Are you willing to spend $7.95 in order to save on time, gas and fighting the crowds. If your answer is yes, you are in luck. The premiere issue of Antenna is out and it is the best one stop shopping magazine for the urban male that I have ever seen. Think of Antenna as your search engine for everything related to urban men. From major items such as cars to minor items such as the soda you drink and the cookies you eat, Antenna provides you with choices and more choices without any editorials. It’s like they search, you choose. If you can think of it, you will find it inside the 188-page magazine. The quarterly is well designed, well packaged and well done. One beautiful thing about Antenna, the magazine is celebrity free, no opium for the masses here. The magazine is published quarterly by Harris Publications under the able hands of Publisher Dennis S. Page and Editorial Director Tony Gervino. Pick up a copy today or check their web site to order your own subscription. It is worth the price.
Archive for the ‘New Launches’ Category
Antenna: One stop shopping for the urban male…
July 28, 2007The third time’s not a charm… Success magazine folds one more time
July 26, 2007
It was all about success, the first time, the second time and the third time around… however it seems the third time was not a charm and the magazine folded yet one more time. “The doors are locked and the staff is gone,” a source and friend told me. I was sorry to hear that, but for history’s sake, here is what the folks at Success wrote on their website about their magazine:
“Success is a new kind of business magazine, a magazine dedicated to success in business, and in life. Success is the result of what our 650,000 subscriber base have told us over the past two years. Both women and men have said they want a magazine that’s edited with a personal perspective, a business magazine for and about real people. “No more Donald and Martha, show us real people who’ve succeeded, people like us!”
Well, I guess Donald and Martha are still here… the same can’t be said about Success.
From toys to mags…is it the new convergence?
July 18, 2007
For anyone who still doubts the future of magazines, and print in general, here are two new magazines that were launched this year celebrating toys, yes toys… Barbie and Hot Wheels. Need more proof that innovation does not have to end on a screen? Check those two new magazines and have fun girls and boys…it is a different kind of convergence, a one between print and toys and their machines…I presume! The big question of the day: What would Barbie drive? Read all about it in Hot Wheels.
There may be more announcements, but there are fewer new magazine launches in the first half of ’07
July 8, 2007
The number of new magazine announcements may have witnessed an increase from last year’s numbers, but the real numbers of new magazine launches have witnessed a major drop in the first half of 2007 compared with that of 2006. In fact this is the first year that I can remember the numbers dropping by more than 38% from the previous year’s numbers. With 342 new launches through the end of June 2007, this number is well behind the 555 new launches that 2006 saw by this point last year. Magazines published with a 4 times frequency or higher totaled 125 or 37% of the total magazine launched in 2007. Last year the total number of magazines with 4 times frequency or more during the same period of time was 163 or 29% of the total magazines launched in the first half of 2006. This year also witnessed a drop in the total number of specials and annuals. A total of 188 specials and 19 annuals were born in the first half of 2007 compared with 2006’s 251 specials and 28 annuals.
Of course the decline in the numbers comes as no surprise to me. I have mentioned earlier in the year that 2007 and 2008 will witness declines in the number of new magazine launches and 2009 will be the turnaround year. I have based my predictions on the historical record that I have been keeping since 1978 with respect to new magazine launches. If all holds true, we are at the part of the cycle where we are going to see declines for two years (call it market correction if you will) and then a return to the increase in titles in 2009. Will I bet on that? Well, you know me by now and you know my famous quote about the future: “There are only two people who can tell you the future, God and a fool.” I know for sure I am not God… To check the numbers by month and by frequency click here.
Happy readings…
A week of specials (Hot and New this week… take 12)
June 28, 2007
Once a week, I highlight three new magazines on my web site Mr.Magazine™. This week the three new magazines are U.S. News and World Report: Secret Societies, Taste of Home: Kid-Friendly Cooking & Crafts and Trail Rider Trail-Breed Guide. Read here about these new launches. To be considered for review on my web site, please send a copy of your first issue to Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni, Department of Journalism, The University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677.
