Mr. Magazine

A magazine. That’s what. An ink on paper magazine. Read on…

The prophets of doom and gloom were busy last week celebrating the news of the death of four magazines. In fact, some went as far as reporting the death of magazines. Yes, as one such prophet called me to ask about my opinion “now that magazines are dead.” Not one or two magazines, just magazines are dead.

Well, to use a famous quote from years gone by, the news of the death of magazines has been greatly exaggerated. In keeping up with my philosophy and promise that I posted in the beginning of this year, I will continue to report the good news of our industry and the news that celebrates our newborns, innovates every day and amplifies the future of print.

Food Network magazine is a great example of the aforementioned criteria. I asked Vicki Wellington, the magazine’s publisher two questions regarding the magazine and the category it serves: Food.

This new born that is barely one year old, Food Network magazine launched last November with a 300,000 rate base. It will celebrate a ONE MILLION rate base this coming January. Talk about amplifying the future of print. I asked Ms. Wellington:

SH: The November issue of FN magazine is more than 200 pages and carries three covers one for each food entry (main, side, and dessert)…what is the secret of your success during the period of other food magazines shutting down?

VW: Food Network Magazine launched at the right time with the right idea: we capture the spirit, fun and accessibility of the network and it’s celebrities – the rock-star chefs. We take an accessible, fresh and modern approach to entertaining, cooking, and eating, and it is all filtered through the lens of this diverse group of chefs, who give the magazine and the brand, an approachable, unique personality. People smile when they think about Food Network Magazine; it’s like a friend they already feel comfortable with and want to spend time with.
We did quite a bit of research before launching and knew what Food Network viewers expected from our magazine – they wanted a magazine that would be informative but not intimidating, offer behind-the-scenes info about their favorite chefs and shows, as well as great recipes, tips, tricks and news. The bar was set high but we delivered on their hopes: in less than one year, we’ve more than tripled our rate base and are going to one million with our January issue, based completely on consumer demand.

SH: Are we going to see more of the established magazines giving way to the new ones and what do you think is the future of new magazine launches?

VW: I think Food Network Magazine definitely changed the model for launches. This was already a well-respected, multi -platform brand with a viewer-ship of nearly 100 million households that felt passionately about it – and when asked what brand extensions they wanted, the overwhelming response was that they wanted a magazine! We did a lot of research and introduced two newsstand-only test issues, from there we carefully gauged consumer and advertiser interest, and we ended up beating every benchmark we set for ourselves in record time on both the circulation and advertising front.
Magazines need to find that unique niche and give readers what they want. A magazine with a new, unique point of view will connect with readers. And when readers are connected and responsive as ours are, marketers are excited to get on board.

SH: Thank you.

To experience the feel and look of the November’s multi cover click here.

September 2009 will go into my history books as a great month. More than 71 new magazines were launched, the IRS, the State of Mississippi and the Institute of Higher Learning (the body that governs the public universities in the State of Mississippi) have approved the Magazine Innovation Center as a charitable, not for profit organization on the campus of The University of Mississippi, and the first meeting at the Magazine Innovation Center took place for the first time last week.

But first news first. September witnessed the birth of 71 new magazines from which 18 are published with a frequency of four times or higher. The total number of magazines that have started in the first nine months in this year of doom and gloom has reached 528 and counting. Compare that to a grand total of 685 new magazines for the entire 2008 calendar year. From the 528 new magazines at least 138 titles have a frequency of four times or more.

The September titles offer a mix of special issues and one-shots celebrating the life of the late Senator Edward Kennedy, President Lincoln and basketball star Michael Jordan. Others included brand extensions such as Cesar’s Way, from the guy who brought us the television program The Dog Whisperer, Dwell’s magazine Make it Yours, and Shooting Times’ Livin’ the Dream (with four separate covers).

However a lot of new and refreshing ideas hit the newsstands for the first times, including but not limited to H+, Toast, WWII Quarterly, Ink Junkie, Evolo, Watch Journal and The Flyfish Journal. Not to be left behind is Marvel’s latest entry in celebration of Fashion Week in New York City: Models Inc. with two separate covers. Take a look at the images of those magazines above and make sure to make a trip to your nearest newsstands to buy a copy or two. Our industry is still well, alive and kicking… Just look at the other side of the coin, for every tail there is a head. Do not dwell on the tail, look at the other side. Be creative, be innovative, be a publisher of a necessary, sufficient and relevant medium and you will see the light at the end of the tunnel that is not the train coming.

