PRESS

Girl With a Satchel meets the press

Goodwill from the media (muchas gracias, amigos). 
Girl With a Satchel at JUSTB.
Enhance magazine, cover, spring 2011
RECORD magazine, September 2011
TheHoopla.com.au
Gold Coast Magazine, September 2011

Sunday Life, August 21, 2011

Mamamia, 'Christianity and my daily life', 21 July, 2011






CLEO, February 2011



The Australian, November 15 2010
ENHANCE magazine, Summer 2010

The Sunday Mail, August 22, 2010


"Is body love missing the point?" by Nicole Elphick, CLEO, April 2010










Sunday Telegraph, Body + Soul, January 24, 2010

"GWAS is a curious mix because whilst Erica has worked in the land of glossy magazines, she’s able to take a step back and examine magazines and review them as one would a CD or a film. A mark of 1 out of 5 means “No… for the sake of your brain cells. Borrow a book instead”, whilst full marks means “Definitely… consider it a secure glossy investment”. And really, how can you fault a blog that is written with warmth, humour and helps you to work out what magazines are worthy of your hard earned pennies? Especially when such a blog covers much more than that and has guest reviews, as well as examining the media landscape both on our fair shores and abroad." - Exchange For Change, 1 June 2010 


"Erica Bartle, former Girlfriend deputy editor, and creator of magazine and media blog Girl with a Satchel, says that many young people who once read magazines for celebrity gossip were now getting that from the web." - Rachel Wells, 'Forget Celebrity Goss, This Mag Plays it Smart and Cool', The Sunday Age, 21 February 2010

"When one embarks on the arduous journey of beginning their first ‘grown-up’ blog, experts often tell you to find a blog in your niche from which to learn from. For me, finding Girl With a Satchel was a really exciting experience." RoughReview.com, 21 January 2010

"Lady Melbourne, Mr Gadget and Girl with a Satchel. Quirky names little known to most Australians now. But overseas, they are kicking up a mini storm." Nicole Low, 'Aussies win at Asia-Pacific blog awards', News.com.au via AAP

"There aren’t enough decent blogs about the Australian magazine industry. Although a journo, Bartle tends to speak mainly as a reader. She offers a close-to-exhaustive rundown of what the Aussie glossies are covering, along with an international perspective too." mUmBRELLA, October 5 2009

"Erica Bartle, a journalist and founder of magazine analysis site Girlwithasatchel.com, says when Australian magazines venture into more risque territory their readers just aren't impressed." Jo Knowsley, 'Cover stars under wraps', The Sunday Telegraph, 27 September 2009

"Critiquing women's magazines is all in a day's work for Mount Tamborine's Erica Bartle - creator of Girl With A Satchel blog. But as a Christian, the Bible is her most important daily read. Bartle, a former deputy editor of Girlfriend magazine, is behind the popular Girl With A Satchel blog." – Renae Dyer, 'Bartle blogs up success', Gold Coast Bulletin, August 11, 2009

"On the week that Vogue Australia begins celebrations of its 50th anniversary, Girl With A Satchel reviews the August issue, rating it a very high four out of five. Talk about value for money – 2,100 words in Erica Bartle’s review and it's available free on her blog!" Mediaweek, 29 July 2009

"While Kevin Rudd has never been media-shy (quite the opposite, what with his Twittering, website and blog), it seems his wife, Therese Rein, is finally ready for her close-up." – 'Therese's glossy reign', The Punch, 21 July 2009

"Nine months after taking the Twitterverse by storm, the Prime Minister has turned his hand to blogging... The blog won qualified support from one of Australia's most prominent bloggers, the "Girl With a Satchel", Erica Bartle, who argued it was a way for Mr Rudd to bypass traditional media and talk directly to his constituents. "A Prime Minister interacting with his public can only be a good thing," she said. "If the blog is to resonate, and not be written off as a gimmick, it will have to be authentic and genuine, by no means an obvious ploy to pimp party politics." – Ari Sharp, 'Blog standard approach brings PM to the people', The Sydney Morning Herald 17 July 2009

"Blogger Erica Bartle has a long detailed look at the Sunday inserted magazines Sunday Life and Sunday. Bartle makes a massive admission in her second par: "Truth be told, I could live on these magazine-style supplements alone (throw in Good Weekend, Body & Soul and The Age's A2 and my print media consumption needs are very nearly met). Essentially, they're covering the same editorial territory as the monthly glossies, and in some areas they're doing it better. And for FREE (cost of your Sunday newspaper – around $2 – withstanding)!" Mediaweek Morning Report, 7 July 2009


"We were really stoked to be noticed by one of our fave Aussie blogs, Girl With a Satchel. We love Erica Bartle’s propensity for entwining interesting insights & credible critiques of magazines, with glimpses of glossies, covetable fashion, beauty, and all things pretty (and guiltily girly) in life… GWAS definitely makes for a compelling daily read!" Felicity Lee, editor Swaptilyoudrop.blogspot.com

