Mr. Magazine

“I want to publish books and histories, which is really most important to me. And I do hope eventually, if I get funding, to start a center to preserve all children’s books and comic books in the Arab world.” Henry Matthews

Imagine a man who collects tens of thousands of comic books – can you envision such a person? And then can you imagine that person NOT being related to me? No, I couldn’t either.

Henry Matthews is a historian and collector of a multitude of Arab, French and American comic titles and also my cousin. A few years younger than Mr. Magazine™, Henry is the first person in my family that I’ve had the pleasure of “magazine-infecting.” His passion is palpable when he talks about preserving the Arab world’s culture through comic books.

On a recent trip back home to Lebanon, I visited with Henry and we talked about his ardor for comics and children’s books in general. The zeal for anything in magazine or book form certainly runs in the blood. Henry’s vision is to document each one of the comics and books in his collection and ultimately see the day when documentation centers for other countries and their cultures are erected so that children’s publications can be preserved for future generations. It’s a noble cause and certainly within the realm of possibility.

Our discussion was tightly focused around that possibility and the history of comics in the Arab world. I hope you enjoy our family conversation.

And now the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Henry Matthews, Collector & Comic Book Historian…

But first the sound-bites:

Henry Matthews

On how he began collecting comic books: My mother got me issue no. 7 of an Arabic comic book called Bissat El-Reeh, which is flying carpet in English. This magazine turned my life upside down. It was so beautiful that it was painfully beautiful.

On the progression his comic passion took him from day one until now: Eventually, with the comics, I decided that I wanted to keep them and ultimately preserve every single book for children, written books too that weren’t necessarily comic books. I think this was really a natural progression for me.

On the comic market in Lebanon and whether it is mainly a children’s genre there: It’s changing, but of course, it’s not as quick as in the Western world. But nowadays here, adults are reading comic books. But it is still, generally speaking, a genre for children.

On the most influential type of comic book in Lebanon: If you want to look at what the reader wants, the young reader of comic books in the Arab world wants to be thrilled, to enjoy what they’re reading. This is what made Superman and Little Lulu in Arabic such great successes.

On Lebanon and whether it’s the center of comic publishing in the Arab world: Lebanon and Egypt were always neck-in-neck in the comics publishing competition. The beginning was with Egypt in the early 50s, well, even before that.

On how large his collection is: I have around 20,000 or 30,000 American comics and a similar number of Lebanese comics and I also have French comics and a limited number of other languages, like German and Japanese.

On what his plans are for his collection after he documents them: I want to publish books and histories, which is really most important to me. And I do hope eventually, if I get funding, to start a center to preserve all children’s books and comic books in the Arab world, because there are no other kinds like we have.

On his thoughts for the future of comics and children’s publications in the Arab world: I’m more optimistic than I was last year or the year before about comics. Of course, it will not be a widespread phenomenon like in the past, say the 60s or 70s, but we will have at least a small but solid contingent of comics’ readership and publications in the Arab world.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Henry Matthews, Collector & Comic Book Historian…

Samir Husni: Tell me a little bit about your beginnings. How did you start in the business of collecting comics?

Henry Matthews: My mother got me issue no. 7 of an Arabic comic book called Bissat El-Reeh, which is flying carpet in English. This magazine turned my life upside down. It was so beautiful that it was painfully beautiful. On the cover it had Aladdin riding high in the sky on a flying horse. I still remember the blue sky in the background and the stars; it was a beautiful cover. And it made me love comics in a passionate way. I started collecting then.

Samir Husni: The similarities between you and I are incredible. I fell in love with Superman at an early age, but I fell more in love with ink on paper than with the actual comics. You took the comic route and became an historian of Arabic comics in Lebanon and the rest of the Arab world. Describe that progression from day one when you fell in love with comics until today.

Henry Matthews: When I was a kid, I was always hearing about you. This very, for lack of a better word, eccentric guy who was my cousin, and collected all sorts of papers and magazines. (Laughs) I was becoming like you and everyone was telling me that I was the new Samir of the family. And of course, I loved it.