As for the rest of the great news of September, the Magazine Innovation Center is now a reality and you will be reading more information about it in the near future. The Internal Revenue Service has approved MIC as a Not for Profit organization under Section 501 (c) (6). In addition the State of Mississippi has approved MIC as a charitable organization and the Institute of Higher Learning for the State of Mississippi has approved MIC as a center in the School of Journalism and New Media at the University of Mississippi.

In addition, MIC hosted as its first activity the Arthritis Today’s Advisory Board meeting on September 24 and 25. (More on that in a later post).

So, excuse my bragging, but I was told long time ago when I moved to Mississippi, “if it is true, it ain’t braggin’.” So next time you are feeling down and the news is all about doom and gloom, visit a newsstands, pick up a new magazine, sit back, relax and enjoy. Still feeling down, drop me an e mail at samir.husni@gmail.com and we can start the conversation about the three ships that help us cruise our future: ownership, showmanship and membership. All the best for now and best to all. Stop reading and go to your nearest newsstands. Spend some money and stop reading the free stuff…we have to be in the business of selling and buying content. To paraphrase the famous Mississippi saying, “if you don’t eat catfish we will both starve,” if you do not buy a magazine today we will all suffer. A good magazine should not go to waste…go buy one today.

Every time I travel overseas, I find myself loading my suitcase (I always take an extra empty one) with a variety of magazines from all over the world. A lot of first issues, special issues and magazines that have innovative things that I feel obligated to bring back to the United States to show those who still have doubts about our future or the future of print in general. This time was no exception. I brought 70 pounds of magazines, 70 pounds of ink on paper, 70 pounds of new ideas and unique experiences that only magazines can bring to one’s values, visions and life.

Unlike some of our magazine editors and publishers societies that are willing to send their readers to websites celebrating and predicting the demise of the same industry they pretend to serve and cherish, most magazine editors and publishers overseas are devoted to promoting and celebrating the birth of new magazines and the survival of the established ones. Joining my friends from overseas, here is a celebration of the birth of some new titles that appeared on the world scene for the first time in the last few weeks:

Free Style Magazine: “The ultimate marriage between creativity and play,” writes Jason McGlade the magazine’s editor in chief and creative director in the first issue of the magazine. The round magazine that comes in a Frisbee is “full of delicious imagery and a melting pot of creative people who like to play.” The magazine’s staff is a “United Nations” in the making with offices and editors in Berlin, London, Milan among the few cities listed on the masthead. Freestyle Magazine is a must see, must have magazine and is worth every penny of the 15 Euros or British Pounds.

ESTELLE’S City Magazine Luxembourg: The bilingual English and French magazine wants “people to be curious.” The founder after which the magazine is named after, Estelle Sidoni, says that “she has the feeling that she never stops working,” but she is quick to add, “But I have found real freedom in my work, so it seems more like pleasure than work.” The magazine offers a “paradoxical mix of art and fashion, luxury and the humanitarian that (the founder) enjoys.” In addition the magazine provides a city agenda of Luxembourg, making it a must for any one planning to visit that part of the world.

LINDA.mode: While LINDA is not a new magazine in The Netherlands, its latest spin off LINDA.mode is sure is. In a typical LINDA style, the magazine is personal yet captivating, emotionally stunning and, for the lack of a better word, beautiful. And as if the magazine is not a must-have by itself, It comes with Patricia Paay’s CD “Who’s that lady with my man ’09.” If you have never seen LINDA. or flipped through one of its issues, it is not too late. The older the magazines the better it gets, and the more the spin offs the more passion to share.

Taste Britain: “The Best British Food & Drink.” As with the above listed magazines, Taste Britain is “a labour of love undertaken by a group of individuals entirely passionate about Great British food and drink,” writes Becky Ambury the magazine’s editor. She adds, “The British food scene has undergone a huge evolution in the last few years, with consumers demanding more, producers giving more and a rediscovered pride in the state of the nation’s food and drink. And it’s high time that there was a regular magazine to celebrate that.” Yes indeed, and what a celebration. Pick up a copy and enjoy some British cuisine tonight, tomorrow or the day after. Enjoy.

