Mr. Magazine

I know Our Iowa is a magazine “for Iowans by Iowans,” but after looking at its first three issues I am sure that folks who reminisce the country and the country way of life will find in this regional magazine a lot to satisfy their desires to that way of life. You do not have to be an Iowan to enjoy this magazine. Founded by the man who created a whole genre of country and country lifestyle magazines Roy Reiman (the magazine’s publisher) and the former editor of Country and Country EXTRA magazines Jerry Wiebel (the magazine’s editor), Our Iowa presents itself as the magazine that “recognizes and celebrates why Iowa is so special to us and to all who live here.” The goal of the magazine is not “to make a fortune on this venture (Reiman already did that when he sold his Reiman Publications to Reader’s Digest Corp.), but “Rather, it’s a chance to put our publishing experience to good use while offering us an opportunity to give something back to our native state.”
In typical Reiman style, the magazine will be written by readers and will depend on field editors across the state of Iowa. In less than six months the magazine has signed up a “Hawk-Eye Field Editor” in all 99 Iowa counties expect for five. By the time you are reading this blog, chances are those five counties positions would have been filled. In the same time period the magazine has “over 23,000 subscribers, and more orders keep arriving daily by phone, mail and E-mail.”
The magazine is not only a delight to read, but also a delight to look at and interact. Yes, interact, since the magazine offers more chances for readers to engage with each other, to engage with the magazine editors, to engage with the state, and to provide a great sense of community in a way that only a magazine like Our Iowa can do.
Am I a fan? You bet you and you should be one. Check Our Iowa here. I know the founders of Our Iowa want the magazine to be for Iowans by Iowans, but I think the rest of the country folks deserve to see and look at Our Iowa. Maybe there is an “Iowan” in each one of them.

I thought you would enjoy a fresh selection of new magazines to take your minds off of the fact that you have already broken your New Year’s resolutions (shame on you). And since a new year always brings fresh hope and opportunities, I decided to have a more eclectic mix of new consumer magazines reviewed in the first installment of what’s hot what’s new on the www.mrmagazine.com website. The three reviews are all for new magazines that were born in the midst of the holiday season and thus may have escaped your radar screen. But these late arriving titles make a good promising sign for things to come in 2008. The first reviews of this year are for Corporate Leader, Rounder and Science Illustrated. So, without further delay, click here for the 2008 premiere of What’s Hot, What’s New.

You’ve heard me sing the praises of JPG magazine, the photo magazine that uses the best of the on-line and off-line technologies. (For those of you who need an explanation, that is the web and ink on paper combined). Now JPG has a sibling, and a very good one for that matter. Everywhere magazine which follows the same model as JPG is unlike any other travel magazine out there. They’ve claimed it a unique travel magazine and I agree. The magazine follows six easy steps in the process of its creation: See the world (that is you the reader), document your trip (that is your trip documented with words and pictures), upload your travel tales and photos on www.everywheremag.com, peer review (that is the rest of your travel community who did exactly the same thing that you’ve done), final selection (that is where the editors role and journalism come to play), and finally get published, get paid and receive a free subscription.
The entire idea of the magazine reminds me of a former student of mine and a good friend, who everywhere he travels, he buys postcards and addresses them to himself. He once told me that is how he keeps track of all his travels and all the great places he visits. At home, he has all the postcards in a folder that opens like a magazine page. Everywhere magazine is like that folder. Imagine yourself writing a postcard and sharing both the picture and the words on the web. Now imagine you have the opportunity to share it with the rest of the world. All of sudden you are part of a travel community who are only interested in sharing their trips and comparing notes with each other. Now, stop imagining because it is no longer a piece of fiction. It is a dream come true.
So sit back, relax and order yourself a copy of Everywhere…you don’t have to take my word for it, but rest assured it is not your father’s travel magazine. As I’ve mentioned earlier JPG and Everywhere are reinventing the way we combine two of the best technologies that have been invented so far, paper and on-line and the results should give hope to any one who believes in the future of reader interaction and consumer satisfaction.

