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LJ Best Magazines 2010

Ten new periodicals rise to the top

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May 1, 2011

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Consumer magazines continue to display remarkable resilience despite difficult economic times and competition from other media. According to MediaFinder.com, there were 193 new magazines launched in 2010 while 176 ceased publication. The drop in ceased titles from 596 closures in 2009 is evidence that the magazine market has stabilized.

This is not to say there’s no turmoil in the industry. Changes at the major news magazines were significant in 2010. U.S. News & World Report ceased as a print publication as of December 2010. Fortunately for libraries, the text of U.S. News’ online articles is still available in aggregated databases such as those from EBSCOhost, ProQuest, and LexisNexis. Newsweek merged in November with The Daily Beast to form the Newsweek Daily Beast Company and is owned equally by Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp and Sidney Harman, the man who bought the financially hemorrhaging Newsweek from The Washington Post in August for $1 and assumption of a pile of debt. Tina Brown is now the editor in chief of both publications. Some bloggers predicted that Newsweek.com would cease as a separate entity from Thedailybeast.com, but as of March 2011 both sites actively maintain distinct content. While rivals struggle, Time continually manages to sell print issues, maintain a robust online presence, and make profit.

Tablet trials
According to data presented in the Magazine Publishers of America’s annual report, 87 percent of those interested in reading magazines on a digital device still want a printed copy. A few publishers have dabbled in creating magazines exclusively for tablets—Rupert Murdoch’s The Daily has been getting significant press—but the trend is toward supporting multiple platforms. Publications like Time and upstart Connected World seek to maximize their readership by offering content in print and online in formats designed for computer screens, tablets, and smartphones.

Magazines on tablets have advantages but present publishers and readers with challenges, e.g, how to offer readable, attractive content on a seven-inch screen. One expensive way is to create a completely different graphic design for the tablet version. Complicating matters are the tablet format wars just under way; this year’s Consumer Electronics Show previewed a plethora of forthcoming tablets. It’s anyone’s guess which format (if any) will become a de facto standard as PDF did for presenting page images on computer screens. Investing in a new tablet or mobile format might end up being a stranded cost for publishers.

Ads, editorial, and income
Another challenge for publishers wishing to attract readers on tablets is how easy it is to navigate away from an online magazine and not come back. A study of how readers interact with tablet magazines conducted by Bonnier (publisher of Popular Science and Parenting, among others) found that people reading a magazine on an iPad bounced around even more than the researchers expected. Furthermore, as Ad Age reports, they found that even well-educated readers had difficulty distinguishing editorial content from advertisements (“Magazines’ iPad Editions Struggle To Keep Your Attention, New Study Finds,” 3/9/11).

Nevertheless, some publishers remain optimistic that tablets are an opportunity to make profits. Next Issue Media, a digital publishing consortium of Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corp, and Time, released a white paper, “A New Digital Future for Publishers,” that forecasts a potential $1.3 billion increase in revenue from interactive periodicals. They reason that new platforms will reach new subscribers and that consumers will be willing to pay more for interactive magazines delivered to mobile devices than for print alone. An interactive periodical uses video, reflows text, and allows users to personalize how the content is presented. The interesting but jargon-ridden white paper and video samples of interactive magazines can be found at www.nextissuemedia.com.

Expanding magazines to exploit tablets’ functions fully is an expensive and difficult proposition. The Next Issue Media white paper notes that “publishers will need to redesign and align digital and physical production processes to cost-effectively produce both formats. The impact on systems, processes, and capability requirements must not be underestimated” (p. 12). Such a major redesign of the publishing process may be doable for well-financed magazines like Sports Illustrated, Esquire, or GQ, but it’s probably not feasible for the vast majority of magazines. Interestingly, the authors of the white paper assert that many readers will continue to want print issues, and they recommend that publishers offer print plus interactive bundle pricing to maximize revenue.

Foreseeing the future
What we’re likely to see, then, is a continued transition among mass-circulation magazines to multimedia formats. Print issues will remain available for library shelves, and readers will have the opportunity to pay individually for online interactive content. That interactive content should be available in libraries, too, but how that would be provided and paid for are open ­questions.

As for niche magazines that reach a few hundred/thousand readers, expect to see integration of print and online content in PDF format. Print-on-demand services can be an effective and affordable way to offer both print and online issues with minimal additional investment (see “The Magazine Rack: Print-on-Demand & Magazine Collection Development,” 2/3/11 ­BookSmack! [bit.ly/gujhQl]). None of the magazines using an online plus print-on-demand business model happen to be in this year’s list, but it’s a model we can expect to see more of in the future.

Despite the recession that bottomed out in late 2009 and continued economic stresses, brave entrepreneurs continue to produce excellent new periodicals. Here is this year’s fine crop of new magazines worth considering for your library.

Camera Obscura. s-a. $25. Ed: M.E. Parker. www.obscurajournal.com
The goal of small, independent Sfumato Press for Camera Obscura is to bring photography and creative writing to a broad audience. That is admirably achieved in the first two issues of well-wrought and attractively presented photos and fiction. The visual and textual content is original while still readily accessible to a general audience.