Living or Liv’: “Knowing, Showing,Going Places,” is the tag line of this new Dutch magazine that comes wrapped in a plastic sleeve with another cover printed on it giving the magazine the 3-D look it deserves and achieves. Liv’ as the magazine sans the cover is called promises a “new way of living” and takes you shopping in Oslo one day, lunching in Paris the other and sleeping in London yet on another day. And in an amazing frank approach to its content the magazine offers you the places to “Get Fat, Get Drunk, Get Poor and Get Laid.” The introductory cover price for the first issue is 4.95 Euros, one less Euro from its normal price.

Evita: The new beauty and health magazine published in Helsinki, Finland is the latest entry from Bonnier magazines to the Finnish market. Sporting a 180 pages for the first issue, the magazine, if nothing else, is a testament of bringing new magazines in the midst of very depressing economic times. However, the magazine looks more a beauty book rather than a health one. The name, on the other, I was told is short for E Vitamin, which we all know plays a big role in both beauty and health.

Helden: The magazine of blood, sweat and training. A combination of celebrity, personality and sports publication published by the famous Dutch television presenters Frits and Barbara Barend promises to be a glossy that is about men and women who have made their name in a sport. The quarterly (in Dutch) sells for 4.95 Euros and the first issue talks to Robin van Persie (from the Arsenal fame) and wife Bouchra about “their strong home, the secret of their relationship, nightly dinners and Robins career.”

Made of Japan: Saving the best for last this magazine is published in celebration of Onitsuka Tiger’s 60th anniversary. Onitsuka Tiger has “produced some timeless, heritage and classic designs that are still being worn today.” And this magazine is no exception. Published in both English and Japanese this magazine comes with the best binding ever (the stitching of the spine, like all treasured books of years gone by) however, the magazine makers left the magazine without the final cover wrap so readers can see the binding and feel the quality that lets you open flat any of the magazine’s over-sized spreads. Indeed it is a “unique publication” to celebrate a “unique occasion.” A doubt that any pixels on the screen can replicate this intimate experience with Made of Japan as the ink on paper can.

Three things all of the aforementioned magazines have in common: the passion of the publishers putting forth the first edition, the intimate must-have experience each one of the magazines promises to provide, and to top it all, the celebration of a new birth, a new magazine brought to the world of print that you can hold, touch, feel, smell and above all enjoy.

(The picture on top of this blog is from my hotel room at the Strand Hilton in Helsinki overseeing the Baltic River)

Talk about a hot August. I am not talking here about the weather temperature, but rather on the temperature of the new magazine launches. August ’09 surprised even the skeptics and brought a furry of launches and announcements of launches.

Earlier in the week Folio magazine reported on the increase of the pulse of companies bringing new titles. Today, the early statistics of August 09 show that there were a total of 75 titles launched, almost double the 43 ones in August 08 and even higher than August 07 with 61 new titles.

The August numbers include 17 titles with a frequency of four times or more, 2 annuals and 56 specials, including the Newsweek special edition on sale for $9.99 on the late senator Ted Kennedy.

Some of the noted August magazine launches are pictured above and include Afar, Clash, Photoshop Retouch, Green Craft, Wednesday Comics and Prosper.

I have noticed with interest all the news about the decline in newsstands sales for the ABC audited magazines, however, in almost all the reports no one stopped and checked the figures analyzed by John Harrington in his The New Single Copy newsletter that shows that we are still selling more than 23 million magazines every week on the nation’s newsstands. So, we are down by 2 million copies or so. What is the big deal? Can you name any other industry that has not suffered under the current economic climate that we are all witnessing? Why is it that a decline in magazine sales from a previous six month period always means the doom and gloom and demise of an industry, while a decline in attendance for a football or baseball game after few losses does not indicate the end of football or baseball?

I hope you will enjoy any or all of the 75 new titles of August and you will be willing and able to spend more than $800.00 on these titles, if for nothing else but to keep the prophets of doom and gloom and the media pundits at bay and keep our industry up and running.

Bible Study magazine is just that: a magazine to study the Bible. Some will be quick to say, so what’s new about that? Aren’t there plenty of magazines that deal with Bible studies and such? Well, on the surface, the answer is yes, but the more I studied (no pun intended) the new magazine, the more I saw its point of difference. It is not your grandfather’s Bible study magazine and it is published by a tech firm. This last observation alone could have led me to interview the publishers of the ink on paper Bible Study magazine, however in addition to this fact, the “Weird but Important” content of the magazine also caught my attention. Add to that some of the facts that I have later learned about the magazine’s business model. All of the above made John Barry, the magazine’s editor in chief, the perfect person to “study” and interview for the Mr. Magazine’s™ Interview segment of my blog and web site.

