Every day there's news about magazines shutting down or reducing rate base. Bauer Publishing Group announced today that Life & Style and In Touch are lowering their rate base claims. This means fewer people are buying these titles on the newsstand. Both of these titles receive 90% of their rate base from newsstand sales. Read more at WSJ.com. This is a strong economic indicator. Consumers at the supermarket checkout are more cautious about spending on additional impulse items.

Meanwhile, PC Magazine has shut down (and will go all digital). The last printed issue will be the January 2009 issue. O at Home will stop publishing after the Winter 2008 issue. Cottage Living has shut down. Men's Vogue has reduced its frequency to 2 issues per year. The list goes on and will likely continue to grow.

What's happening and what can be done? Will advertisers stick around in 2009? In a down economy I believe you need to invest in marketing and promotion. Consumers only have so much money these days. The hope is that advertising works and compels consumers to buy your product. Don't run and hide! Advertise!

 

Nothing brings girlfriends together better then a good conversation regarding the latest celebrity dirt. In this day and age it’s hard to avoid a newsstand or a grocery store checkout line where there isn’t an influx of gossip magazines from Us Weekly to People Magazine & the National Enquirer.  These days it seems as though we can’t get enough about hearing about Britney’s latest fiasco and the newest child that the Bradgelina clan are considering adopting. We just eat it up.

 

It seems that people love reading about celebrities and the problems that they face and it seems to help some readers escape the problem they facing by allowing them into the lives of our celebrity counterparts. While the average person may not be facing problems such as which new 4.5 million dollar estate to purchase or what pair of Manolo Blanc’s to wear on the red carpet we still love the idea of being able to live vicariously through their lives.

 

Personally I feel the toughest decision, when it comes to my gossip rags, is which to read. With the magazine industry circulating over 20 celebrity gossip magazines it can be difficult to decide which might carry the most accurate information while still feeding us all the gossip “news” we can handle. Now some of these celebrity based magazines seem to be more reputable then others it is to each of our own discretion to decide which best suits out needs and budgets. For me there is nothing better then the types of gossip magazines that are sent out weekly, some how I’m convinced short of receiving a daily issue, this is as good as its gonna get.

Let's count the ways consumers can get taken advantage of when it comes to purchasing a subscription to their favorite magazine:

1. Telephone Renewal Scams: Telemarketers will call right when you sit down for dinner and ask you to renew your magazine subscription. The caller will say they are calling from the "publisher" and they'll know that you are subscribed to XYZ magazine and they'll ask if you want to lock in a low price and subscribe for three years. The caller might even ask for your bank account information. Never provide this info and hang up. It's rare that an actual magazine publisher will call you at home to renew your magazine subscription. And, if the publisher does call they will clearly state the name of the publisher they are calling on behalf. Not just a generic name like "Reader Services" or "The Magazine Publisher".

2. Direct Mail Renewal Scams: Similar to the above except the solicitation will come in the mail. The envelope might suggest that your magazine is about to expire and you may owe money. The return address will say "Magazine Services" or "Reader Services". If the specific name of the magazine is not used on the mail solicitation, you can safely toss it in the garbage.

3. Door to Door Solicitation Scams: These are called "Cash Field Sales". Imagine you just completed a relaxing shopping adventure at Target and you're approached by a young kid asking you to buy magazine subscriptions to help him win a prize. Or, you called on at home by a teenager saying that they live in the neighborhood and they're raising money for their school choir. If you don't have a personal connection to these kids, we suggest that you avoid the temptation to subscribe at a discount rate. Often these salespeople are part of an aggressive field sales organization that preys on runaways and low income adults. For an interesting insiders view of this type of operation, check out this article.

4. Online Discount Offers: "Buy any magazine for $4.99" Or "Get 4 magazines for $20". These are often grey market resellers that don't have authorization to sell that magazine at the price being offered. Every publisher sets an authorized price. You can find this authorized price on the magazine own site, Overstock, Amazon, or this site. This is the lowest authorized price. Any site selling for a lower price is probably selling without the permission of the publisher. This means that you a) might never get your magazine subscription, or b) your magazine will arrive after an extremely long wait. The best advice is to only purchase a magazine subscription from a known retailer, the actual publisher or look for the BBB seal and make sure you can click on it and read about the site where you are about to make a purchase.