ChopChop. q. $14.95. Founder/Pres.: Sally Sampson; Ed: Steven Slon. chopchopmag.com
The mission of ChopChop is to teach kids how to cook and be nutritionally literate and to establish good lifelong eating habits. It is endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and has a robust advisory board of M.D.s and nutritionists and five kids. The recipes are easy to follow and clearly highlight when adults should help. A few games and short articles about various foods round out the content. This colorful magazine is perfectly designed to get families to cook healthy meals together.

Connected World. 8/yr. $24.95. Editorial Director: Peggy Smedley. connectedworldmag.com
Mobile devices are ubiquitous. Connected World is about the devices and software employed for personal fitness, GPS, home security, and smart metering. The gizmos include ereaders, smartphones, and various sensors. What all the devices have in common is an ability to transfer information from one machine to another. Connected World not only adroitly describes the technologies but also explores social and business implications of the latest connected mobile devices.

Cooking Wild. q. $24. Publisher: April Donald. www.cookingwildmagazine.com
Recipes for wild game are a main focus of Cooking Wild, but the magazine also addresses topics like food storage methods, hunting experiences, and foraged vegetables. An article in a recent issue discusses ways to reduce the risks from eating game killed with lead shot. And where else could one find a full-page ad for drill-operated Easy Pluck, “the most efficient duck plucker in the world!”? Cooking Wild is a well-designed magazine filled with plenty of information useful to hunters and fishers, although the emphasis tends more toward game than fish.

Holmes: The Magazine To Make It Right. 10/yr. $19.90. Ed: Briony Smith. holmesmagazine.com
The special angle of Holmes is its emphasis on educating home owners to make intelligent renovation decisions and communicate effectively with contractors. The magazine, an offshoot of HGTV’s Mike ­Holmes’s Make It Right brand, does a particularly good job of explaining terminology, and it even features a regular “Builder’s Speak” column of vocabulary terms. A recent issue focuses on siding, kitchen cabinets, and renovating Queen Anne Victorian homes. Holmes is especially well suited for new home owners, but it is packed with useful information for anyone considering a renovation or major home repair.

M: Music & Musicians. 8/yr. $12. Ed: Rick Taylor. mmusicmag.com
For a magazine that’s shipped with every order from the Sweetwater music technology and instrument retailer, M: Music & Musicians is surprisingly balanced and informative. Instruments, amplifiers, and other gear feature prominently in the ads and get some editorial coverage, but M is mostly about the lives, experiences, and opinions of both famous and less-well-known musicians. Quite a few big names have been interviewed by M, including Keith Urban, Annie Lennox, Sting, and Sheryl Crow. The few dozen reviews in each issue include a set of “Indie Scene” reviews of recordings by lesser-known artists. M is content rich and entertaining—sure to be appreciated by musicians and fans of contemporary music.

Muzzle (online). q. Free. Ed: Stevie Edwards. www.muzzlemagazine.com
Little magazines have served a long and distinguished role in American literature. Muzzle may be online only, but it authentically fulfills the role of providing a venue for traditionally underrepresented voices. In addition to a dozen or so poems, each issue includes a handful of artworks and a few interviews and reviews. Chicago-based Muzzle has a close connection with performance poetry and poetry slams, so reviews cover poetry performances. A distinctive feature: audio files of the poets performing their works are available for about half the poems in each issue.

Peloton. bi-m. $21.99/print; $12.99/digital; $25.99/both. Ed: Brad Roe. pelotonmagazine.com
“Fuel for the ride” is the motto for this magazine about serious bicycle racing. Peloton goes beyond the expected descriptions of bikes, clothing, and gear (helmet cam, anyone?). The training tips and profiles of top riders are of interest to cyclists of many ability levels. A recent article about bike messengers is a fascinating read whether you ride or don’t. So while the magazine’s focus is clearly on the world of elite cyclists, the well-written and well-produced Peloton has broad appeal.

Quilt Life. bi-m. $24.99. Ed: Jan Magee. www.americanquilter.com/quilt_life
Here’s a magazine from the American Quilter’s Society for those with the “disease” (the editor’s words, not mine!). Creative and executive directors Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson lead readers through all aspects of creating, enjoying, and collecting quilts. Quilt Life has some how-to, e.g., a recent article that describes how to tile printed photos to create a template for a large art quilt. But the focus is more on individual quilters’ and collectors’ passion for the hobby. Quilt Life has a diversity of well-illustrated content that’s sure to interest both beginning and expert quilters and quilt lovers.

Twisted South. q. $19.95. Ed: Zeke Loftin. www.twistedsouth.com
Inspired and offbeat, Twisted Southis a lifestyle magazine like no other. It showcases aspects of the South rarely addressed in mainstream media, like midget wrestling, coon dog cemeteries, Southern goth ­lingerie, and proper crawfish eating etiquette. Prominent themes are life in New Orleans, Gothic style, indie musicians, and restaurants, but Twisted Southalso features recipes and book and music reviews. A recent issue includes a profile of artist Justin Forbes and a photo-essay of the swamp in Moss Hill, TX. Editor Loftin believes “being Southern is a state of mind.” Given his creative twist, the mind-set makes for very entertaining reading.


Author Information
Steve Black is LJ’s magazine reviews columnist and a serials and reference librarian at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY



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