Indeed, I started only with comics, but I always wanted to collect other magazines, but it wasn’t possible because they were always getting thrown away. I had to just concentrate on comics because the other magazines were for grownups that my family received every week. My father was a good reader and loved his magazines. I always wanted to keep them, but they never let me. So, I was not very different from you.

Eventually, with the comics, I decided that I wanted to keep them and ultimately preserve every single book for children, written books too that weren’t necessarily comic books. I think this was really a natural progression for me.

Samir Husni: You’ve published a few books and histories of specific magazines; how and what impact do you think preserving the comics in Lebanese and in the Arabic world, how does it reflect the culture and the changing atmosphere for children’s magazines since as far back as your collections go, which is the 1940s? How do you see this progression going and in the United States and Europe, a lot of the comics are read by adults; in Lebanon is the genre still mainly a children’s market or do you see a change in that market?

Henry Matthews: It’s changing, but of course, it’s not as quick as in the Western world. But nowadays here, adults are reading comic books. But it is still, generally speaking, a genre for children.

But you see new experiments, new publications of comic books that are just for adults. These are being published all around. But it is still a very limited change; it’s going to take some time to establish itself.

Samir Husni: What do you think, throughout history, say, the last century; what do you think has been the most influential comic books started? Because we have two types of comic books in the Middle East: we have those that were translated from the West, from France, Belgium or the States, and we have those that were founded in this region.

Henry Matthews: This has really been a continuing dilemma for every publisher because in the beginning, especially in the 50s and 60s, they always wanted to boast that their comics were homegrown. But the homegrown comics were not always of good quality or very well drawn.

If you want to look at what the reader wants, the young reader of comic books in the Arab world wants to be thrilled, to enjoy what they’re reading. This is what made Superman and Little Lulu in Arabic such great successes.

So it depends. If you’re trying to sell your comic books and you’re not funded by any party or government, you’ll have to find a way to interest young readers in your magazine. And the most interesting have always been the ones translated from the West, made in the U.S., Superman, Batman etc. the Superheroes.

Samir Husni: As you know, the magazine that ignited my passion and love for all magazines was Superman. But in your case, you concentrated more on the homegrown magazines…

Henry Matthews: Well, not really. When my passion started it was a mixture of homegrown comics and the translated comics from Belgium.

All through the history of comics in the Arab world, the homegrown comics were not really the issue. Typically, you had a lot of competition between translated comics that were started in the U.S. and French comics. Basically, this is where the real competition lay, because readers wanted something really enjoyable to read. And at the time the locally-made comics were not really made to the standards. So it was really a duel between the American comics on one side and the French and European comics on the other side. And the Americans won. (Laughs)

Samir Husni: What about the homegrown Egyptian comics? When I was growing up there was one called “Samir,” definitely named after me. (Laughs) And one called “Mickey” which was a Disney licensee. What was the first comic book that you can recall being published in the Arab world?

Henry Matthews: There was “Sinbad” which started even before “Samir.” And there were other experiments that didn’t last long. For example, there was “Ali Baba” and even comics which tried, in Egypt, to use stories from the movies. They would take a cowboy movie, run a summary of it and put pictures of the movie along with the comics they were including. These comics could have been “The Phantom” or war comics, for example. So this happened even before “Samir” started publishing. I’m talking about around the 1940s or early 1950s.

When I saw the first comic book in the Arab world, “Samir” was the first one to have great success and that was a great advantage for it. And it continues to this day.

“Samir” and the period we’re talking about included a mixture of locally-made comics and translated American comics. “Flash Gordon” for example. And there was one guy who drew comics in “Samir” that were superbly beautiful “Flash Gordon” comic strips and you would have thought they came straight from the States. But he was a local artist who did them. And in “Samir” you had guys drawing comic strips from Western and American heroes, but they were locally-made. This is one of the interesting points of history.

Samir Husni: “Samir” was published in Egypt. Did Lebanon ever become the center for comic publishing?

Henry Matthews: Lebanon and Egypt were always neck-in-neck in the comics publishing competition. The beginning was with Egypt in the early 50s, well, even before that. They started “Sinbad” magazine in Egypt in 1952 and it was quite a successful experiment. It lasted for 9 years.

