Wooden Horse Friday Round-Up

PASTE has two new assistant editors for reviews, Michael Saba, saba@pastemagazine, and Rachel Dovey, dovey@pastemagazine.com…

Publisher Conde Nast Publications is officially dropping the “Publications” from its name…

WORKING MOTHER will start featuring celebrity and high-profile moms on the cover with Feb/Mar issue…

Publisher Reader’s Digest Association is not yet stepping out of bankruptcy protection.  UK has not approved plan…

TRIQUARTERLY, a literary magazine by Northwestern University Press, will go online-only after the spring of 2010 issue, according to a note on their blog…

MINNESOTA LAW & POLITICS and WASHINGTON LAW & POLITICS, a trade bimonthly and quarterly, respectively, will be shut down by owner Key Professional Media.  Both publications carried circulations of approximately 16,000…

Publisher Penton Media (CORN & SOYBEAN DIGEST, ELECTRONIC DESIGN, TRUSTS & EASTATES) will eliminate $270 million of company debt in a prepackaged Chapter 11 restructuring agreement it planned to file this week.  Day-to-day operations and the management structure will continue.  There will be no layoffs, title closings or any other changes as a result of the filing…

NC MAGAZINE, the official magazine of the North Carolina Chamber for 66 years, ceased publication with the November/December issue.  The magazine’s web site will shut down at the end of 2010.  Officials said the economic climate and plunging ad revenues forced the decision…

PREVENTION has a new beauty editor, Katie Becker, katie.becker@rodale.com. She will begin in March…

OFFICIAL XBOX magazine has a new print and web executive editor, Corey Cohen, corey@officialxboxmagazine.com…

GRANVILLE, the Vancouver lifestyle and city magazine, has suspended print publication but plans to return fall 2010.  It published 25,000 copies quarterly…

FOREIGN AFFAIRS will have a new editor-in-chief in 2011 as the current editor, James Hoge, jhoge@cfr.org, will leave at the end of 2010.  No replacement has been named yet…

VICE has a new associate editor, Ellis Jones, ellis@viceland.com, who replaces Gabi Sifre…

JET Takes Off Again with New Features, Redesign

JET Magazine, the African-American news weekly, announced, “the most sweeping evolution” of its brand in the company’s history, beginning with the February 15 issue.

Publisher Johnson Publishing Company (EBONY) said the new brand strategy signals JET’s undeniable commitment to connect the Black community through timely information with a trusted point-of-view.  Included in the changes are a new logo, new design and layout, new sections and features.  Unchanged is JET’s unique Black take on the latest in news and entertainment.

According to their press release, JET will keep favorites like JET Beauty and JET Love and include new features JET Perspective, JET Buzz and JET Style.  JET Perspective will showcase various points-of-view from recognizable contributors, such as diet doctor Dr Ian Smith, radio talk-show host Warren Ballentine and MTV personality Fonzworth Bentley on topics directly impacting Black America.  “We have strengthened our content strategy to include coverage of broader topics that are relevant to Black America,”said COO Anne Sempowski Ward.

JET has a nationwide circulation of 900,000.  Mira Lowe, mlowe@jetmagazine.com, is editor-in-chief.

New Magazine Finds Gold in Them Thar Professional Athletes

ATHLETES QUARTERLY has distributed its first issue to 20,000 current and former American pro athletes making at least $300,000 and averaging $2 million a year.

The new magazine says it is, “devoted to helping pro athletes achieve their very best at what they do, what they buy and how they will create the second act to their playing careers.”  According to Medaite.com, AQ address issues relevant to the specific professional athlete culture, such as buying multi-million dollar homes, choosing a bodyguard, building a financial team and more.  AQ’s media kit describes that athletes need the “very best of fashion, automotive, watches, jewelry, real estate, home electronics, liquors and venues, financial advice and travel.”  The magazine also include features by and about professional athletes.

Distribution is strictly controlled through exclusive subscriptions to current and former professional athletes making at least $300,000 (63% of distribution), and placement at sports agencies and marketing firms who negotiate multi-million dollar deals, professional team offices, exclusive charity events and private jet in-flight placement.

An anonymous private investor hired Michael Dolan, a former editor at Condé Nast, DETAILS and MAXIM, to run AQ.

One More Magazine Is Returning to Print

FINE BOOKS & COLLECTIONS COMPENDIUM is returning to print after a year and a half hiatus.  The magazine, which targets collectors of rare and collectible books, stopped publication of its bi-monthly edition in November 2008 to go electronic with a monthly e-letter and weekly blog.

After a successful November 2009 print edition, publisher Journalistic Inc decided to resume printing on a quarterly basis in April 2010.  “We do think print has a certain charm and value that is impossible to obtain online,” said associate publisher Kim Draper in a press release.

