Are there too many magazines?

Also, the wackness is the wack. Eg the NME. Nuff said.

Anyone remember Neon magazine? That was a pretty good film mag, irreverent and focused a lot on cult movies. Unfortunately it didnt last long. It just seems that anything that strays from the format goes down the tubes pretty fast.

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/conde-nast-to-close-gourmet-magazine/?hp

dark fuckin day

Yeah, I started a thread about it on ILCooking. This is really bumming me out...when I started slashing expenses in the last few years all my magazine subscriptions went, EXCEPT for Gourmet. Fuck!

such a bummer

sounds like the website will still remain, which is cool--so many awesome recipes

Gourmet took a major nose dive under Ruth Reichle (sp?) imo. Will not miss the mag, but will continue to use recipes from web.

Gourmet took a major nose dive under Ruth Reichle (sp?) imo.

In what way?

More focus on restaurants, travel, "lifestyle" stuff and less on home cooking, plus really stupid issues like the rock 'n' roll issue wtf. And the hipster photo layouts, ick.

magazines that want to focus on niche instead of obeying the insane neocon ALL GROWTH IS AWESOME economic mindset would be able to succeed right now (if not "thrive," it's never going to be a big-money game again) but getting people to look at constant growth as anything but the be-all end-all is an impossibility at this point

which sucks, I am a huge magazine lover but I'm guessing they're doomed & we'll be RIP'ing them three or four at a pass over the next few years.

Yeah, the Gourmet Cookbook is my favorite generalist cookbook but the magazine in my cooking-aware adult life (e.g. the last ten years or so) has been full of (to me) boring lifestyle articles.

On the other hand we didn't renew our subscription of Cooks Illustrated either, which is to me a good model of what a food magazine can be.

I liked the restaurant listings, but not so much the general travelogue stuff that went with them. Agreed on the hipster photo layouts, that took up too much space. Not sure whether I'm going to switch over to Bon Appetite or splurge on Cooks Illustrated -- I see the magazine and website access have separate charges.

I'm guessing they're doomed & we'll be RIP'ing them three or four at a pass over the next few years.

even the venerable Mad Magazine has cut back to a quarterly

http://i637.photobucket.com/albums/uu92/damien_stone/13484_450x600.jpg

Got the last Gourmet in today's mail...bagged with a "Subscribe now!" flyer. ;_;

RIP

Yeah, that's sad. We had a subscription to Gourmet for a while.

I hope magazines experience a revival. Online reading is great, but there's a charm to reading -- e.g., the formating, editorial discretion (such as an editor placing some articles above or in-front of others), and the glossy feel of the pages -- that the internet will never replace (for me, at least).

On that note, I'll be re-upping my subscription to Art News soon.

"That Shamwow Idiot"

For various reasons, there are less and less. Nation piece on the downfall of Scientific American

https://archive.ph/MPBTs

Wow, what a time capsule

Damn, one of the last few US magazines still commissioning illustrators at decent rates. I was about to send them some work samples. What a time we live in lol.

For various reasons, there are less and less.

Fewer and fewer.

No more editors

i think if the 21st century has taught us anything it's the value of editors

I started working in magazines (especially trade magazines) in about 1993. You may have seen my work for Professional Surveyor or perhaps Brick Manufacturers Monthly or American Horticulturalist. Around the same time, my now-wife was heading up Durable Medical Equipment News.

It was a viable career at the time!
A vanished world.

Whatever your profession or hobby or niche interest, there was a publication that would arrive at your door every few weeks and make you feel temporarily less alone. Modern Clarinetist. Wooden Canoe Enthusiast. Satan's Call.

Every one of them lovingly typeset, assembled (often by hand), printed, blind, sorted, and mailed. Shelves and shelves of back issues at your publix library.

Publix

See? Even I don't bother editing carefully and that's my fucking JOB

I am proud to say I worked at Kerrang!, which was about Iron Maiden etc, and Metal Bulletin, which was about iron ore, etc

Always suspected the caravan magazines published by IPC back in the day essentially bankrolled stuff like Melody Maker and NME, for whom I worked. Was always funny to come in for freelancer meetings and share the lift with people who worked for Horse & Hound.

Have definitely heard a similar story (contributed to MM) but about one of the car magazines (Autotrader, maybe?).

Think about the income bracket of Horse & Hound readers, what they buy, and the resultant advertising. Vs. The audience of teenagers who buy records.

Verified circulation in a narrow self-selected niche is way more lucrative than newsstand sales of subscription dollars.

*or subscription

Australia is down to about 12 titles that sell in supermarkets. I don’t even know where else sells magazines. It’s such a delight to go to Japan or the UK and be able to browse and come out with a stack.

I’m hoping to get here on my next trip to Tokyo.

https://museum.ipsj.or.jp/en/satellite/gijyutsu.html

They have 30,000 technical magazines. Equivalents of things like scientific American and practical machinist.