The Business of Magazines

[sethii]

Yea but the piece says it will be her fourth....so I wonder what she started besides POP.

 

[MissMagAddict]

Yea but the piece says it will be her fourth....so I wonder what she started besides POP.

Oh sorry

she was also involved in...
Dazed & Confused
Arena
and then she started
Pop

 

[wiltshireblue]

Don't forget about The Face. And she was the launch editor of Another.

 

[Miss Dalloway]

WOW, this is an excellant news, i am very excited about it, wonder what it will be called though...

 

[MissMagAddict]

Don't forget about The Face. And she was the launch editor of Another.

She was not involved with the launch of The Face... she came on much later as a stylist. Thanks for the info about Another.

 

[helmut.newton]

I don't get why Katie is leaving (?) POP.

I mean it won't be the same as when it started.

And I hope this is the right thread for this question - but does anyone have the statistics of how each issue of Vogue, W, Bazaar, POP etc. sells?

I'm interested to compare all the different Vogue's.

 

[kimair]

wwd / october 3.2009

Fashion Editors on the Economy

Will the stream of grim financial news take any of the shine off the content in glossy fashion magazines?

Advertising and newsstand sales are already under pressure, with the latest figures showing single-copy sales down across the board in the first half, and page counts likely to take a dive in 2009. Through October, monthly magazines saw ad pages decrease 8 percent over the same period in 2007, according to figures from Media Industry Newsletter. The October issues alone reflect an even sharper decline, shrinking 12 percent over October 2007.

Publishers believe the falloff will continue at least into the first quarter of 2009. Most advertisers are putting together marketing plans now for next year under a cloud of concerns about the economic crisis and Wall Street’s implosion. Weekly titles are beginning to feel the pinch now, and monthlies will likely feel the contraction in issues next year as advertisers spread their dollars across fewer titles. Said Paul Caine, president of Time Inc. Entertainment Group, who oversees People, People StyleWatch, People En Español and Entertainment Weekly, “Planning is becoming more hesitant as we approach the fourth quarter, but we’re seeing more double-down investment. We have more advertisers approaching us about becoming their exclusive partner.”

Interviewed on the sidelines of the Paris runway shows this week about how the economic downturn will impact their operations and their magazines’ content, editors in chief said they’re keeping a close eye on expenses — up to and including resisting the 20 euro jar of nuts in the Ritz minibar. Some also plan to banish exorbitantly priced creams and fashions from their pages.

Still, most said fashion’s role is to let women dream, while also offering sound money-saving advice for tough times. Here’s what they had to say:

Cynthia Leive, editor in chief of Glamour: “The days of editors not paying attention to expenses have been over for a long time. We are all running businesses. It’s surreal to be in Paris looking at million-dollar clothes. People do want to escape. People want clothes that will make them feel better. At the same time, it’s going to be hard to sell a $3,000 T-shirt.”

Stefano Tonchi, editor of The New York Time’s T magazine: “We have been under a lot of pressure for the last year. If luxury goes down, the pressure certainly will increase. I don’t believe fashion should be looked at in function or in relation to economic problems. Fashion is a kind of dream. The last six months have been very tough in the U.S. in categories like travel and design — the most related to the financial crisis. Fashion has held up better. We have 15 more ad pages for our winter issue.”

Linda Wells, editor in chief, Allure: “I don’t think denial of beauty is what we’re after. In difficult times, women want to keep up appearances. We’ve seen this throughout history: No burlap sacks; no Crisco facials. I think it’s important not to be escapist to the point of unreality. In the November issue, we have a recession-proof beauty story. We’re also being highly critical of some of the out-of-control prices on fragrances and antiaging creams — almost for the sake of being the most expensive.”

Charla Lawhon, editor, the In Style Group: “We’ve always had a mix of the aspirational and the accessible. We’re just being very careful to include both. Right now readers need a reason to want something; others need reassurance. They’re still looking to Hollywood for inspirations and reasons to get excited about things. In our November issue, the overall philosophy is ‘worth it.’”

Glenda Bailey, editor in chief of Harper’s Bazaar: “We already run a tight business and we have to control costs. It’s vital that we look at the business in those terms. We’ve had a strong six months but we are cautious about the future.” She said more editorial partnerships and collaborations were certain. “It’s a time to do what we do well — to edit the very best. Of course in difficult times everyone wants to look and dream.”

Joanna Coles, editor in chief, Marie Claire: “I don’t think people are going to stop buying great luxury bags, shoes and clothes, but they may buy fewer of them. I think people are going to be looking for value. We’re always thinking about the readers’ pocketbook, be it the Hermès one or the Club Monaco one. Designer Andrew Gn is clearly assuming there will be a recovery very quickly. Certainly if you put on one of his jeweled dresses, you are going to feel better. I think fashion provides wonderful escapism. The Titanic’s going down: You might as well be well-dressed.”

Roberta Myers, editor in chief, Elle: “We started showing things from Wal-Mart and Target a while ago. There was one look where the Wolford tights cost more than the entire outfit. But the runway is obviously directional and the readers want the fantasy as much as the reality.”

Franca Sozzani, editor in chief, Italian Vogue: “What is happening in New York has not affected Italy yet, we’ve had a good year,” said Sozzani, adding that she hadn’t detected any reflection of the economic climate in the collections. As for the likelihood of the industry’s doom and gloom affecting her magazine’s editorial direction, she said: “No way, not at all. There are more than enough commercial magazines out there to take care of that.”