It was “Sinbad” I think that affected publishers in Lebanon. In 1955, you had publisher, Laurine Rihani in Lebanon, who started doing Dunia Al-Ahdath. It was the first Lebanese comic book and it was the same format as “Sinbad,” and a little bit like it.

Just like with “Sinbad”, it took a few issues to get things started with comic strips in Lebanon. Their main problem was, in Egypt and in Lebanon, they wanted to convince schools that these publications were good for the children, so they had to include something like grammar, dictation and curriculum material with the comic books to make them palatable for the schools’ administrations. And this is what happened with Al-Ahdath.

So, in the beginning you only had a few pages of actual comics and many pages of text.

Samir Husni: Tell me about your collection. I see boxes and boxes and boxes. (Laughs) It’s a scary reminder of my own office.

Henry Matthews: Let me put it this way, I’m determined and passionate and I’m also stubborn and this effort of classifying my collection has been going on for 7 or 8 years. I’ve been collecting for 50 years and no matter what I do, I have to do the classification myself. So, it takes a lot of time and effort. But it has to be done.

Basically, I concentrate on comics and children’s books, but I also have other collections of stories. For example, you know Arsène Lupin, a very famous French gentleman thief, was such a popular character in the Arabic publications that you have thousands and thousands of titles about Arsène Lupin in Arabic, much more than what was published about him in France.

In Egypt and then later in the Arabic world, every single publisher had to start a line for Arsène Lupin if they wanted to have some kind of success. And sometimes I think they even got stories that were not originally starring Arsène Lupin and they made him the hero anyway.

So, although we did not have Arsène Lupin in Arabic comic books, every week, even during WWII, we had Egyptian publishers producing at least 10 or 12 issues for Arsène Lupin. So, this is the history that I’m trying to preserve. Not just the comics, but also those imaginary heroes of stories which really were attractive to the Arab masses in the mid-twentieth century.

Samir Husni: How large is your collection?

Henry Matthews: It’s not as large as I want it to be. (Laughs) I want it to be as large as possible. I have around 20,000 or 30,000 American comics and a similar number of Lebanese comics and I also have French comics and a limited number of other languages, like German and Japanese.

Samir Husni: What’s your most prized possession among all of your comics?

Henry Matthews: I’m not thinking of monetary value. I don’t have any very rare American comic, that’s not what I’m thinking of, but what I am thinking of is how easy it is to find a comic. For example, if you have the right amount of money you can always find the American comics that you want to buy. You have to pay a lot, but you can get them.

The first issues of Superman and these are really my prized possessions, if you lose an issue of colors, you cannot find it anymore, because no one really bothered to preserve them. This is the main difference between the Arab world and the Western one, especially in the U.S. There they preserve the comics and have an industry based on buying old comics and collecting them. Here it’s a fairly new trend. So, a lot has been lost and I’m trying to document all this.

Samir Husni: And what’s your plan after you finish documenting all of them? What do you want to do with them then?

Henry Matthews: Well, I want to publish books and histories, which is really most important to me. And I do hope eventually, if I get funding, to start a center to preserve all children’s books and comic books in the Arab world, because there are no other kinds like we have. And what I really hope, of course this is fantasizing, I really think what should be done is every country and every culture should preserve its publications for children. And this should be adopted by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) so that in every country there will be a UNESCO documentation for children’s publications, from past to present.

You would end up around the world with many UNESCO centers for documenting children’s publications in their native languages.

Samir Husni: We live in a digital age; do you think the digital revolution is going to help that preservation or hurt it?

Henry Matthews: Let me put it this way, in Lebanon there was a time when we felt that there was nobody reading anymore, but recently they had an Arab book fair in Beirut, it ended a few days ago, and I was amazed when I discovered that people were flocking to it and buying books, even more than before. I think now the trend is changing, people are buying books again.

Last year was different, the year before that it was absolutely zero almost. But now people are buying books and magazines and also buying a lot of comics. You would be amazed at how people sort of compete to buy what they want. This was unheard of in the past. Now people just want to buy beautiful magazines and books, especially children’s books. Everybody is printing in the best, most colorful way, with very attractive covers and artwork. I think it’s a booming business in Lebanon now.