For the skimmers, here are some soundbites:

On launching in ink on paper:
Because paper works. As long as waiting rooms, lobbies and bathrooms are around, magazines will exist… There are also business reasons for launching a print magazine. Logos Bible Software is all about forward thinking…
On the magazine’s concept:
We are the only publication devoted solely and entirely to Bible study. Sounds odd, but it’s true.
On their different business model:
We don’t have a single subscription card. We chucked that business model out the window before we even launched our publication.
On advising others to launch a magazine in today’s market place:
I am tempted to say, “Don’t!” But the truth of the matter is that today is a great day to start a magazine.

What follows is the complete interview with John Barry, editor in chief, of Bible Study magazine:

SH: In the midst of the doom and gloom of the print industry, why would a tech firm Logos Bible Software publish a printed magazine?

JB: Because paper works. As long as waiting rooms, lobbies and bathrooms are around, magazines will exist. As Logos Bible Software’s president, Bob Pritchett, says, “Magazines are bathroom-compatible.” No one brings their laptop into the bathroom, but they do bring a magazine. I can sit in a hot tub with a magazine, but I wouldn’t bring a hand-held device in there. And even if hand-held devices takeover the magazine world, like they have a segment of the newspaper world, people will be charged for the content, and many will still want the print version because of the info-graphics, tables, layout, art, typesetting and general readability.
Logos Bible Software is a digital publisher with nearly 10,000 biblical and theological books available to purchase and download—fully linked to each other, powered by incredible searching technology, and databases. So, many customers asked us, why not publish our magazine for Logos Bible Software? Our answer was (and is) because inevitably there are amazing resources in anyone’s digital library that they are yet to learn about, like the early church fathers. The insight the church fathers shed on Bible study and faith in general is incredible. Or what about Josephus, the Jewish historian who wrote about Jesus? Or ancient translations of the Bible? Or ancient inscriptions contemporary to the Bible? Through something as simple as a print magazine, we can introduce people to these topics and peak their interest. We can teach them “What They Don’t Tell You in Church,” which is the name of one of our departments.
There are also business reasons for launching a print magazine. Logos Bible Software is all about forward thinking. This is why we developed a tool called RefTagger that automatically makes any Bible verse linkable to http://bible.logos.com with a tool tip window. Forward thinking is also why Logos recently launched a site called Ref.Ly that transforms Bible verses into short URL addresses for Twitter.com users. But the managers of our company realized that all the forward thinking about online sites in the world could not reach the entire market. We needed to reach the print community. Solution: Bible Study Magazine. Now we have the ability to teach the online and the print market about the book so many affirm as holy. And we have the ability to show people what is “Weird but Important” about the Bible, which is the title of another one of our departments.

SH: Do people need a Bible Study magazine to engage in a Bible study?

JB: Yes and no. Anyone can engage in Bible study—it just requires a Bible. But it’s like building a house. Sure I have wood and nails, but I don’t presume to know about carpentry, hanging dry wall, or plumbing. I don’t know squat about those things. Wood and nails don’t make a house, and neither does just labor; it requires knowledge and planning. And more often than not, a crew. Sure we have the Bible translated in our language, but we are separated from the culture by 2,000–4,000 years. Anyone with a Bible translation in their language can read it, but many people don’t know how to study it and draw their own conclusions about what it says. For this reason, we need a crew to help us—the world of biblical scholarship. But, it too is hard to connect with and confusing. So, we need a guide, a general contractor, and that is where Bible Study Magazine comes in. Our goal is not to tell people what to think about the Bible, but to teach them how to draw their own conclusions.

SH: What differentiate your magazine from the rest of Christian magazines out there?

