Question: Is there life after magazines?
Depends. Where do you work now?
The type of work that I perform on a daily basis here in May 2023 is different from what I was doing in 2013. I find that interesting even though technically my job title is the same. Wind the clock back even further and you’ll find that my job has radically changed from the very first day I stepped out on my own as a publisher’s consultant.
I still have some living roots in the old newsstand business. But there’s no reason to even try to contemplate how far removed this little shallow tidal pool of the magazine industry is from years gone by.
The Chicago region was, once upon a time, home to numerous magazine publishers, some pretty impressive old school zines, and in the newsstand business, one of the biggest regional magazine distributors in the country. Early in the 2000s, that company was sold, the headquarters were moved out of state. Many local employees stayed behind and needed to find new careers.
Is there a professional life after magazines? Well, if you’re on the business side, it is possible that there is life after magazines. The majority of the former employees I found after a little light cyberstalking in places like LinkedIn suggest that they could replicate their primary work experience at the magazine wholesaler in other industries. Accounting staff is now managing accounts in another industry. Human resources is important anywhere. Knowing how to manage a warehouse is an invaluable skill set in the 2020s. People who worked directly for their suppliers, in jobs that would be considered sales or marketing are doing sales and marketing jobs in other industries.
Likewise, the work cycle at a magazine is very different today from what it was years ago. Job responsibilities have shifted. Old prestige job titles no longer exist. If you work on the editorial side of the magazine business, you can generally stay on that side of the aisle if your publication disappears, is merged or the print side is downgraded. If you don’t work directly for another magazine, you may wind up somewhere else in content creation.
I find all of that somewhat comforting as we head into the uncharted waters of a potential national default, job stealing AIs and endless corporate consolidation. But what do I really want? I think what we all want in this business: A healthy, vibrant and stable world of magazines.
one__Follow-up: LA Mag gets a new editor and creative director
Back in April we were following the story of the shakeup of the editorial staff of LA Magazine following its purchase by local owners. A new editor has just been announced and it is the former executive editor of music at Variety, Shirley Halperin.
Joining the new editor is Ada Guerin who will take on the role of creative director. Guerin was the former creative director at The Wrap. Both Halperin and Guerin worked together previously at The Hollywood Reporter.
two_NY Magazine wins a Pulitzer for criticism - Andrea Long Chu book reviews
While NY Mag sometimes seems like the “other” big city literary magazine, the reality is that they have excellent writers and their vertical, Vulture, is the home of some excellent coverage and writing.
Andrea Long Chu was awarded the Pulitzer for “…book reviews that scrutinize authors as well as their works, using multiple cultural lenses to explore some of society's most fraught topics."
By they way, check out her review of the TV series, “The Last of Us” on Vulture. It’s an outstanding description of what “prestige television” is and a compelling statement about why video games can be art.
three__Mediapost: Consumer spending on media decelerates
Based on a report from PQ Media, the article cites several trends that show that the impressive growth of media consumption, in all forms, that grew during the early years of the pandemic are now slowing.
While consumer spending on media in the US was “down” to only a 5.3% growth rate, the US still commands the biggest share of the media market globally.
Which makes me wonder if the big issue is that we’ve reached a saturation point with our “media”. Even comfortable households have to be thinking if they finally want to cut the cord, or ask if they need that extra streaming service or paywall subscription.
four__While not exactly “fake news”, it was a fake Musk
I don’t exactly know what to make of this particular story. Every week I check news feeds for stories about new magazine launches and I’m always surprised by limited the amount of promotion new publishers do to announce their own launches.
No, I don’t expect them to get onto national news, but for goodness sakes, at least promote the heck out of it on your own social channels and e-blasts.
In this case, a leader of the Chinese community in NYC was apparently launching a new magazine called “Wall St Magazine” and hired an Elon Musk impersonator to show up at a private launch event. Unsurprisingly, some attendees were upset when they realized that it wasn't the real Elon Musk at the event.
Which is understandable. I’d add, that no amount of searching has yet turned up a link to this new magazine’s website, social sites, or something showing what the physical cover looks like. If you come across it, please reach out and send me a link. I’d love to see it.
five__Martha Stewart on the cover of SI Swimsuit?
We’ve come a long, long way from the early aughts when every issue of the infamous special issue featured nothing but lanky supermodels in micro bikinis. In 2016, the magazine featured well-known plus sized model Ashley Graham on the cover.
This year, 81 year old businesswoman, writer, entrepreneur, former magazine publisher Martha Stewart will be one of the covers of the special swimsuit edition.
As in previous years, there will be multiple covers of the magazine available at the newsstand. The other cover features include professional model Brooks Nader, actress Megan Fox and musician Kim Petras.
Your moment of magazine zen….
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Yep, I’m still on Twitter. You can find me here, but I’m not spending much time there.
That’s all I’ve got for you this week. I hope you have a good one filled with super fast wifi and incredibly short meetings where everyone gets to the point right away. And, if your office mate is of the four legged variety, may they be nicely distracted during those super short meetings. Just sayin’.