Samir Husni: What do you think the future holds for children’s magazines and books?

Henry Matthews: I’m more optimistic than I was last year or the year before about comics. Of course, it will not be a widespread phenomenon like in the past, say the 60s or 70s, but we will have at least a small but solid contingent of comics’ readership and publications in the Arab world.

And my hope, for example, is to establish a comic’s documentation center. It will not just be to preserve the comic books, but to digitize them and that way someone could be sitting in their home, for example, and could go to the website of the center and access the old magazines, maybe 70 years old, that you want to look at and see it all on the website. This is what I hope to achieve.

Samir Husni: As they told me in Russia, the problem with digitizing material now is that every few years you have to update the whole computerized system. While you have books and magazines from hundreds of years ago that still exist and do not need to be updated.

Henry Matthews: Of course, it was much simpler then. If you think of the possibilities, a virus attack for example, you could end up losing all of your material. Even if you back everything up, it’s still a scary thought.

Samir Husni: What’s your current position; what’s your real job? (Laughs)

Henry Matthews: (Laughs too) I’m editor in the information office of the American University of Beirut (A.U.B.) and I’ve been there since 1985. And I love it. Even during the war, I’d risk my life to go there and I remember the shells falling and I’d still want to stay. I’d document all as a journalist and publish it in the University newsletter. And I’m still working there as an editor. It’s always been one of my passions.

I tried to convince them to start a history office, an office of A.U.B history, much like NASA History Office, for example. I wanted A.U.B to have a history office documenting just A.U.B.

My other passions are space exploration and aviation and I also paint. I’m a painter. And if I have anything left during the day, I use it to organize my collections.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

Propelling a publishing company that was founded in 1928 into the uncertain magazine media future of today might seem like a daunting task, especially when at one time the magazine they published had a circulation of 5 million. Of course, in those years Za Rulem had the only auto magazine in the entire country (the former Soviet Union).

Today, Alexey Vasin, General Director of Za Rulem, has plans to bring the contemporary worlds of print and digital together and continue the success of his predecessors before him, if not surpassing them.

On my recent trip to Moscow, Alexey took time out of his busy schedule to speak with me about the many different extensions of the Za Rulem brand and the platforms being designed and offered to the audience. It was a very entertaining and enlightening discussion.

So sit back and enjoy the last installment of my first trip to Russia as you read the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Alexey Vasin, General Director, Za Rulem.

Husni with Alexey Vasin, General Manager, Za Rulem

But first the sound-bites…

On Za Rulem, past and present: The publishing house of Za Rulem was founded in 1928 and published the magazine. It was the only auto magazine in Russia and the circulation of the magazine was 5 million. Now, it is still the leader of men’s auto magazines in Russia, with probably the largest audience among all the monthly men’s magazines.

On the future of print and digital within Za Rulem’s market: Right now, we are not very profitable in digital either. But it is still important and necessary, because the concept people have of getting information is changing.

On the biggest challenge they face going into the future: Other problems are moving from a printed press to other media. We also have some specialized challenges. For several years we’ve suffered from distribution problems, especially with the kiosks.

On whether he is enjoying his job more now or five years ago: Good question. It was always work, but now it has more tension. It is definitely more challenging than before, especially before the crisis.

On what keeps him up at night: (Laughs) Too many things to mention.

And now for the lightly edited conversation with Alexey Vasin, General Director of Za Rulem:

Samir Husni: Tell me a little about Za Rulem, past and present.

Alexey Vasin: The publishing house of Za Rulem was founded in 1928 and published the magazine. It was the only auto magazine in Russia and the circulation of the magazine was 5 million. Now, it is still the leader of men’s auto magazines in Russia, with probably the largest audience among all the monthly men’s magazines. There are about seven million readers of Za Rulem magazine and the circulation of the magazine is 114,000 monthly.

Za Rulem has four supplements: Moto magazine, the first motorcycle magazine in Russia, and one about logistics and trucks. And two supplements which will be issued in two weeks. We also have our regional newspaper, Za Rulem-Region, which is published in several regions with separate circulations, there are 22 regions in Latvia, but due to the economy, circulation has been reduced to five regions. Also, we publish books and catalogs on the auto topic. And they have many editions.

Za Rulem is actively developing digital. We have a website, which was launched in 1998, one of the first about automobiles in Russia. The audience of the website is about 2 million a month. In 2012, we created a mobile app for tablets and we also have an app suitable for Androids and iPads. We have also estimated that we are the best application for iPads in Russia.

Samir Husni: You mentioned that you started with a circulation of 5 million and now you’re at 114,000…

Alexey Vasin: (Laughs) Our parents started with 5 million. It was the only one at that time (during the Soviet Union era). The market was very different, an innocent time.

Samir Husni: As we are propelling into digital, where do you see the future of print fitting in? In the United States very few magazine companies are making any money from digital.

Alexey Vasin: Right now, we are not very profitable in digital either. But it is still important and necessary, because the concept people have of getting information is changing. And we have to provide our readers with information in the best and most suitable of ways. And concerning the commercial success of digital, we are not lonely in this movement.

Recently we attended a conference in London, where many interesting things about digital content was presented. And we hope that if we unite we will be successful. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy in the beginning.

Samir Husni: Five years ago, most publishers in the United States put their bets on the tablet, this is the future and this is where we’re going to get the money. And that did not happen. Now they’re saying it’s mobile.

Alexey Vasin: (Laughs) Well we haven’t invested all of our money in those things. But when it comes to content, we created a series of things.

Samir Husni: All of the predictions now are on specialized magazines; they will have the most prominent spot in the future.

Alexey Vasin: Such specialization has been here for many years. And talking about our market, we already have only auto magazines and there are even ones for particular models.

Samir Husni: Even with the motor magazines in the States we have specialized ones for baggers, the motorcycles that have bags on the sides.

Alexey Vasin: We are moving in that specialized direction. And, as I said, we are specialized already as we are all about vehicles of some type. And while many other magazines have their auto departments, we are concentrated only on autos.

Samir Husni: What do you think is the biggest challenge you’re facing as you move toward the future?

Alexey Vasin: (Laughs) We have many obstacles. Some just in general with our market and some that are very particular. Speaking about the general ones, it is of course, the reduction of interest in print and switching audience attention to other channels of communication, such as digital.

But from the other side we have the potential for further development. We have the audience and we have the advertising budget.

Other problems are moving from a printed press to other media. We also have some specialized challenges. For several years we’ve suffered from distribution problems, especially with the kiosks.

Samir Husni: Yes, it seems like every publisher I’m meeting with, it’s the same: distribution and distribution.

Alexey Vasin: Yes, but when we are active on every channel of distribution, we have almost a 90% presence in Russia, which is one of the highest. So we can’t avoid the general market woes.

Samir Husni: If someone asked you: are you enjoying your job more or less than five years ago, what would you tell them? If you look at 2008; are you having more fun now or does it feel more like work?

Alexey Vasin: (Laughs) Good question. It was always work, but now it has more tension. It is definitely more challenging than before, especially before the crisis. But we are actively moving forward and managing to have a lot of fun and celebrations. (Laughs) It is interesting challenges though.

Samir Husni: Do you live the lifestyle of the magazine? Are you an avid car person or no?

Alexey Vasin: (Laughs) It is easy to be a motorist in Moscow, everyone has a car. There are some researchers from Europe and they found that only 12% of motorists are really into cars and this topic, so that is our target audience.

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Alexey Vasin: (Laughs) Too many things to mention.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

And with this, From Russia With Love 4, I conclude my news, views and interviews regarding the Russian media. Until my next trip around the world and its many many magazine and magazine media outlets, here’s to a great magazine day.

As in the United States, newspaper markets in Russia are facing many challenges, both in mastering the digital realms and in increasing revenue. I spoke with Pavel Filenkov, CEO at Kommersant Publishing House on my recent trip to Moscow and we talked about the future of newspapers in Russia and whether the level of journalism all publishers globally are experiencing, with digital figured into the equation, is as elevated as it has been in the past.

