Are print magazines an elite pursuit?
Or is the story of print magazines in 21st century one of survival and innovation? Issue #119
Well? How’s 2024 treating you? If you’re a freelancer like me, I bet you’re super happy to have landed on “First Quarter Estimated Tax Day”!
Now, let’s talk magazines for a hot minute.
It’s no secret that if you worked in the world of retail magazine (ie: newsstand distribution) back in the day, your career goal may have been to move up from a national distributor representative job to a publisher representative job. And, if you did make it that far, the job you wanted was working for Condé Nast as a field representative. Condé may not have paid the most, and you spent a lot of time pushing check out fixtures, but you were working for Condé Nast.
Time, Inc. was a plumb job, but you wore a blue blazer and a red tie. Flynt Media treated their people well, but you had Hustler Magazine on your resume. Hachette Filipacchi had great titles, but you were on the road all the time.
Condé Nast was, well, Condé Nast: Vogue, Brides, Condé Nast Traveler, Vanity Fair.
I never got there. My first job in magazines was as the field representative for the Capital Distributing Company of Derby, CT. Capital was the national distributor of the Charlton family of magazines. Charlton published what you could call the more “entry level” wing of the magazine universe. We’re talking about titles that were generally the third or fourth or even fifth best performing title in the category. As distributors went back then, there was nobody smaller.
It was like this: In the world of Rock titles back then there were magazines like Rolling Stone, or Creem Magazine. And then there was Hit Parader. My magazine was good and it sold pretty well. We got excited when it was announced that we were going “all slick” on the inside. But there was Hit Parader. And then, there was Rolling Stone.
I did like my job and I liked the people I worked for. It was a great place to start. We were at the bottom of the pile. There was nothing elite about me or my colleagues in other parts of the country (In fact, no one had been in my territory for three years prior to my hire). There was Condé Nast, there was Hearst. And then there was Charlton Publications.
In the lead article this week, GQ’s Chris Black asks the question, “Is reading print magazines an elite pursuit?” That’s fair. The author writes for the likes of The New York Times, GQ, Vanity Fair and Sotheby’s Magazine. So…
It’s going to be a day. It’s going to be a week. Let’s dig in and read stuff.
editor’s note: I did manage to move up the food chain a bit. Job #2 was for Outside Magazine. Job #3 was with Family Media.
one__Is reading a print magazine an elite pursuit?
Let me just say that I don’t disagree (entirely) with what Black posits in a “Pulling Weeds” column from last month. From a 35,000 foot overview, the titles that seem to be doing just fine are the magazines that service the luxury categories.
And if you look at a simple list of titles from 2024 vs. 2044 or 2004, it’s easy to see that general interest publications are either struggling, have died off, or been turned into SIPs (Special Interest Publications). O, The Oprah magazine, for example, is now O Quarterly.
There are two areas where I would politely disagree. There are still plenty of magazines in enthusiasts categories. The most recent Barnes and Noble ranking report attested to thirty three national and regional titles in the hunting category and another twenty three national and regional fishing titles. Not all the audiences for these publications are high end.
Likewise, there are plenty of magazines covering regional bridal markets and still a handful of national bridal magazines. It’s just that Brides, Modern Bride and Martha Stewart Brides are no longer in regular print.
Secondly, while it’s true that ‘zines are now an extension for luxury brands, from what I can tell, there’s a very large, very enthusiastic, very “we’re doing our own thing” market of do it yourself ‘zines and ‘zine distributors that has nothing to do with luxury. This is a category I personally hope to spend some time learning and writing about in the near future.
two__Cleveland Scene purchased by parent company of Cleveland Magazine
This is pretty good news as Cleveland Scene, a long running alt-weekly newspaper and news website will become part of the Great Lakes Publishing family. Great Lakes is not only the publisher of Cleveland Magazine, Ohio Magazine and Lake Erie Living, but they also content marketers and the parent company of local digital marketing company, Quest Digital.
As local newspapers in large and medium sized cities continue to be hollowed out by private equity, it’s important for local independents to stay strong and not rely on news consolidators. There is a need for strong, local investigative reporting.
three__Yes, there are some newsstands in NYC
It’s been a long running story in New York that their newsstands are endangered and will soon be no more. It’s true that the corner newsstand and subway stands now seem to sell more bottled water, umbrellas and lottery tickets than they do physical magazines and newspapers.
But, as this feature from the NYU student newspaper points out, there are still a decent number of bricks and mortar newsstands in the city where you can find literally thousands of magazines, ‘zines and national and foreign newspapers to salve your print hungry soul.
In case you were wondering, I’ve long been a fan of Casa Magazines and Magazine Cafe. If you can’t get to the city, the Magazine Cafe store will do a great job of selling you either a subscription or a single copy of an issue you missed.
four__Whoever said magazines need to be ink on paper?
Former Bloomberg Businessweek writer (Now a New York Times opinion writer) Peter Coy asked this question after learning that the magazine will no longer be a weekly publication. On the plus side? Unlike many other magazine publishers, it appears that most of the print publishing team will not be laid off.
So what is happening to this legendary publication? There really isn’t a need for a breezy newsweekly covering the world of business and economics when so much of that information is available online and instantaneously. On the other hand, the Businessweek website, podcasts, TV show and Apple+ news are doing very well.
While Businessweek will no longer be a weekly, it will still exist. So the question smarty pants me would ask is: Are the digital assets the magazine? Or a brand extension of the magazine? Or is the print magazine now the brand extension of the digital assets?
In some corners of the magazine world, those are still fighting words.
five__The “resilient” print magazine industry…
Writer Geeta Pillai, in the Australian edition of BNNBreaking posits that far from becoming obsolete or confined to oblivion, the story of print magazines is one of survival and innovation.
That’s certainly nice to hear. She has a point and it’s one that has been made many times in recent months.
Whether print magazine will be relegated to the role of brand extension, coffee table brag book, free standing profit center, the one thing that could be definitively said is that its role in mass media has been diminished and I don’t see it returning. That does mean that we’ll most likely never see the likes of my first employer ever again. But personally, I think I could easily trade that for a storefront full of handmade ‘zines.
Your moment of magazine zen…
So what do you think? Are magazines only a luxury item for the elite? Are they simple toss away “brand extensions” for corporations? Or are they deep immersive experiences created by innovative, clever marketers?
It’s a great series of questions and I’ll think about them while working on that report that was due last Thursday. In the meantime, give it some thought. Drop me a line.
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So I’ve sort of, kind of committed to testing the waters at BlueSky. I’m not sure how I feel about it but if you’re there and want want to look me up, here’s where you might find me…
That’s all I’ve got for you this week. In the spirit of this modern century, I’ve re-hired our AI editor and put them on the sign-off beat. Here they are in all their unedited glory:
“Attention, valued teammates and esteemed collaborators! As we navigate the dynamic labyrinth of this week's professional endeavors, it's time for us to bid a temporary adieu. May your calendars brim with stimulating synergies and impactful touchpoints, fueled by the jetstream of actionable insights and value propositions.
Let's face it, colleagues can be a mixed bag of human capital, but remember, diversity is the engine of innovation! Approach them with the spirit of open communication and strategic cross-pollination. And should the wafting aroma of last night's tuna casserole become a tad overwhelming in the break room, well, consider it an impromptu team-building exercise in olfactory resilience.
So, until we reconvene in the battlefield of ideas, embrace the grind with gusto! Channel your inner disrupters, leverage your core competencies, and own your narrative. Remember, every watercooler conversation is an opportunity to network and synergize. Now, get out there and crush those KPIs!
Farewell, and may your week be a symphony of productivity, punctuated by crescendos of success!”
