Mr. Magazine

You think you know the newsstands, and the folks who frequent them to buy magazines, think twice. What follows are ten true and false statements about magazines and the newsstands. Check if you can tell the true ones from the false:
1. Newsstands buyers are habitual buyers
2. The majority of people who buy magazines on the newsstands do not send in the discounted subscription cards.
3. For a lot of publishers, the newsstands are nothing but a showcase for the advertiser to see the magazine “in their face.”
4. The reason publishers put much more copies than they sell is because they do not want to have empty pockets.
5. Some magazines can make money selling only two copies of every ten they put out.
6. Low cover price does not mean selling more copies.
7. The Magazine Publishers of America uses frequency to define a magazine, thus not everything you buy on the newsstands is a magazine according to their definition.
8. Magazines without advertising can survive and thrive on the newsstands.
9. More than 70% of American magazines are sold by subscription rather than single copy.
10. Cosmopolitan magazine sells more copies per issue on the newsstands than any other magazine.
So what is your score? How many true statements and how many false? If you answered true on each and every one of the above ten statements you’ve passed with flying colors. Believe or not, all the above statements are true and in the following days and weeks I will be writing and expanding on each statement, so stay tuned…

What does it take to rejuvenate the newsstands in American and add a glimpse of hope to our industry? The answer is very simple. Treat the newsstand buyer with some respect. Last week I was attending a magazine conference and I heard an editor of a major magazine referring to the customers who buy his magazine on the newsstand as “not very smart and I do not think they deserve to read the magazine.” His reasoning was why should they spend $4.95 on the magazine at the newsstands when they can get 12 issues for less than $15. The sad part is that most of the magazine publishers and the organizations that support them are the ones that continue to insult the readers and accuse them of not being “very smart.” I remember the days when I was a student at the University of Missouri-Columbia, my magazine teacher Dr. William H. Taft used to show us Cosmopolitan magazine’s subscription price that was five cents more than the newsstand cover price. Dr. Taft told us that the reason Cosmo sold as many copies on the newsstands as it used to sell was very simple: “They did not want you to subscribe.” It was true with Family Circle and Woman’s Day too. Now all three have joined the “subscription discounters” and joined the majority of magazines in “alienating the newsstand buyer,” and “blaming the newsstands for their woes.” Cosmo still leads the newsstands sales on an issue by issue basis. The reason is in its content: more of the readers prefer the privacy of the newsstands than the publicity of the mailbox to get Cosmo. So here are seven common sense approachs to recreate the buzz on the newsstands:
1. Be a newsstand only magazine. No subscriptions.
2. Charge more for your subscription than the price of the magazine multiplied by the number of issues offered.
3. Charge the same price for your newsstand issue, as you are willing to offer it by subscription. If you are willing to sell your magazine for 35 cents by subscription that should be your newsstand price and not $4.95.
4. Stop selling your magazine on the newsstands if you are not willing to reduce your newsstand price or increase your subscription price.
5. Keep in mind the big increase in postage that is heading your way. Now is the time for some major decision making… continuing to bury your head in the sands and pretending that all is fine is not going to help any. Remember how our friends the Chinese define insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results every time.
6. It is time for the MPA and the rest of the magazine publishers of America to start focusing on the millions of customers (readers) all across the country rather than the 50 or so customers (advertisers) who reside within the city limits of NYC. There is more, much more to the magazine business than NYC.
7. Stop blaming the distributors and the retailers; it is time to examine the publishers pricing method and to DO something about it. Now. As in Today.

Remember Redbook and how they change the word sex from the newsstand covers to the word love on the subscriptions cover, well Best Life magazine does something similar every father’s day issue (the June issue). This month Kyle Chandler, of Friday Night Lights fame, is the cover subject of Best Life. On the newsstands he shares the cover with no one and the type screams “Be a (Much) Better Man.” No such screaming on the subscribers’ cover, but Kyle is pictured with his two daughters on the cover and the cover line whispers, “Be a (Much) Better Father.” So the question of the day is: do single men buy more magazines on the newsstand than married men with children? If you answer no, why then Best Life treat “man with children” as if they have newsstand leprosy? Just checking!

So it seems. You expect to see the three-letter word on the covers of Cosmo and Maxim, but how about on the covers of Inside Triathlon and Parabola. The first is a magazine dealing with biking, running and swimming. Yes, you’ve guessed it, sex is not one of the three sports, yet the magazine offers its readers “The Sex Issue” making good on its tagline promise “The Multisport life.” Moving one step further, from the physical to the spiritual, the second magazine Parabola, with a less, much less revealing cover offers the readers its SEX issue dealing with the “Spiritual Teachings on Sex.” Grab both magazines and you have it made both physically and spiritually. Who can ask for more? Definitely not the editors at Texas Monthly.

First things first. I do agree with the intro to the 100th issue of Wallpaper* magazine. The editors wrote in the June/July issue of Wallpaper*, “All great magazines shift, shuffle, find space and re-shape to survive and prosper and Wallpaper* is no exception.” Well, that is where my agreement with the editors end. The cover promises a Wallpaper* “Standing proud, Bigger, brighter, bolder…” and it is indeed standing tall, but bigger, brighter and bolder is a little of a stretch. I remember Wallpaper* when it launched. I remember buying not one, but two copies of the first issue. The magazine was indeed standing proud, bigger, brighter and bolder. But in the last two to three years the issues of the magazine have been “hit and miss.” No longer the magazine that introduced cutting edge design to the 90s and beyond. Most of the issues became “yet another magazine issue.” The 100th issue is a step in the right direction. Maybe a dose of memory (a great free poster of all 100 covers is included with this issue) will help the shift in direction and every issue starting with this one will be a hit. I am looking for my Wallpaper*, please bring my Wallpaper* back.