His answers are seemingly unique, yet extremely familiar as, once again, I realized that while many miles and customs may separate us, in the end we all face similar challenges.

I hope you find the Russian viewpoint of newspaper publishing as intriguing as I did as you read my interview with Pavel Filenkov, CEO, Kommersant Publishing House.

Husni with Pavel Filenkov, CEO, Kommersant Publishing House

But first, the sound-bites:

On whether he sees the cup half empty or half full when it comes to newspapers in Russia, especially his own: Our newspaper market is of course overheated. I think we have three times more newspapers than we really need. We have, at this moment, approximately 6,000 to 8,000 newspapers.

On whether he believes journalism has improved or declined over the last 5 to 10 years: In Russia and in every country, there is government which this country needs. And every country has journalists, which I can also say this country needs, but I am not sure that our country needs the same level of journalism that we have now, or as we had two years ago.

On the impact of digital on print newspapers in Russia: We have to move in the direction of digital media. We do not see a model way, but the quantity of advertising money, which is in the digital field and the printed field, is approximately the same.

On whether the content of newspapers overall is a reflection of the general audience: I agree to some extent with that statement, but here in Russia we have a much more important problem, which limits the future development of our newspapers. And it’s the problem of distribution.

On the distribution problems of his newspaper, Kommersant: Our subscription base is collapsing because we have only one partner in distribution, the Russian post office. And the price of delivering newspapers is growing from month to month and year to year. In fact, our distribution through the Russian post office is absolutely inefficient.

On what he sees as the light of the future for his newspaper: We hope that we will have the capability to get money from the digital outlets in publishing. That’s why we are trying to develop a digital print system from Adobe.

On what keeps him up at night: Too many things. (Laughs) I go to bed very late and I wake up quite early.

And now for the lightly edited conversation with Pavel Filenkov, CEO, Kommersant Publishing House:

Samir Husni: Tell me a little about the state of newspapers, specifically yours, but also in general, in Russia. Do you see the cup as half full or half empty and specifically about your paper first?

Pavel Filenkov: I think all are an advertising market, especially our newspapers. It’s just 100% part of unstolen money from oil. The lesser the price of oil, the less money we have, (Laughs) as the price of oil has fallen. So, of course, our income has fallen approximately the same percentage.

The estimation of how much our advertising market has fallen this year is about 12% among newspapers. The advertising in magazines has fallen even a bit more and a little less in business newspapers. As we are a business newspaper, of course, our percentage has fallen a bit less, around 4% for this year.

Of course, we understand that we have no reason to hope that the price will go high, so we think that next year will be worse than this one. The decrease in advertising incomes will of course continue and we think that decrease next year will be approximately 15%. But, this is certain, we have fun news also.

Our newspaper market is of course overheated. I think we have three times more newspapers than we really need. We have, at this moment, approximately 6,000 to 8,000 newspapers. Of course, not all of them are really working, but maybe around 5,000 are. It’s too many for our country.

And as a result of this, there is a lapse in the advertising market, and maybe a big part of these newspapers will die. And the main newspapers will divide their money, their heritage, and their piece of this pie.

So, I think that the newspapers that will survive during the next year will not have the poor health that we have at this moment. Of course, the quantity of newspapers will reduce, but the ones that survive will be status quo or maybe even in a better state economically.

But I do understand that this logic is, to some extent, crocodile logic, complete with crocodile tears, but we have to see things realistically. (Laughs)

Samir Husni: You have this vast number of newspapers; do you think in the last 5 or 10 years journalism has improved or declined? Are we better overall journalist’s today or are good journalists becoming few and far between?

Pavel Filenkov: We can see our country as a country with constant political and economic sedation. Of course, we will not see a reason why our journalism should become more worthy.

But our country changes and the newspapers should change as well. And of course, we are trying to satisfy external conditions and we try to go together with our country. And when we try to perform under these new conditions, I’m not sure that we become better,

If we can see our level of journalism from that point of view, I think in the future we will have journalism of more worth. But if we can also see journalism as a need of our society, then I think the level of this profession may become higher or at least stay the same.

