02-12-2022, 10:04 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-12-2022, 10:10 AM by Drunk Monk.)
Another nail in the coffin for print mags.
When publishing KFTC, I was privy to industry reports and assiduously followed the newsstand trends in some flailing hope that I could stave off the inevitable (and we should’ve gone done a decade ago when the great purge happened and hundreds of print newsstand mags folded, so I’ll take some credit for that).
Celeb mags like EW were consistently doing well. Why? They transcended newsstands to the checkout racks. Those were the strongest genre of periodicals. It’s very telling to see EW go down.
The most vulnerable was porn. Web porn crushed that industry.
I imagine the pandemic played a part. KFTC went down because the newsstands shuttered. Publishing periodicals are deadline driven and the supply chain disruption moved all publishers that were printing abroad (books mostly - mags need domestic printers to make deadline) to shift here and overload the system. All YMAA’s 2021 titles - books & DVDs - were delayed due to this. Mag deadlines couldn’t take it - those delay distribution - it’d like dominos when that happens and a publisher can lose a ton of money very quickly.
Sad to see EW go down too but somewhat relieved I’m not alone as a former mag publisher.
Entertainment Weekly, InStyle, EatingWell, Health, Parents and People en Español are all under the same umbrella. All going down due to an owner transfer (just looked it up). I’m sure my aforementioned issues played a part in that.
When publishing KFTC, I was privy to industry reports and assiduously followed the newsstand trends in some flailing hope that I could stave off the inevitable (and we should’ve gone done a decade ago when the great purge happened and hundreds of print newsstand mags folded, so I’ll take some credit for that).
Celeb mags like EW were consistently doing well. Why? They transcended newsstands to the checkout racks. Those were the strongest genre of periodicals. It’s very telling to see EW go down.
The most vulnerable was porn. Web porn crushed that industry.
I imagine the pandemic played a part. KFTC went down because the newsstands shuttered. Publishing periodicals are deadline driven and the supply chain disruption moved all publishers that were printing abroad (books mostly - mags need domestic printers to make deadline) to shift here and overload the system. All YMAA’s 2021 titles - books & DVDs - were delayed due to this. Mag deadlines couldn’t take it - those delay distribution - it’d like dominos when that happens and a publisher can lose a ton of money very quickly.
Sad to see EW go down too but somewhat relieved I’m not alone as a former mag publisher.
Entertainment Weekly, InStyle, EatingWell, Health, Parents and People en Español are all under the same umbrella. All going down due to an owner transfer (just looked it up). I’m sure my aforementioned issues played a part in that.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse