Thinking About Regional Magazines
...and what some of them look like as we wrap up Q1 - Issue #88
A pretty significant portion of all of my cloud storage is devoted to magazine cover images. I love to collect them. There’s a lot that you can learn about a magazine, its editors, its designers, the balance and dance that goes on between the revenue, editorial, design and advertising silos of a magazine media organization.
What do they care about most? Who are they speaking to? Is it the readers, the advertisers or themselves? Are they looking for clicks? Follows? Is there a split between the digital and print teams?
You can learn a lot from a magazine cover.
While I grew up around a lot of magazines, books and newspapers, it wasn’t until I moved here to Chicago that I was really aware of the city and regional magazine space. Back home in Western Mass there were “alternative newspapers”, but the magazines I grew up around were mostly national and we didn’t have anything other than Yankee Magazine. And that title we shared with all of New England.
Chicago, of course, has Chicago Magazine, literary magazines and over the years, many other local magazines, some of them, still in print and distributed in unique ways.
As a consultant, I first got involved with city, state and regional magazines on the newsstand side of the balance sheet. Pre-consolidation, things were pretty simple for a city publication. There was a local wholesaler in your town and you had them distribute you and hopefully pay you. Since 1995, things have been a bit more complicated. The same can be said on the subscription side, the digital side, the social side.
Life’s just more complicated in the 21st century.
This week, I thought I’d share with you some of the regional magazine covers I’ve grabbed and stored from the first quarter. Despite all of the closures, the paper issues, the printing problems, the trouble with the post office, shipping newsstand copies, figuring out post COVID events, advertising shortfalls, regional magazines are still a big slice of the magazine pie. They are a source of news, inspiration, support for your home town. They are worthy of our consideration.
one__Chicago Magazine: March 2023
So let’s start in my backyard. This magazine has had a lot of different owners over the years and is currently the property of the vampire hedge fund that ate the Chicago Tribune. Despite what they’ve done to the Trib, the magazine continues to produce strong editorial and I’ve always loved the cover images they come up with.
two__Our State - Celebrating North Carolina: March 2023
This was an easy choice for this week. A local statewide magazine, that reaches the age of 90, that is chock full of editorial and advertising, that covers it’s topics in a positive vibe. Our State is a great example of a regional title that expresses its love for its region on every page.
three__Yankee Magazine: Jan/Feb 2023
Not far behind Our State in age, the 88 year old Yankee Magazine is currently part of the company that also owns The Old Farmers Almanac. Editorially they fully embedded in New England culture with what I often felt was a northern tier feel. Despite that, this Western Mass native grew up loving the bi-monthly and still enjoys their newsletters and seeing an occasional copy.
four__5280 - Denver’s Mile High Magazine: March 2023
The rockies have a deep magazine culture. You can find magazines in Vail, Aspen, Steamboat Springs and so many other smaller cities. Plus there are home design guides, wedding magazines and more. 5280 is, of course, the magazine for the city of Denver and is a great story of a local publisher who started small and is now fully entwined in his hometown culture.
five__Which Portland? Main? Oregon?
The weird eight year old nerd in me finds the existence of two Portland city magazines and my sometimes confusion about which cover belongs to which publisher endlessly amusing.
Why? I don’t know. Maybe because at heart I will always be an eight year old nerd. The Oregon city magazine is a product of Sagacity Media: the publisher of other city titles such as Seattle Met, Sarasota Magazine and Park City Magazine. One of the things I’ve always appreciated about this company is how geographically diverse they are.
The other Portland Magazine, located on the Maine coast is a more traditional regional title but also has a robust readership and is founded and edited by published novelist, Colin Sargent.
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If you’ve got a question or comment, please drop me a line. You can always reach me at joe.berger@newsstandpros.com.
Remember back a few weeks ago when our favorite stressed out magazine media team was sweating a PE buyout? Let’s be flies on the wall as they prep a deck for the new management up in the C-Suite…
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That’s all I’ve got for you this week. I hope it’s a good one full of fast loading databases, short meetings and empty conference rooms.