In Russia and in every country, there is government which this country needs. And every country has journalists, which I can also say this country needs, but I am not sure that our country needs the same level of journalism that we have now, or as we had two years ago.

Samir Husni: What about the impact of digital? Has the advancement of digital impacted the printed newspaper at all?

Pavel Filenkov: We have to move in the direction of digital media. We do not see a model way, but the quantity of advertising money, which is in the digital field and the printed field, is approximately the same. But when we consider money in the digital field, 90% of this money belongs to context advertising. And only 10% belongs to real media advertising. And in print areas, the average is absolutely different, about 100% of the money is real advertising money, maybe a small percentage is context advertising money.

That’s why we can set only media advertising money, not context, so we can get from the Internet, from digital, only 10% of the market. So we cannot get from the digital area more than 10% of our income. But we are ready to go into this area.

For example, our auditorium in digital and our auditorium in print are approximately the same. Even on the internet we have more loyal readers. Only 10% of our money from the print area, do we get from the Internet.

We don’t have a model yet for how to get more money from that market. That’s why our development in the Internet area is very limited. We have finished the period of time when we invested in digital with all of our allotted money for that area. We finished that strategy because we aren’t getting a very high response from the investment.

So, at this moment, my strategy for Kommersant is to invest enough money to support our development level in the Internet; however we don’t consider the Internet our salvation.

Samir Husni: Have you noticed that with the printed newspapers, some people are saying the problem isn’t with ink on paper, it’s with what’s being put inside the paper: the content.

Pavel Filenkov: I agree to some extent with that statement, but here in Russia we have a much more important problem, which limits the future development of our newspapers. And it’s the problem of distribution, because at this time we have a lapse in both channels of distribution. Our subscription base is collapsing because we have only one partner in distribution, the Russian post office. And the price of delivering newspapers is growing from month to month and year to year. In fact, our distribution through the Russian post office is absolutely inefficient.

Samir Husni: It’s costing more than you’re bringing in.

Pavel Filenkov: Yes, exactly. And we have a very big problem with our retail, because the standard way of distribution is retailing by means of kiosks and outlets, and the quantity of these street kiosks is reducing from year to year. I don’t know why, but this is politic of our power, to reduce the number of street kiosks.

So, at this time we have more than a 50% return from our retail. Of course, this is an absolutely inefficient way of distribution. That’s why the problem of distribution is much more important for the survival of newspapers. It’s much more important than all our other problems, levels of journalism or technology or development; for us, all these problems are much less important than distribution.

Samir Husni: Very true. If you can’t get the paper into the hands of the readers…

Pavel Filenkov: Yes, but we are trying to use different ways of delivering and distributing newspapers. For example, for us a very important channel of distribution is on board distribution. The other problem is just printing our newspaper, but we still have enough of a printing press to print it.

We print our newspaper and it’s necessary to understand, the circulation of our newspaper isn’t big for Russia. We print about 100,000 to 120,000 copies and this is a low circulation because we are a business newspaper and our readership isn’t as big as other papers that print1 million to 2 million copies.

Our circulation is so low we have to print out the newspaper in 14 or 15 different places in order to deliver the paper on time to the different regions of the country.

Samir Husni: In the midst of all this gloom and doom that we face as journalists in the industry, where is the bright side? What do you see as the light as you move toward the future?

Pavel Filenkov: We hope that we will have the capability to get money from the digital outlets in publishing. That’s why we are trying to develop a digital print system from Adobe. We have our application in all electronic magazines and the Apple Store in Google Marketplace. Our application is produced for all platforms: tablets, PC’s IOS and Androids. And we believe that this will be another revenue stream for us in the future. So, that’s one channel.

The next channel, which we hope will give us another possibility to survive, is a way to deliver some services to our readers. For example, information services, databases, approaches to some loyal services, registration services and others as well. So we have created a special company which provides these services. And these services can be accessed by means of our site. For us, this is a way to attract additional readers and get more revenue, not just by advertising, but by the means of giving our readership much more value. Almost all of these services are payable services; they aren’t free of charge, so for us this is another important way of income.