JB: We are the only publication devoted solely and entirely to Bible study. Sounds odd, but it’s true. We surveyed all the Christian magazines out there, and there was a gap when it came to Bible study. This is the other reason why Logos Bible Software decided to launch Bible Study Magazine—we want to fill that gap.
We don’t want our magazine to be ordinary; we want it to be different and extraordinary. The stuff we put in our magazine, we haven’t seen anywhere else. For example, we have covered topics like “How Tall was Goliath and Who Really Killed Him?” In this article we propose, based on the earliest manuscript evidence, that Goliath is actually much shorter than what most translations say. In this article, we also solve the mystery of a Bible passage that claims that Elhanan, not David, killed Goliath. We take the reader straight into the Hebrew world, coloring Hebrew letters in several graphics, to show how to solve a very complicated textual issue. Our headlines also regularly push the envelope with titles like: “God’s Right Hand Woman?”; “Rock Music and Bible Study”; “Bible Study Anywhere” with Pastor Mark Driscoll; “The Real Ten Commandments?”; “Paul’s Lost Letters”; “Chapters and Verses: Who Needs Them?”; “A Fat Kind and a Left-Handed Man”; and “Did Jesus Believe in Reincarnation?” This sampling of our titles well illustrates our two major goals: (1) To get people inspired to read the Bible with human interest stories; and (2) To take a controversial or difficult topic and teach someone how to use in-depth scholastic tools and methods to solve it. We want readers to be able to walk away from a story both knowing more and knowing how to study the Bible for themselves.

SH: It is my understanding that you operate on a different, and maybe even unique, business model. Do you care to elaborate?

JB: We don’t have a single subscription card. We chucked that business model out the window before we even launched our publication. All our subscriptions come via http://www.biblestudymagazine.com, or people calling 1-800-875-6467. This cuts the cost of printing the cards, the additional mailing cost of the weight, the mailing costs of the cards being sent back to us, and the overhead of processing them. Plus, we get all the information we need to follow-up with the customer for renewals when they buy their subscription. We have substituted the cards with subscribe and renew ads.
We are also subscriber revenue based, rather than ad revenue driven. But unlike other subscriber revenue models, our subscription price is low, currently only $14.95 for six issues a year. We make this model work by cutting cost on all fronts.

SH: As you approach your first anniversary, what would you consider the major hurdle that the magazine leaped over, and what is the major hurdle still looming in the near future?

JB: Our first major hurdle was reaching 10,000 paid subscribers; we did that by the time we mailed the last copies of our third issue. We also sold nearly every advertisement in our first issue, which was a huge accomplishment. Our next major hurdle will be getting all of our nearly 13,000 paid circulation to renew. But my goals don’t end there, I want to double the amount of paid subscribers by our second anniversary.

SH: Where do you see Bible Study three years from you?

JB: Ideally, our paid circulation will be 1 million paid subscribers. (Kidding, of course; although that would be nice.) Three years from now, I envision Bible Study Magazine having 75,000 paid subscribers. Perhaps we will go monthly at that point. We will also hopefully have a very popular blog going, and an even larger online counterpart. Our interactive articles are very cool and unlike anything I have seen another publication do, but I want to see an online community built around Bible study as well. It will be a place where people can dialogue about our Bible studies and offer each other suggestions, so that we can all learn together. I believe churches will begin to look for Bible study solutions, and we will be the first place they turn. Our ongoing Bible study (covering the eight weeks between issues), for example, is a very inexpensive way for a church to a run a Bible study. Instead of a $29.95 book that lasts for one quarter that each class member would have to buy, we can offer a $14.95 subscription to each class member that lasts the whole year. And it does not just include a Bible study; it also includes word studies, guides and interesting articles. I am convinced that as word spreads about our publication, we will become the chosen solution for ministries.

SH: Any advice you are willing to give to someone who wants to start a print publication in this day and age?

JB: I am tempted to say, “Don’t!” But the truth of the matter is that today is a great day to start a magazine. Simply because everything is cheaper, outside of mailing. If you play smart, get good prices, and negotiate hard, you can do it. Find a niche market that has a need, learn how to reach that market, and then fill the need. But the business is risky, so do everything you can to stabilize your revenue sources. Use an auto-renewal system and get as many readers to agree to have their subscription automatically renewed as possible. Also, give advertisers substantial price breaks when they commit to advertising for a year. See them as business partners—you help them, and they help you. The business partnership opportunities are virtually limitless. In this vein, devote a lot of time to smart marketing—both finding your market and getting them to commit.

Finally, innovate, innovate, and re-innovate your business model. Those who stop evaluating will die. Watch every penny and be willing to make sacrifices. But remember, no matter how small a staff or budget, there are no excuses for mediocrity. At the end of the day, great publications reaching a real market can sell.

