Mr. Magazine

Hearst and Condé Nast seem to have decided to import their “handy travel size” women’s magazines to the United States. It looks like the newsstands have been flooded with copies of the June 2007 of the British Cosmopolitan and Glamour magazines. The first offers “All the pages of Cosmo in a handy travel size,” and the second offers “Britain’s no. 1 women’s magazine” in the same handy travel size. Needless to say that it was Glamour that “glamorized” this “pocket size” for women’s magazines and is now being imitated all over the world (North America, as usual, is always an exception). Both magazines are offered at a very discounted price (a bargain compared to the rest of the British titles on the marketplace). Glamour with its hefty 388 pages sells for a mere $4.99. Cosmo with its 276 daring pages including an “exclusive sealed section” sells for a mere $5.95. It should be noted that the Glamour price seems in tune with its UK price of 2.20 British pounds while Cosmo’s price in the UK is 3.30 British pounds, thus some discounting is taking place here. The exchange rate of the British pound to that of the American dollar is almost two dollars. So you may ask, aren’t the American titles enough? Well, the simple answer seems to be no. I remember when it used to be that when a British title was first published in the States (Marie Claire {the UK’s and not the French}, Maxim, etc.) the importing of their British counterparts ceased or dwindled a lot. Times are changing and the world is indeed getting flat. Let us hope that the words of one newsstand’s seller do not become prophetic. He told me when he saw the two UK titles arriving in his store, “they look more appealing and revealing than their American counter parts.” Will that translate to more selling? Time will tell. Stay tuned.