The print edition will be a combination of the best online articles and new features, columns and resources.  Tips on map and manuscript collecting, information on fine presses and art will also be included.  An annual directory of booksellers will continue to be printed with a new guide to classes, societies, fairs, and symposiums related to book collecting.  The popular monthly e-letter and blog will continue to be the main source of information.

The online editor, Rebecca Barry, rebecca@finebooksmagazine.com, will also serve as the print editor.

Wooden Horse Monday Round-Up

PENNSYLVANIA HOMESCHOOLERS will go online-only according to a note on the website at http://www.pahomeschoolers.com/post3001.shtml…

AMERICAN IDOL magazine will return to cover season 9 of the popular TV show.  Four issues will be printed and distributed by Fremantle Media Enterprises and Source Interlink Media with the first appearing March 26…

Wooden Horse Friday Round-Up

Publisher Conde Nast Publications is officially dropping the “Publications” from its name.  Spokesperson Maurie Perl said: “It’s a more coordinated push to use the new logo without the ‘Publications.’  Suffice it to say, we will now be known as Condé Nast.”…

EWEEK has announced the exit of chief technology analyst Jim Rapoza…

WomansDay.com has a new assistant editor, Olivia Putnal, oputnal@hfmus.com…

THE DAILY RECORD, a Baltimore business magazine, has a new online managing editor, Robert Terry, rob.terry@mddailyrecord.com…

FINE BOOKS & COLLECTIONS will return to print as a quarterly.  Rebecca Rego Barry is editor…

HEALTH DATA MANAGEMENT has a new editor-in-chief, Greg Gillespie, greg.gillespie@sourcemedia.com, for the second time…

Publisher Reader’s Digest Association is not yet stepping out of bankruptcy protection.  UK has not approved the operating plan…

Next Issue Media, the digital publishing initiative of Conde Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corporation and Time Inc, has launched a blog at http://nextissuemedia.wordpress.com. It “will serve as a place where we comment on developments in the eReading space and provide updates [on the initiative.]“…

WORKING MOTHER will start featuring celebrity and high-profile moms on the cover starting with the February/March issue.  Well-known mothers from sports, celebrity and television, among other areas, will be featured and talk about the challenges of raising children in the midst of a busy career.  Olympic gold medal skater Kristi Yamaguchi will be the first…

PINK has lost website editor Taylor Mallory…

INC magazine is going virtual.  In the month of February editorial staffers will work from home and blog about it along with advice and tips from experts.  The April print issue “we’ll publish a definitive piece on virtual work – a look at pros and cons of running a highly-dispersed team (namely, ours), plus, tips on how to work virtually that any start-up or small business can use.”…

TIME has a new arts editor, Tim Morrison, tim_morrison@timemagazine.com…

Travel Magazine Expands Content, Increases Frequency

PASSPORT is one of the few print magazines which have increased its print frequency.  The magazine will grow from 8 issues per year to 9 and will still publish its annual “Weddings and Honeymoon” issue in May.

Publisher Dan Turthill attributes the increase to more efficient marketing, resulting in increased advertising revenue and magazine sales.  Ad revenue grew by a whopping 32% last year and single copy sales increased by 17%.

Marketing strategies include discontinuing insert cards and gaining subscribers only by phone and online.  Turthill says, “It’s been extremely efficient that way.”  He also credits in-store marketing campaigns at book stores and prospecting at various travel and gay pride events, in addition to its own annual show in New York City.  These contributed to a 4% increase in response.  The website includes the popular Passport TV online, which now will increase the output to two videos per month, some of which will include video tours given by celebrities.

The print magazine currently has 72,000 subscribers and focuses on travel for the gay community, yet bills itself as “hetero-friendly gay travel magazine,” acknowledging that nearly 3% of its subscribers are heterosexual.  The editor is Robert Adams, editor@passportmagazine.net

New California Mag for Bonnier

HOME LOS ANGELES, set to launch in April 2010, is the newest addition to the Bonnier Corporation stable.  Geared towards sophisticated readers interested in homes and “the built environment,” the quarterly magazine will be offered in Los Angeles and surrounding areas.

It will cover a wide range of related topics including architecture, design, art, culture, history, urban planning, ecology, preservation, real estate, and landscape, as well as consumer advice on design, renovation and redecorating. Other features will include travel pieces on the history of local neighborhoods and highlighting their restaurants, design features and attractions, as well as featured cities with distinct architecture and design.

Circulation is estimated to be 45,000 and their website is already up and running.  Beth Dunlop, beth.dunlop@bonniercorp.com, will be the editor, the same position she holds at sister publications HOME FORT LAUDERDALE and HOME MIAMI.  Other staff has not been announced.

Magazine Industry Really Missed This One

Books did it.