"A key difference between journalists and bloggers is the willingness of the former to sign up to a code of ethics requiring them to acknowledge mistakes and fact-check their work...Erica Bartle, who is behind the popular Girl With A Satchel blog, said bloggers got away with more subjective opinion. 'In writing for a magazine like Marie Claire, you must have three experts for a piece, those are the rules,' she said." – Caroline Overington, 'Bloggers to fore in fog of war', The Australian, 25 May 2009

"Top blogger Erica Bartle is part of a free Sydney Writers' Festival event, Bloggers vs Journalists. Her popular blog site GirlWithaSatchel.com has a 'girlie slant' and is all about women's magazines and pop culture. Some of her posts can get up to 10,000 hits in a single day. Here she explains "the ultimate futility of living life by glossy standards", and why she blogs...". ABC.net.au, 'The Blog Generation: 5 Questions with Erica Bartle by Tara Moss, 22 May 2009

"Dolly, the Aussie teen mag, has an "airbrush-free" issue as part of a "Heart Your Body" campaign. Many of the models have no wrinkles… because they are 16. Excellent analysis [at Girl With a Satchel]." Jezebel, 'Combatting Photoshop of Horrors', May 13, 2009

"Erica Bartle, the Gold Coast-based creator of the Girl With A Satchel blog, cleans her white MacBook, "like a fussy mother with a child". To Bartle, her laptop "is essential for keeping in touch with my social network and blog readers. My laptop is my livelihood. Having it with me at all times gives me a sense of security in a chaotic world (as Cher from Clueless would say)." – Felicity Loughrey, 'Objects of Desire', Vogue Australia June 2009

The Daily Imprint profiles GWAS: "It's a great way to get a precis of what's on the newsstands - a try-before-you-buy type situation. But, also, the blog author, Erica Bartle, keeps readers up to date with all sorts of juicy media info."

"Girl With A Satchel today features an interview with MasterChef Australia host Sarah Wilson that begins by asking about her decision to leave Cosmopolitan in October 2007." Mediaweek.com.au, 22 April 2009

Listen to Mediaweek's magazine podcast in which Ros Reines, Nick Smith, James Manning, Brenden Wood and Erica Bartle talk tabloid glossies, supermodel covers, ForbesWoman and Twitter.

"As noted by Australia's leading fashion media-specialist blog, Girl With A Satchel, advertising/promotional pages accounted for a mere 10percent of Grazia's recent issue #27, compared with 38 percent of the launch issue and 19 percent and 23 percent of the September 1 and December 1 issues respectively." - Patty Huntington, 'Grazia stops the press', Feb 9, 2009, Frockwriter

"Erica’s blog is a good example of taking a niche - women’s magazines and their associated spin offs - products in magazines, industry information, women in media profiles etc and creating a daily addiction. Regular reading for the Flossie team." – Tee Twyford, 'Get Online in 09', Flossie.com

"If you love reading glossy women’s mags and celeb goss, you will luv Erica Bartle’s website…Girl With A Satchel. In this interview Erica explains how sponsors approach her to advertise on her site!" - IsItPossibleToMakeMoneyOnline.com

"Author of Australian media blog, Girl With A Satchel, and former Girlfriend deputy editor Erica Bartle offers her insights on magazines, beauty journalism and the evolution of the web." - BeautyDirectory.com.au, January 2009

"If you’re into magazines, Erica Bartle’s Girl With A Satchel website should be one of your daily reads. Bartle today pits the latest editions of Vogue Australia and InStyle against each other. The winner: InStyle…" – Media Week, January 22, 2009

“Erica Bartle from ‘Girl With a Satchel’ (an Australian blog that critiques magazines), says it’s important to be true to who you are when creating an online identity...she loves glossy mags and fashion, and she values her Christian beliefs.” – ‘How to market yourself online’ by Lauren Smelcher, Cosmopolitan Australia, February 2009

“Queensland-based former magazine journalist Bartle, 27, launched her site, GirlWithaSatchel.com, in January 2007 and tracks the inner workings of the Australian magazine publishing business…” – ‘Gossip Girls’ by Sarah Wilson, Good Weekend, November 22, 2008

“Bartle, who is a former Girlfriend staffer, attracts 1000 to 1500 readers a day to her stylishly written magazine reviews, as well as a modest amount of advertising from online retailers targeting her style-conscious readers." 'It's tough making a living in the local blogosphere' by Lara Sinclair, The Australian, September 29, 2008

“Hearing the word ‘blogger’ often has people shaking in their little boots but Girl With a Satchel is no Perez Hilton. If he’s most hated then she’s most loved… GWAS seems to genuinely care about those who read her blog. She provides readers with the information they need and she does it superbly.” – Jaye, 2threads.com.au, 16 October 2008

“Erica Bartle sees no death for glossy magazines as long as we’re prepared to buy into the promises offered on their covers.” The Walkley Magazine, October/November 2008