SH: Thank you.

Tired from reading predictions about the demise of this magazine or that magazine? I, for one, am. I do not know about you, but I always left it to others to gather experts and industry leaders to predict the demise of titles and magazines they once worked for or cherished. I continue to focus my efforts on trying to find ways to innovate and to amplify the future of print. I wish that those naysayers will spend half of the energy they put in predicting the demise of magazines into doing the same thing that I do: Focus on finding solutions and not help fasten the suicide rate of some of our magazines. Our problem is not with print, our problem is with those people leading our print media who have lost faith in their products and their content.

Well, not everyone is losing faith in print, and this coming August 18, one such believer in print, Greg Sullivan, is launching the premier issue of Afar, the first magazine devoted exclusively to covering experiential travel. The premier issue will carry 35 ad pages and a cover price of $4.99.
Last April, I met Mr. Sullivan when he came to speak to my students at Ole Miss, and asked him whether he is crazy to be launching a print magazine in this day and age. Click on the video below to hear his answer.

AFAR, where travel (and the magazine) can take you, will have a frequency of six times a year. In addition to the magazine the company plans extend the brand into a social networking site for experiential travelers in the Spring of 2010, and will launch a foundation to encourage cross-cultural study and travel by under-served high school students this coming Fall.

More than 57 new titles arrived at the nation’s newsstands for the first time this past month. Compared with July of 2008 the number is dead even with this year. Of course, this year the death of Michael Jackson helped the magazine industry in general and the new launches that are devoted to covering the single topic specials of the King of Pop. From the 57 titles launched in July there were 15 devoted to Jackson, with some publishing more than one cover of the same magazine to enhance and increase the sales of such titles.
On the regular publishing front, plenty of sports magazines came in handy in time for the beginning of the football season, so did the kid’s magazines in time for the beginning of the school year. The folks at Redan brought out a new quarterly as a spin off of their Playroom magazine. The first issue is devoted to Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! at a cost of $4.99. For the parents of the kids Wizard Entertainment published the first issue of Fun Fare magazine with a cover price of $4.99.
Also the Hispanic market continues to heat up and the new bimonthly Latin Star magazine arrived at the stands promising to be “the hippest, hottest, most sizzllin’ sensation to hit the newsstands since…there were newsstands! No matter your Latin flavor…” The magazine plans to celebrate the Latin culture and costs $3.99 an issue.
On the regional front Atlanta magazine reaches out to the science and medical community with the launch of the new Georgia Life Sciences. The new quarterly costs $3.95 and its inaugural issue demonstrates “the broad scope of life sciences organizations in our state (Georgia) and the enormous impact of their advanced technologies on our lives.”
In the midst of the all the doom and gloom numbers of ad pages in the September magazines, I figured a dash of good news before the weekend begins may not be a bad idea. So, before you leave on your weekend trip, head to your newsstands and grab a new magazine or two. It is time to rediscover the power and joy of reading a printed magazine. It is an experience second to none. You do not have to take my word on that. Just try it on your own.

My friend Gareb Shamus, of Wizard magazine fame, just launched a new magazine for parents and their kids called Funfare. In typical Shamus style the magazine is poly bagged with one of president Obama’s collector’s cards. I asked Gareb why would he publish a new magazine at a time others are folding them. His answer, “With FunFare, we’ve created a new media brand targeted at parents and children (under 14) whose primary focus is toys, games and anything fun. This is the perfect time to launch as families are looking for ways to spend more time together, make the right purchasing decisions and just have fun.”
Perfect time indeed. Gareb is no stranger to fun himself. Check out his letter from the editor written and designed in cartoon form. A job well done and a much needed magazine for parents of children under 14. (I am talking here first hand, a grandparent of a child under 2)!
Talking about Funfare, this week my family and I are having our funfare in the Sunshine State of Florida. I promised them to limit the number of my blogs and e mails. So please bare with me if my blogs and e mails to you are not as frequent as they usually are.

Check the numbers, the names and the facts
One of the first things we teach in journalism schools is the importance of checking the facts and checking them twice. When someone tells you something, you better find a second source. When someone send you a press release you better question the sender. When someone tells you more magazines died than were born ask to see the list and fact check the names.

