, but there’s truth to it. And it’s not necessarily tied to having wealthy clients: It’s about being creative in helping a wide range of homeowners achieve their dreams.

Many different professionals are involved in this. Pool and spa builders; landscape architects and designers who specialize in Zen gardens, healing gardens and tranquility gardens; individuals who specialize in ponds and streams; people who are focused on energy efficiency and water-resource management — all of them are helping to develop the new watershaping industry.

After 12 years as the editor of WaterShapes, what do you enjoy most about your job?

First of all, I appreciate the many people in the industry whom I’ve had an opportunity to meet and interact with, a number of whom have become good personal friends — that has been a wonderful and unexpected bonus. I’ve gotten to know some of the most creative, dynamic, interesting, idiosyncratic, odd, funny, forward-thinking people around. It’s a long list of real characters, and that’s something I treasure greatly.

The other thing is that WaterShapes has had an opportunity to chronicle, and in many cases to define, an emerging art form. Water is rapidly becoming a primary artistic medium, and we’ve been fortunate to have begun publishing our magazine at a time when movement in this direction was simply exploding. As WaterShapes editor, I’ve had the privilege of being part of it, and I also like to think I’ve played a part in shaping and celebrating it.

What do you see as the biggest challenge to the industry?

Obviously, the current economic climate is a major challenge. But in the long run, I think the biggest challenge we face has to do with defining the value of what we offer to people and disseminating our messages about it in convincing ways.

What gives you the most hope for the industry?

The fact that a love of water is fundamental to what we are as human beings. From ancient to modern times, water has always played a central role in the human experience. I think it always will.

Where do see the watershaping industry being five years from now? Ten years from now?

I believe that in five years, we’ll look back on today’s economic downturn and feel stronger because we successfully made our ways through it. I’m convinced the industry will be flourishing five years from now in ways that are tough to see right now because times are so hard.

It’s much more difficult to get a sense of where we’ll be in the year 2020. My hope is that watershaping — how we use water, how we enjoy it, how we conserve it — will become an even more integral part of our economy and culture than ever. My hope is that our industry will become more important and more prosperous than people would even dare to imagine nowadays.

Lenny Giteck is a consulting Web writer and editor for WaterShapes.com.

The opinions expressed in the WaterShapes Interviews series are solely those of the interview subjects and do not necessarily reflect the views of WaterShapes or its staff.