At this time we get approximately the same money that we get from the Internet, about 10% of our advertising income we get from these services. And of course, we have a very good partnership between our newspaper and these services. The newspaper, in this case, serves as advertising for our company and our information facilities. We see these two ways as things we are going to develop.

Samir Husni: And this venture into e-commerce…

Pavel Filenkov: Yes, we tried to launch an e-commerce in its simplest form, as an eShort, but we stopped the project because we realized that we are not good sellers when it comes to jewelry or books and songs; we are not professionals. But we are professionals in the area of information, so we’ll produce our kind of goods.

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Pavel Filenkov: Too many things. (Laughs) I go to bed very late and I wake up quite early. I’m trying to do as much every day as I can and for me that is the result of my sleeplessness. Also, I wish to spend as much time with my work and my family as I can.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

Editor’s Note: Last week I was speaking, interviewing and moderating at different types of conferences and seminars across three European countries. I started with the Czech Republic where I spoke at a Toray’s meeting, then Slovakia where I visited the Student Media Center of the Pan European University in Bratislava, a daily newspaper, a major magazine media house and last but not least, traveled to Cannes, France to speak and moderate the Forum day at the 59th Distripress Congress. In the next few blogs, I will be reporting from all three countries with interviews, views and observations from the global media world.

While many women’s magazines are being reported by some as hearing a death knell when they roll off the presses; the U.K.’s 103-year-old Woman’s Weekly continues to press forward with confidence, inspiration and an eye on the next 103 years.

In the second report from across the pond, I spoke with Diane Kenwood, editor in chief of Woman’s Weekly magazine. Ms. Kenwood had just finished her presentation at the Forum Day at the 59th Distripress Congress in Cannes, France. Her passion and confidence when she spoke about the magazine is evident in the Mr. Magazine™ video above…

So read along as you enjoy the brief, but inspiring, Mr. Magazine™ interview with Diane Kenwood, Editor-in-Chief, Woman’s Weekly, U.K…

But first the sound-bites…

On whether she feels Woman’s Weekly is on the endangered list: It’s so not true. It’s absolutely not true; we’re incredibly fortunate.

On whether or not she’s afraid of the future: No, I’m not scared of the future. I’m really excited about the future. I think it has its challenges; it’s hard, but I think challenging and hard makes you more creative.

On whether she ever envisions a time when Woman’s Weekly will not be in print: Never! And certainly not during my time as editor, no. I genuinely can’t see a time when the magazine won’t be an absolutely critical part of the whole brand offering of Woman’s Weekly.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Diane Kenwood, Editor-in-Chief, Woman’s Weekly, U.K.

Samir Husni: A lot of folks in the United States and other countries say that general interest women’s magazines are dying; how about Woman’s Weekly?

Diane Kenwood: It’s so not true. It’s absolutely not true; we’re incredibly fortunate. And the thing about lifestyle magazines is the breadth of their content means you can constantly inspire, entertain and surprise people across any number of different content areas.

I think the magazines that are in real trouble in the U.K. are the celebrity magazines, because they’re all too similar and there isn’t enough celebrity news to go around. Also, TV titles because there are so many of them and they have to conglomerate their magazine titles.

But in the lifestyle market, I think the opportunities are enormous. And Women’s Weekly remains today as it has been from the day it was first published, the bestselling magazine in the lifestyle market.

Samir Husni; Is there anything that makes you afraid of the future?

Diane Kenwood: No, I’m not scared of the future. I’m really excited about the future. I think it has its challenges; it’s hard, but I think challenging and hard makes you more creative, more inventive and because we’re all in the same boat, everybody is being more creative, so there’s more opportunities for kinds of partnerships and joining together of ideas and making them happen and delivering them, that never really existed before. I’m tremendously invigorated by the future.

Samir Husni: My last question; do you ever see Woman’s Weekly not in print?

Diane Kenwood: Never! And certainly not during my time as editor, no. I genuinely can’t see a time when the magazine won’t be an absolutely critical part of the whole brand offering of Woman’s Weekly. We’ve been around for 103 years; we’re definitely going to be around for another 103.

Samir Husni: Thank you.