My number and the others
Every quarter I have to answer one or two media reporters about the reason why my magazine launch numbers and those of Mediafinder and others do not match. And every quarter I tell the reporters to double check my numbers and to look at the cover of every magazine I counted and posted on my website. I have being doing that since I came to this country and I started posting the numbers in my Samir Husni’s Guide to New Magazines since 1985 and on my website http://www.mrmagazine.com since 1999. We may disagree on the definition of a magazine, but all my magazines are consumer magazines available for the general public and bought from the nation’s newsstands. No business to business, no trade, no church or organizational periodicals, and no Canadian publications (with all due respect to my friends in Canada).

Their numbers and their magazines
On the other hand, the folks at Mediafinder started few years ago to publish quarterly numbers of birth of magazines and last year added the death numbers of magazines without even defining what type of magazines they track in their press releases. I know the folks at Mediafinder. I have worked with them in the late 1990s. They published my Guide to New Magazines for three years. They cover all types of magazines (consumer, business, etc.) and I doubt that they have copies of every single magazine they cover (that will be almost according to their published data base numbers around 18,000 titles…) {Side note to my friends at Mediafinder: Please correct me if I mistaken and let me know that you do actually have all the physical copies of the magazines, like I do}. I am not interested in a numbers fight with the folks at Mediafinder, but if we continue to issue numbers and press releases without backing the numbers with facts, we will all be hurting the industry we claim to serve and cherish. I know bad numbers and bad news find their way to the media pundits and reporters, but are they true numbers?

Magazines are not dead or even dying
I was not born yesterday and I know that the last two years have been tough on the magazine industry, but we are not dead or even dying. Death and birth have been part of the American magazine scene since the first two magazines were born in 1741. One lasted three issues and the other lasted six issues. I urge media reporters to question the numbers, mine and everyone else. Ask for the definitions, ask for the categories, and ask for the entire list by name and publisher. When someone tells you 236 magazines died in 2009, ask to see the list and publish the names… give the dead magazine to report that their death have been greatly exaggerated. I saw a list of the magazines announced dead in 2008 (via a media reporter who questioned the numbers) and was surprised to see some of the magazines listed among the dead are still alive, well and kicking.

345 new titles in the first six months of 2009
I have counted so far 345 new titles of consumer magazines making it for the first time to the nation’s newsstands in the first six month of this year. The counting is not done yet neither the scanning of the magazines. That is why you do not see the 58 or so magazines from June yet on my website. Those numbers alone are almost one and half times the number of Mediafinder’s number of 187 which include all kind of magazines. If that is not a matter for questioning, I don’t know what is. {By the way, the four images with this blog are all for new magazines launched in June of 2009).

Question Numbers
If we are going to continue to be our own prophets of doom and gloom, we will wake up one day and start believing our own prophecies, our own self demise. In journalism schools they used to teach us to Question Authority, now I am urging you and my students to Question Numbers, Question Motives, or just Question!

We all know that a magazine is more than ink on paper. It is an experience. An experience that is lived, felt and cherished. We also all know that ink and paper are manufactured in factories, but magazines and their brands are manufactured in readers’ minds, one at a time. This past weekend I had the luxury of looking over 13 new magazines covering all types of topics and reaching all segments of the population. Needless to say I had 13 different experiences, each and every one of them helps me believe even more in the need to amplify the future of print and its byproduct that we call magazines.

Rebel Ink: a new monthly magazine with “a match made in Hell. Tattoos and a life style that make moms weep and grown men cross the street.” The tag line of the magazine is “A tattoo magazine with attitude.” So, for the rebel in me (after all we are the Ole Miss Rebels) and the tattoos on them, that is one of a heck of an experience. They get the tattoos and I get to see them. Now, I am getting ready to cross the street!

Natural Cat: From the folks who brought you Natural Dog and Cat Fancy comes this latest addition to the family of pet magazines. The magazine “provides your cats with a more natural lifestyle.” And if you are still wondering what type of magazine is this, wonder no more. Here is an experience I never think I will be involved with any time soon. The experience of learning “how the ancient technique of acupuncture can bring relief to your aging or ailing feline companions.”

Mambo Scene: “Learning how to dance, at any level, is like learning how to speak a new language: it takes patience, lots of practice, great instructors, someone to practice with, and then some more patience…” This is an experience to learn and enjoy the Mambo Scene (the magazine also comes with a CD to help put you in the mood) and a guide to the top Mambo radios, songs, and plenty of advise to get “good in Salsa.”