In Touch’s Scandinavian Expansion…
June 20, 2007
The success of Bauer’s In Touch Weekly is continuing to spread overseas. After launching in Mexico and Germany, the magazine today launches its first Swedish edition through its licensee the Swedish’s First Publishing Company. My friends at the media blog Vassa Eggen inform me that First Publishing has a “portfolio of eight magazines: originally a tech mag publisher but now publish magazines about poker and horse riding…The first issue of the Swedish In Touch has no Swedish content, only US material. It’s distributed by the largest Swedish distributor Tidsam.” It comes as no surprise to me that a magazine like In Touch weekly, which I have selected as the launch of the year back in 2002, continues to grow and spread worldwide. The Bauer formula in the United States has been a very very successful one: Focus on the reader, focus on the newsstand, charge the right price for the magazine, and all will follow… it is amazing why the rest of us in this business cannot learn from their formula.
An Eldr, a King and a Card (Hot and New this week, take 11)
June 17, 2007
Once a week, I highlight three new magazines on my web site Mr.Magazine™. This week the three new magazines are Beckett Graded Card Investor and Price Guide, Eldr and King of the Street. Read here about these new launches. To be considered for review on my web site, please send a copy of your first issue to Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni, Department of Journalism, The University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677.
If you love JPG…you will love Everywhere
June 15, 2007
It seems that the dark cloud that once hung over JPG and its parent company 8020 has now cleared. Yesterday I had the chance to talk with Paul Cloutier, the chief executive officer of 8020 Publishing (the lead Camp Consular in his terms), and here is the scoop. 8020 Publishing and JPG are back on track and another new magazine following the same, but improved, model of JPG is on its way to complement and expand the publishing arm of the company. The new magazine Everywhere (everywhere_factsheet_simple.pdf) with the tag-line Travel is All Around You will debut its website in September and the magazine will launch at the end of October following the same model as JPG: the wisdom of the crowds. (See the JPG story here). Everywhere’s mission is “to celebrate the notion that travel is all around you. It is the travel magazine for all of the people looking for the real and authentic experiences of the world. Everywhere magazine gives a voice to travelers worldwide to tell their stories and share their favorite places.” As we JPG, Everywhere’s heart will be in its everwheremag.com “the community hub where people can upload travel photos, talk about there favorite places, tell their stories, create trips, give insider tips and talk about their favorite products.” While regretting losing a friend, Mr. Cloutier told me “nothing is changing in 8020 Publishing and JPG.” The new issue of the magazine (number 11 will be out on July 20 as scheduled) is in the making. Voting closes this week and “the response has been great. More feedback, more community involvement and a better engagement in the conversation,” Mr. Cloutier said. Among the new plans for improvements are the expanded community tools, our tools, as Mr. Cloutier puts it. “We can now engage the community fully,” he adds, and “we are in the process of doing that as we speak.” It is indeed amazing when you have 75,000 contributors submitting stories, pictures, ideas, etc. and at the same time they are engaging in the conversation and feedback…your role ends up being either the “camp counselor or the cheerleader,” as Paul told me. Leading the creative team of Everywhere is Lee Friedman, formerly of Dwell and Gastronomical, and backing the whole 8020 Publishing group is Halsey Minor, founder of CNET. To learn more about this “hybrid media company” click here.
The Trail will lead to the Avenue via a Duece (Hot and New, take 10)
June 9, 2007
Once a week, I highlight three new magazines on my web site Mr.Magazine™. This week the three new magazines are ATV Illustrated Trail and Travel Guide, Avenue Report and Duece Builder. Read here about these new launches. To be considered for review on my web site, please send a copy of your first issue to Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni, Department of Journalism, The University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677.
If you doubt the future of print…visit any city (hot and new this week take 9)
June 3, 2007Yes, I said any city. This week we feature three new regional magazines in our What’s Hot What’s New section on Mr. Magazine. It never stops to amaze me the amount of new titles arriving on the city, state and regional magazine scene. You name the niche, and you will find at least one magazine aimed that city specific niche. Try Brides, Homes, Dogs, Business, you name the category and there is at least one magazine devoted to that subject matter in your own neighborhood. Take a look at Kentucky Bridal, Lake Erie Living and South Carolina Alive here. They are only but a sample from many.
Mr. Magazine 