Last year was remarkable not only for the financial difficulties faced by many publishers but also for the quality of new launches in the face of tough times. Without question, the magazine market is volatile. Magazine publishers and editors must innovate to survive and compete in an online information marketplace. Print still has an important role, but many magazines will not survive the double whammy of economic recession and ever more free information on the web.

Quite a few magazines folded during the year, including some in their infancy. National Geographic's Green Guide was a good candidate for one of the ten best of 2008, but it reverted to an online newsletter before the year was out. 8020 Publishing's Everywhere, the innovative travel magazine that compiled the best reader-contributed photography and stories from its web site, folded before its first birthday. The publisher's JPG is also suspended, but Samir “Mr. Magazine” Husni reported in his blog on new private investors committed to JPG and Everywhere (mrmagazine.wordpress.com, 3/1/09), giving hope that they will be revived.

Four of the Best Magazines of 2007 have failed in print. Heal, Jewish Living, and Organize are no more, while Kitu Kizuri continues only online. Other cessations include Hallmark Magazine, Domino, Teen, Wondertime, Plenty, Country Home, O at Home, Radar, and CosmoGirl. PC Magazine became online only, ceasing its 27-year run as a print publication after suffering a precipitous decline in ad pages. Craft is ending in print with Volume 10 but will live on at craftzine.com. An entertaining and opinionated source of information about the end of magazines is the anonymous blog Magazine Death Pool (www.magazinedeathpool.com), highlighted by a virtual Museum of Dead Magazines.

General interest magazines, especially those with circulations of one million or more, live and die by advertising revenue. An interactive feature in the New York Times, “Mostly Gloom for Glossies” (Graham Roberts and Hannah Fairfield, 2/1/09), shows that advertising pages for most popular magazines fell dramatically from 2005 to 2008. The source for their data is the Magazine Publishers of America, which reports an average 1.7 percent drop in circulation for the top 100 magazines for 2008. While falling advertising revenue hurt most publications, a few are holding their own or even increasing ad pages. Magazines in the top 100 that bucked the trend and experienced increases in circulation include AARP, Southern Living, Game Informer, ESPN, Us Weekly, and Rolling Stone (see www.magazine.org).

Because their business models rely so heavily on advertising revenue, mass-market magazines can hit financial trouble even when circulation holds steady. One such case is U.S. News & World Report, which maintained its subscriber base but lost one-third of its ad pages in 2008. The publisher turned the weekly print mag into a monthly, supplemented for individual subscribers with a weekly online edition. Whether this strategy will work is yet to be seen, as news organizations nationwide find that revenue from online advertising does not fill the gap caused by losses in print advertising.

In some cases, publishers are choosing to shut down publications with stable circulation rather than risk losses if ad revenue erodes. Husni points out on his blog that Hallmark Magazine had healthy growth of both circulation and advertising, but the publisher pulled the plug based on analysis of the overall magazine industry. Husni concludes that the business model of puffing up circulation through heavy discounts and giveaways to justify high ad rates is broken and suggests that publishers should charge readers subscription rates sufficient to cover expenses.

A few of the high-circ glossies populating grocery stores and sold by students raising funds for school clubs are holding steady. More important for libraries, a different market exists for magazines with circulations measured in the tens (rather than hundreds) of thousands. Most of these charge subscribers enough to reduce dependence on ad revenue. These magazines serve communities of readers who share a special interest. Their web sites form a synergy with the print publication, giving readers a variety of ways to interact with the editors and fellow readers.

The best new magazines of 2008 have in common the potential to create a devoted readership able to sustain circulation and attract advertisers interested in reaching their particular audience. Each succeeds in presenting distinctive and visually appealing content, in some cases with remarkably creative design. These mags demonstrate that the art of graphic design is thriving. The Best Magazines of 2008 represent a range of target audiences, from general to special interest. Industry trends would suggest that the more general titles may have the most difficulty succeeding, but prognostication is a risky business. Special interest publications always face the challenge of being accepted broadly enough quickly enough to pay the bills. Given the deep recession that took hold in 2008 and the risks inherent in launching a new magazine, it's remarkable that publishers took the leap to inaugurate this fine crop of new titles.

BBC Knowledge. bi-m. $29.95. Ed: Sally Palmer. www.bbcknowledge.com.

