Making the Newsstand magazine a Limited Edition Magazine…
January 23, 2008
Here is a fact: In the UK more magazines are sold via single copy sales than subscriptions. Here is another fact: In the US of A more magazines are sold via subscriptions than single copy sales. Here is also one more fact: More magazines are now using split covers, dual covers, and even multiple covers of 3, 4 and in some cases 11 (Flaunt magazine)… So the question becomes when is a magazine cover a collector’s edition. Well the simple answer is never, especially if it says on the cover Collector’s Cover. Well, in the UK, Wallpaper magazine may have found a solution for the problem. Why not call the subscriber’s cover a limited edition cover: A cover that is designed specifically for the subscribers (above right). They are telling the truth because only a limited number of the issues are sold by subscriptions. As for the US of A, well our collector’s limited type covers are also aimed at the subscribers who represent the majority of the audience and not just a limited number. The Harper’s Bazaar cover below with limited typography is that of the subscribers (below left). The cover that is filled with cover lines is for the single copy sales. So, I wonder whether the newsstands’ copies of the American magazines should carry the limited edition cover phrase, since the newsstands’ sales are getting more and more limited by the day if not the minute. Let us give the Wal-Marts of this world a reason to sell more magazines on their newsstands. It is only logical that the American magazines’ single copy editions should be labeled limited editions, not only because they carry a different design, but also because they are priced 90% more than their siblings the subscribers’ copies of the same magazine.
Mr. Magazine 
I don’t know about limited edition covers. It reminds me of the early 90’s when comic books began printing “limited edition” covers for collectibility… it worked (for a while, at least) for them because the majority of readers were collectors hoping their investments would appraise higher one day (except that most of the special edition covers were rarely limited). However, for magazines, they’re not a collectible commodity for most readers. I have a hard time believing the average Josephine is going to pick up an issue of Vogue simply because it has a limited edition cover. In my opinion, most magazine limited edition covers are for the sake of the art/ed teams to do what they feel is a stronger cover rather than a “sales” cover.
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