Aliona Doletskaya, editor in chief, Russian Vogue: “The economic recession will definitely influence the commercial side of fashion and editorials will have to reflect that in some way. Having said that, it’s not like we’re going to superdreary, commercial stories as that’s just not what Russian Vogue’s about.”

Cécile Narinx, editor in chief, Dutch Elle: “It goes both ways. We’ll be exploring escapism and giving tips on how to invest in classic pieces.”

 

[prosperk]

More publishers launching glossy supplements... more new jobs, or more work loaded onto those who have jobs and daren't complain about being stretched, with content to reflect. And for all the talk of being 'editorially driven', it's still going to be totally advertising-led, to recoup revenue lost elsewhere.

That's a fairly precise summary of how it works. You forgot the bit about how publishers are also turning to bloggers to generate text on the cheap, while the unions to which journalists pay membership fees remain completely silent about this. Can you imagine the furore if filmmakers and studios decided to employ non-union actors to save money? The film industry would be brought to a standstill.

Fat chance of that happening in the print media, because the unions are as useful as t*ts on a bull and unethical publishers - who don't give a toss about editorial quality as long as they're getting the ads and advertorial puff pieces in - are perfectly happy to order beleaguered editors to commission work from bloggers at rates that would be decried in the tabloid press if the business involved designer label teeshirts and child labour.

With the exception of a few well-paid journalists and photo-journalists, newspaper and magazine careers involve longer and longer hours for less and less money, which is why you find so many trust fund kids on the masthead, particularly in the fashion media. I'd say that the waiter bringing me my coffee and tartine in the morning probably earns more in half the time than the average staffer on a fashion magazine working 14-hour days to get the magazine out, plus the various advertorial supplements and sundry stand-alones they are required to produce for no extra pay throughout the year.

As a writer and editor myself, I view fashion and style media strictly as showcases for attracting well-paid advertising and consultancy work. Many fashion photographers do the same thing. If I had to rely on magazine work to live, I'd have starved to death by now or gotten a better-paid job, washing chip pans in MacBurger or digging graves. Luckily, I was able to "diversify" as a writer and editor but I am painfully aware that I am really one of the lucky few. One of the particularly depressing tasks regularly confronting me is giving reality checks to young hopefuls who don't happen to have rich parents funding them and don't have the experience of those of my generation, who started when it was still possible to earn a decent living at this game.

Maybe the coming crash will be a good thing in sorting out the wheat from the chaff. With a drastic reduction in "tree-killer" publications, vanity magazines and other dross, a lot of the bluffers in this business will find themselves looking for work more suited to their IQ, leaving the field open to those who are really suited to it. There are far too many magazines and supplements out there. The fashion media needs liposuction. We need to go back to basics, when there were just a few basic mainstream titles, plus a few plucky little indie mags, and having "Vogue" and "Bazaar" on your CV actually meant something.

PK

 

[mikel]

Great news about Katie Grand. I hope this will not have any effect on Pop.

 

[Miss Dalloway]

wwd / october 3.2009

Thanks for posting this, very interesting to read the editors thoughts about current economic situation in America.

 

[MissMagAddict]

Most of what I read on blogs is the same poorly written recycled content over & over. The bloggers with original fashion content are very few. As far as trust fund kids on the masthead... that's always been a tradition... at Vogue anyway. The coming crash... is here... the US economy is in a free all... where it stops... I don't think anyone knows yet... not even the so-called experts.

Thank you for posting Prosperk... I enjoyed reading your opinions

 

[tigerrouge]

Everything he said is everything I've seen in my own time of working in the magazine/newspaper industry - there are a lot of people who own publications who really don't care about the content as long as the money comes in, whatever the staff might think themselves (it's essential for your own sense of self-respect to believe that content matters).

 

[surrealseven]

"we'll have a larger format, bigger budgets and broader horizons than ever before. With the wholehearted support of Condé Nast, there will be nothing to limit our imagination."

Sounds very exciting!
Can't wait to see the debut of the magazine!
Hopefully Katie's departure doesn't have any adverse effect on POP

I hope Mert & Marcus will be back shooting for Katie Grand again like before, since the three of them are at Conde Nast now!

 

[Miss Dalloway]

^^But she wont be involved in POP anymore right?So there will defo be a change, and it will be either good or a disaster, few of the last issues were lackluster alredy, i hope it dosent die down entirely.

 

[surrealseven]

Yup, hopefully someone great takes over the reins at POP, yup from the Sienna Miller issue onwards, POP was lackluster...I got a bad feeling that POP might just die down without Katie

 

[mikel]

And I guess Glenda Bailey is bumped as well that she lost another one to Anna/Conde Nast.

 

[tigerrouge]

I'd be happier with a smaller, quarterly POP, that kept its high-gloss paper, but which concentrated on producing more original content, rather than printing the cast-off ideas from the ad campaigns the staff have worked on. I don't care about articles, stunning photography will suffice.

 

[helmut.newton]

I bet ANYTHING that Kate Moss will be on the cover. She's a guaranteed success for the debut of any new magazine.

 

[surrealseven]

^ True, she's like a tried and tested model

 

[A.leean]

This the reasons why Anna Wintour won't go anywhere soon.

www.nypost.com/pagesixmag/issues/20081005/Trend+Anna+Wintours+Family+Tree