Designed for a general audience interested in science, history, and nature, BBC Knowledge is like a curio cabinet packed with attention-grabbing detail. It's a visually busy blend of photo essays, feature articles, short news items, and media reviews accompanied by illustrations, time lines, and sidebars. Consistently readable stories make this a delight for curious browsers. (LJ online 10/1/08)

Bible Study Magazine. bi-m. $14.95. Ed: Michael S. Heiser. www.biblestudymagazine.com

Bible Study Magazine is a serious, clearly written popular mag that uses biblical scholarship to illuminate but not refute the principal beliefs of evangelical Protestantism. Content includes interviews with well-known evangelical ministers and reports of research by religious studies professors, historians, and archaeologists. Published by Logos Bible Software, this colorful popular pub is to Bible studies what Scientific American is to science or Psychology Today is to psychology. A thoughtful bridge between the work of scholars and laypersons looking for a deeper understanding of biblical texts. (LJ online 1/1/09)

Culture: The Word on Cheese. q. $40. Ed: Elaine Khosrova. www.culturecheesemag.com

Artisanal cheeses are attracting national interest as one way to eat locally produced, natural foods. Culture explains why and how, through well-edited and beautifully illustrated articles on successful cheesemakers and cheesemongers. While of special interest to those in the business of making and selling cheese, the magazine's descriptions of the blues, bries, stiltons, and “stinkys” will also appeal to readers wishing to venture beyond the shrink-wrapped fare in their local grocery dairy case. With descriptions, recipes, and suggestions for pairings with beer, wine, fruit, and other foods. (LJ online 2/1/09)

Food Network Magazine. bi-m. $20. Ed: Maile Carpenter. www.foodnetwork.com/food-network-magazine/package/index.html.

Not just another cookery magazine, Food Network Magazine enhances its recipes and features with a particularly innovative design. A creative and appealing example of its outstanding graphics is an intuitive and convenient recipe index of thumbnail images of each dish. A separate “Star Search” index similarly employs small images of Food Network celebrities. While clearly intended to promote the Food Network brand, this Hearst publication stands out from its many competitors. (LJ online 3/1/09)

Lapham's Quarterly. q. $60. Ed: Lewis H. Lapham. www.laphamsquarterly.org

Launched with the Winter 2007/2008 issue, Lapham's Quarterly was not included in the Best of 2007 and is far too good to let fall through the cracks. The former editor of Harper's shares his passion for history in thematic quarterly anthologies of writings by a diverse range of historical and contemporary authors. Context is provided by Lapham and guest contributors, and quotes and various color illustrations decorate the text. Gorgeously produced and now available as a boxed set, issues in the first volume elucidate war, money, nature, and learning. (LJ online 6/1/08)

Miller-McCune. bi-m. $17.99. Ed: John Mecklin. www.miller-mccune.com/magazine

Named after Sara Miller McCune, founder and chair of SAGE Publications and president of the McCune Foundation, this magazine focuses on well-researched, practical options for solving social problems. Its motto, “turning research into solutions,” captures the hopeful, forward-looking mood of Miller-McCune. A stated editorial goal is to counterbalance the all-too-common spin, punditry, and “truthiness” in popular media. Working to be nonpartisan and nonideological, the editors publish objective presentations of research by authors who clearly state their various points of view. (LJ online 9/1/08)

NCAA Champion. q. $15. Ed: Gary Brown. www.ncaachampionmagazine.org

One might expect NCAA championships in major sports to dominate this magazine, but it covers all NCAA sports, including Division II and III. The editors also achieve a good balance of stories about men and women athletes. NCAA Champion employs personal profiles to address myriad aspects of the relationship between academics and athletics in college-student life. This well-balanced presentation of college athletics gives NCAA Champion broad appeal to readers interested in either athletics or the undergrad experience. (LJ online 11/1/08)

Science Illustrated. bi-m. $24. Ed: Mark Jannot. www.scienceillustrated.com

This English-language version of the Scandinavian science magazine Illustreret Videnskab uses bold, colorful illustrations to accurately but simply present scientific findings, from icebergs to volcanoes, T. rex to penguins, human origins to space junk. Distinguished by strikingly beautiful images and accessible writing, Science Illustrated is also notable for presenting scientific findings originally published outside the United States in languages other than English. (LJ online 4/1/08)

Strategy. bi-m. $19.95. Ed: Mavian Arocha. www.strategymagazine.com

Entering a crowded market of business magazines, Atlanta-based Strategy is set apart by its readable articles grounded in findings from academia. “Out of Academia” sections summarize scholarly journal articles on management, accounting, finance, supply chain, technology, marketing, and entrepreneurship. The succinct articles emphasize business strategies and include interviews with successful businesspeople. Unlike many other business magazines, the focus is on concepts rather than on specific companies, making it a fine source of information for entrepreneurs and small-business owners. (LJ online 2/1/09)

World Affairs. q. $132. Ed: Lawrence F. Kaplan. www.worldaffairsjournal.org

Formerly published by the American Peace Society under various titles, intermittently, since 1837, World Affairs was launched by Heldref Publications in 2008 as a new magazine. Timely, insightful articles by mostly well-known authors representing a full range of political persuasions make this a worthy complement to Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy. (LJ online 8/1/08)