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Legends magazine: Staying in the Latin American scene, this new quarterly offers the experience of “training tomorrows legends today.” According to BJJ, “Jiu-Jitsu is the only martial art that a smaller person can beat a stronger person.” The magazine comes with a DVD with “over 3 hours of content, 25 techniques, interviews and fights.” Well, needless to say, I may experience Salsa, but BJJ is taking my experiences a little bit too far.

Fighters Only: This British import offers a monthly “essential fighting magazine” that is “The world’s leading mixed martial arts and lifestyle magazine.” The over-sized magazine provides an excellent addition to the Mixed Martial Arts magazine scene that has been growing slowly but surely. It is worth the experience.

Blurt: Time to relax a little bit after all the fighting and dancing experiences. Just sit down and read about the music and the “14 ways to forget about the recession.” This new magazine, from the folks at Blurt-Online.com, is about “real music, real artists and real opinions,” and comes from music folks who experience nothing in life “next to drinking coffee endlessly, it’s all what we know how to do.” And it shows.

Prestige New York: From the music escape to “The Very Best in Life,” fantasy escape. The magazine that was launched nine years ago in Singapore, arrived on our shores last month with the launch issue “for no matter who in business or society you talk to, New York is viewed as a place of international awareness, culture and intelligence where people embrace new concepts, relish new challenges, thirst after information and are tickled by the quirky side of life.” This is one experience you will not find at a newsstand near you, but if you belong to this “experience” you should have a copy of the magazine on your coffee table already.

Loft Life: Well this magazine will have you put some affordable fantasy in your loft or condo and will provide a “guide to life in the city.” What strikes me first is the recession-geared article that will help you move from want to need when it comes to design. In addition the experience is not limited to reading but also tweeting, communicating, enjoying, blogging, living, relaxing and of course subscribing… three issues will cost you $8.

Guitar Aficionado magazine: Taking a page from Cigar Aficionado, this Future US new quarterly does not limit itself to guitars but also ventures into “cars, watches, wine and the deluxe life.” The magazine experience debuts “for passionate people who enjoy the guitar in all of its timeless, functional beauty — people who, likewise, have enthusiasm for the very best that life has to offer.”

Technikart Paris-New York: Here is an experience that has been in the making for 230 years since Lafayette came to the USA assistance and “we’ve had a long and passionate relationship since…though sometimes recently the Atlantic seemed a very cold and wide wall separating us…” This art and artists magazine “was created in 72 hours in France and we cannot be responsible for any damage caused by trans-continental language, incoherent internationalisms or translated European thought.” Quite a hefty experience and admission.

Gulf Coast Wine+Dine: This is a very doable experience for me since it is closer to home than any of the aforementioned magazines. This new launch aims to cover “coastal Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.” It is a “celebration of our passion for living (and if I may add loving) life.” And in a typical Southern hospitality the magazine’s editor Tim McNally welcomes the reader to the neighborhood and asks “Can I fix you a drink?” A refreshing experience indeed.

Wolverine magazine: I will admit it from the very beginning. I am a Superman fan, so no matter how many new magazines arrive on the market place celebrating all the other super heroes, none will replace the experience I had with my very first magazine I ever bought, Superman, the one that started my magazine hobby, education and career. Well, enough about me and my Superman experience. Wolverine is the latest full size – full color bimonthly in the Marvel series of new up-sized super heroes magazines. It you are a Wolverine fan, this experience is for you.

Marie: Leaving the best for last, if for nothing else but the name. Marie is my wife’s name and although I have no idea whether my in-laws named my wife after Marie Antoinette for which this magazine is named after, I have to say good things about anything that carries the name Marie. The experience, otherwise, will not be as good. This new entry from the publishers of Belle Armoire and Somerset Studio provides “Marie Antoinette – Inspired Mixed-Media Art.” The magazine feature “decadent vintage jewelry” and “royal shoes made of paper.”

So here you have it. 13 different experiences in one weekend. So, what is in it for you? How about Samir Husni’s Guide to New Magazines, Vol. 24. The new Guide will be out soon listing all the new magazines of 2008 is yours for free if you are one of the first five people who comment on this blog and give me the correct answer on how many times did I use the word “experience or experiences” including the aforementioned two in this blog.