Spry will be the latest 9 million circulation new magazine launch from the Franklin, TN based Publishing Group of America (PGA). Spry, which will debut in Sept. 08, will be devoted to health and fitness and will join two other siblings, the weekly general interest magazine, American Profile (9.8 million circ.) and the food monthly, Relish (now at 9, next Jan. will hit 12 million circulation). The success story of PGA reached a new milestone today by being acquired by Bain Capital Ventures and Shamrock Capital Growth Fund (Roy Disney family). In a press release issued today the new owners said, “The deal opens a new chapter in the phenomenal growth of PGA, which has bucked the magazine industry trend by turning newspapers into a pipeline for innovation in magazines, digital media and branded content.”
Both American Profile and Relish have received the Most Notable Magazine Launch Award in their 2000 and 2006 launch years respectively from Mr. Magazine website and Samir Husni’s Guide to New Magazines.

The November numbers of new magazine launches are in and they are almost as high as November of last year. The ones published four times or more were exactly the same as those of last year, the annuals and specials fell short 11 titles. So, recapping the November numbers, a total of 65 new titles were launched compared to that of 76 last November bringing the number of new magazines so far to 636 which is short 206 of the 842 new titles launched in the same period of 2006. The overall number of new titles launched with a frequency of four times or above so far this year has reached 221 compared to that of 312 for the same reporting period of 2006. It looks like the number for new magazine launches this year is going to be the lowest in more than a decade. It was 1992 when the number of new magazine launches was in the 600 figure. For a complete list and images of all the new titles of November 2007 and the rest of the new titles of the year so far please click here.

The oldest continuously published magazine in America is becoming a parent one more time. Scientific American magazine will add a new sibling to its family of magazines. In addition to the mother ship, SA now publishes SA Reports and SA Mind. Now comes to the SA Body. On newsstands Dec. 4 and on the web Dec. 12 SA Body promises to be a welcomed addition to a newly energized science magazine field that will see yet another new science magazine launch on Dec. 18, when the first issue of Science Illustrated from the Bonnier
group hits the newsstands.

I asked Bruce Brandfon, VP and Publisher of Scientific American Why Body? His response,

” We conducted extensive audience segmentation research earlier in the year which identified a “science-interested public” in excess of 40 million adults in the US. SciAm reaches 3.5 million of this market. One of the top areas of interest of those not currently part of the SciAm audience was Health. We perceived an opportunity to create a product that served these interests in the “zone” between the New England Journal of Medicine and magazines that are essentially life style magazines such as Mens Health and Self, etc So the science behind health and wellness with an emphasis on health (and not disease) is our focus. Since all of us have had to become more knowledgeable about our own health (as a result of health insurance etc) we believe that there is an educated, affluent dual audience of readers (and a web audience also) that aren’t SciAm devotees but will be interested in an authoritative source of reliable and accurate information about the subject.”

I asked Bruce why now? His response,

“In addition to the above mentioned need, we know that there is an expanding interest on the part of the educated general public about science issues, particularly when these issues have personal implications such as physical and mental health, aging, environment and “green,” education,etc. SciAm the brand believes that we can expand our franchise by reaching out to this audience both in print and digitally. This is another step in that direction (along with SA Mind and our redesigned website and flagship).”

Since we are still on the Men’s Health page, the magazine announced that it is launching a new title Men’s Health Living on Dec. 4. (see ad above… with the small Living word). However, the Brits were quicker in launching their edition of Men’s Health Living on the flip side of the November issue of the UK Men’s Health. (Note the word Living is much bigger in the UK edition). If the UK edition is the preview of the USA edition, it will mean a whole new genre of magazines aimed at men (home and interior design) is on its way. Check it out on Dec. 4 in the US, or if you are like me and can’t wait, take a look at the UK Nov. issue on the US marketplace right now.