Mr. Magazine

Last Friday I attended the birth of a new community celebrating custom (or as they like to refer it in the UK) customer media. More than 20 representatives from across the globe attended the summit and decided to form the International Custom Publishing Forum (ICPF). The meeting was upbeat and lively. The information shared was more than great and beneficial and Sak van den Boom from The Netherlands was able to capture the day’s events in his blog that you can read here. Many thanks go to Patrick Fuller and Julia Hutchison from the UK’s Association of Publishing Agencies (APA) for organizing the event. For info on custom publishing in the USA check with the Custom Publishing Council (CPC) here.

What makes a better newsstands cover, a busy cover picture with limited cover lines, or a simple shot and multiple cover lines! Every month for the last two or so years the folks at Harper’s Bazaar have presented different cover shots of their stars with limited cover lines for subscribers and multiple ones, always with high numbers, for the single copy sales. Lately, however, the cover shots for the subscribers have become very busy rather than the straight model shot. Take for example the April issue covers of Reese Witherspoon. The cover includes busy and colorful typography for the single copy cover, yet limited typography, but a very busy picture for subscribers. Is it science or is it a gut feeling that editors try to follow? I for one believe there is no science to our business, no how to, just good editors making good gut decisions, and a lot of know-how. Although sometimes you wonder why editors make some of those decisions, like the one above. In any case, a gut decision in our magazine world beats the paralysis analysis status that we encounter in most cases. I will take the gut feeling approach to cover design every time hands down… An editor with the know-how attitude is ten times better than an editor with the how-to attitude. Creativity is the name of our game and change is the only constant in our business…true or false? In the coming days I will be showing examples from different magazines and how they design their covers for the single copy as opposed to their subscribers…any words of wisdom will be greatly appreciated.

I am back in the U.S. and the first bit of news on my Blackberry is a PR release from Time Inc. announcing the third demise of my beloved Life magazine. Re-launched in Oct. 2004 the weekly reached 13 million circulation, and contrary to my original comments about Life’s founder Henry Luce will be turning in his grave for the return of LIFE as a newspaper supplement, the folks at LIFE proved me wrong and were able to create a magazine, in the words of Time Inc. Chairman, CEO Ann Moore that “was a truly innovative publishing venture. It was developed, edited and published by some of the best talent in the business and we can remain proud of its many achievements. But sometimes we have to make tough calls, and this was one.” I am not going to argue about this tough call, but I promise you a revisit to this issue in the next few days. In the meantime, may LIFE rest in peace or pieces as it wishes.

Yes, I am blogging. But make no mistake blogging is not journalism. To me blogging is voicing your opinions in writing on the world-wide-web. It is like writing your diary or journal and makes it open to the public. It is not new. Blogging in fact may date back to the early years of print journalism. The first issue of the first American newspaper Public Occurrence published in 1690 carried a blank page in the paper for people to record their own news and views. To me, that was the beginning of blogging using the available channels then. Today the web is our channel. Tomorrow, who knows… For now, enjoy the blog and please never ever consider blogging journalism. It is NOT. It is just our new virtual barber shop’s or beauty salon’s gossips and chats.

I hope you have been reading all the comments on what is a magazine. It has been a lively debate to say the least. Well, here is one you do not want to miss. Is it really a magazine? Do we have to accept the original definition of a magazine? The word magazine means a storehouse, a supermarket of goods regardless of the medium? What do you think? Would love to hear your thoughts.