5. Offer scams: Read the terms and conditions and make sure you know what you're getting. Are you starting an automatic rebill situation where your magazine subscription will auto renew year after year? If this is what you want, it's okay ... just make sure to read the find print. Is the free gift you are promised really going to arrive? Or, are you actually entering a sweepstakes where 1 or the "first 50 people" will get the prize.

There are some watchdog groups out there trying to help clean up this mess. Two in particular are Periodical Watchguard and Subscription Integrity Services.

 

 

 

 

 

Nothing brings people together quite like food, and there are plenty of Cooking & Food publications out there to satisfy everyone’s culinary cravings. Variety is the spice of life, and a vast array of Cooking & Food titles ensures everyone from fine dining fanatics to busy moms looking for fast, family-friendly recipes can find something to tickle their taste buds.

Category leaders Gourmet, Bon Appetit, Saveur and Food & Wine cater to tastes of all sorts, with recipes, ideas for entertaining, food-related travel features and restaurant reviews. These classic titles have earned numerous accolades, including National Magazine Award nods for their enticing features, mouth-watering photography and clean, fresh design. The James Beard Foundation Awards, the “Oscars of the Culinary World,” have also honored these titles for their outstanding contributions to food journalism.

Nutrition-savvy readers will find titles like Weight Watchers, Cooking Light, Eating Well and Light & Tasty to be right up their alleys. Each magazine is packed with good-eating tips, the latest diet and exercise plans, and recipes for delicious, healthy. Diabetic Cooking and Vegetarian Times are two more titles that will please the palates of healthy eaters.

For easy-to-make recipes and kitchen tricks galore, Everyday Food, Simple and Delicious, Cookbook Digest and the award-winning Cook’s Illustrated are all known for being appetite pleasers. The dieticians, personal chefs, and test-kitchen cooks behind these titles test drive recipes, tools and techniques, with the goal of making the best food around.

A relatively new trend in Cooking & Food magazines is the spirits magazine. Wine aficionados will enjoy Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast and WineMaker magazines, while Whiskey Magazine and All About Beer focus on making, drinking and pairing other popular spirits.

Last month, it was reported that US News & World Report reduced its frequency from 46 issues to 36 issues. This change will take US News & World Report out of the "news weekly" category.  If it's not a news weekly, what is it? It's hard to define a weekly news magazine that comes out 36 times per year. US News will now be best known for its Best of College annual rankings.

Publisher, Kelly Magill, has announced a new national magazine for women on how to go green.

This quarterly magazine, Positively Green, is interested in “showing women how to live a life that is healthier for themselves and the planet.”

The magazine is printed on paper with recycled content, and each issue will “highlight a variety of green topics in a way that educates, entertains, and provides a visual feast.” It plans to reduce the research of the reader, and will feature products that are the best solutions to the problems.

Positively Green is planning a launch party in July to be hosted by Ed and Rachelle Begley. Rachelle will appear on the cover of the first issue, which will hit stores in August.

We are always on the lookout for new and innovative magazine and this fits the bill. Here's to a successful launch!

 

Planet Out Inc. sells Out magazine and Advocate for $6,000,000!

An article in Folio magazine reports that Planet Out was riddled with debt. In fact, Planet Out lost $51.2 million in 2007.

Planet Out acquired Advocate magazine and Out magazine from LPI Media in 2005 for $24 million in cash plus $7 million in debt. My math is not the greatest, but it seems like quite a loss.

Advocate is probably one of the top gay magazines for news. It was started 1967! This is venerable brand that can surely become a cash cow. Just gotta sell those ad pages!

Advovate has circulation of more than 170,000 and Out has circulation of more than 178,000.

These titles probably need some strong business support because we've got to imagine that each title has a loyal following.

We hope to share some insight about the magazine business. This blog will be written for people who love magazines and the magazine business.

Check back to see how this turns out!