Newspapers did it.

Magazines didn’t.

And publishers pay how many hundreds of thousands of dollars to Magazine Publishers of America to show that magazines are still very much a part of today’s advertising media mix?

Harry McCracken, former editor-in-chief of PC WORLD and blogger at technologizer.com, stated it best in an article on foliomag.com:

“As I sat in the audience at the event, I slowly figured out that it wouldn’t provide a ready-made happy ending for magazine publishers.  Apple did reveal that the gizmo includes an e-book reader, iBooks – but as the name suggests, that software is meant for books, not periodicals.  It also let the New York Times show off a handsome app for reading that paper.  But the only magazine that came up during the event was TIME* – and that was when Jobs showed how good its Web site looked in the iPad’s Safari browser.  It mostly served as a reminder that it’s not entirely clear why many consumers would choose to pay for digital magazines when the same content is available on the Web for free.”

It sounds like the mega-hyped introduction of Apple’s iPad tablet was something of a lost opportunity for magazines.  Shouldn’t the industry do better if it wants to survive?

Sara Ohrvall, senior vice president of research and development for Swedish media company Bonnier, summed up the problem in the Wall Street Journal: “Either we have to package our products much differently, or we just lost the paid content game.”

Read about magazines and the iPad at:

Apple’s iPad: A Question for the Magazine Industry, Not an Answer [link:
http://bit.ly/bx0vsU
]

Publishers Ponder iPad’s Ad Implications [link:
http://bit.ly/9nucgn
]

Hearst-backed Skiff E-reader to Debut This Year [link:
http://bit.ly/aeLruS
]

Three Hard Questions for Print Publishers Drooling over the Apple Tablet; It’s Not Manna from Steve Jobs & Co Yet [link:
http://bit.ly/aF3bQ8
]

Apple iPad Charges at Kindle and Netbooks; Tablet Will Stir up Lots of Change, but Who Will Benefit?  [Link:
http://bit.ly/9iFz38
]

Pubs Flirt with Kindle but Don’t Carry a Torch; Amazon Reader Isn’t So Friendly to Biz Model, Yet Mags Sign up.  Here’s Why [link:
http://bit.ly/dAb69r
]

Wooden Horse Monday Round-Up

Canadian custom publisher Redwood Communications (CAA, LIFE & HOME, KRAFT FOOD & FAMILY) has changed its name to Totem Communications Group.  The company will remain a unit of Transcontinental Media….

STYLE AT HOME has a new editor-in-chief, Erin McLaughlin, mclaughlin@homeandcountry.ca…

1TO1 MAGAZINE has ended its print edition but will continue online.  The online magazine, which covers customer relations management and is geared toward CEOs, top managers, executives and other decision-makers, will launch in February…

US printer Quad/Graphics has acquired Canadian printer Worldcolor, formerly Quebecor, making the combination the second largest North American printer after Chicago-based RR Donnelley & Sons.  The deal was reportedly worth $1.3 billion.  Quad/Graphics’ prints ROLLING STONE and SPORTS ILLUSTRATED and Worldcolor’s clients include GQ and NEWSWEEK…

BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK has announced the acquisition of two new superstar editors: Former FORTUNE managing editor Eric Pooley and NEW YORK magazine editorial director Hugo Lindgren…

SHERMAN’S TRAVEL will be distributed with the national newspaper USA Today to selected US hotel rooms.  In the second half of 2010, the magazine will distribute 75,000 copies of its fall and winter editions, increasing total circulation 38% to almost 450,000…

VETERINARY TECHNICIAN and VETERINARY FORUM magazines have halted their print editions and are producing content online only.  The first online editions will launch in February…

MYBUSINESS will relaunch in March by a new owner, Imagination Publishing and a new top editor, Simona Covel…

PASSPORT will increase frequency from eight to nine issues per year, based on an encouraging 32% lift in ad revenue…

Publisher Reader’s Digest Association (READER’S DIGEST, EVERYDAY WITH RACHAEL RAY, TASTE OF HOME) will have emerged from bankruptcy on Monday after having lightened its debt load to $525 million from $2.2 billion.  However, per nypost.com, “S&P is giving the new debt a rather lackluster B rating,” partially because of the “outmoded nature of the Reader’s Digest flagship magazine.”…

SAN JOSE magazine, folded in 2008, is scheduled to be relaunched in early 2010 by new owner Ziyak Media Group (BERKSHIRE LIVING) and with a circulation of 30,000.  The magazine is undergoing an extensive redesign…

SCHOLASTIC PARENT & CHILD is adding celebrity covers and celebrity content from such well-known experts as financial guru Suze Orman and new talk show host and the director of the Cardiovascular Institute and Complementary Medicine Program at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Mehmet Oz MD, aka Dr Oz…