RB goes manbag

The latest edition of Real Business just arrived through the letterbox with a somewhat smaller thud than usual. This is actually the second edition of the mag since its overhaul, though for some reason I didn't get the first - that featured the glamourous David Cameron as cover star, while this one has the scarcely less ubiquitous Stelios (no second name required).

First impression - it's so wee! The new format is an innovative one for a business mag, being slightly shorter and wider than a US comic book - very noticeably smaller than the usual A4-ish size, but larger than the 'handbag-sized' women's titles like Glamour. I can only call it 'manbag-sized'.

The content's still great, though. I particularly enjoyed the article by Rebecca Burn-Callender and Philip Blyghton on 'secret entrepreneurs' who do their best to stay out of the spotlight (and well away from journalists in particular). I've had dealings (or rather, tried to) with a few like that.

There's also another Deals article by myself, this time on development capital. The smaller format means this covers six pages rather than the four of previous articles, which makes it seem pleasingly chunky. On the other hand, the layout seems rather messy, with box-outs and case studies competing with half-page ads for space - newspapers such as the Guardian which have switched to a smaller format have also had teething troubles with adapting design and layout.

But on the whole, a successful transformation by editor Adam Leyland - who's now transformed himself with a move to the editorship of The Grocer, one of the top jobs in B2B journalism. Best wishes to him.