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Subject: For magazines, happy days may be here again
Date: Mon, 26 Oct 92 14:37:03 EST
Message-ID: <life50.1992Oct26.143704@AmeriCast.com>

\SE D;LIFE
\HD For magazines, happy days may be here again
\BY Cynthia Grenier
\CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES

There may be a recession out there, but the more than 700 magazine
executives who convened last week at Southampton, Bermuda, to talk over
business at the annual American Magazine Conference were feeling pretty
good, all things considered.

Check out the indicators.  Circulation is more than healthy.
Advertising pages are up over last year's levels for every month since
January.  Newsstand sales, after a 10-year decline, are up from last year.
And obituary notices for magazines are markedly down.

We thought it might be a good time to talk to Samir Husni, recognized
as the authority in these matters, about why the outlook is so rosy for
magazine publishing these days.  Mr.  Husni, head of the magazine service
journalism program at the University of Mississippi, tracks new magazines
for his annually published Samir Husni's Guide to New Consumer Magazines.

Last year there were 541 new magazines.  Mr.  Husni confidently
foresees more than 600 new publications this year.  He briskly ticks off
three factors for this growth:

* The increase in cable TV specialization is forcing publishers to
supply more information about specific topics.  Mr.  Husni cites the
example of the new, 24-hour Science Fiction Channel.  "All the old sci-fi
magazines are re-designing and revamping," he says.  So too are comic book
publishers, overhauling their output in response to Ted Turner's
all-cartoons channel.  "The magazines are not competing with television;
they are collaborating with them."

* It's cheaper than ever before to produce magazines, thanks to the
progress of technology.  Mr.  Husni cites Monk, a new travel magazine with
a twist, brought out by "two guys in a mobile home with a computer."

* Customers are willing to foot the bill.  "They are prepared to pay $4
for 80 pages of a publication which really answers their concerns, as
opposed to $1.50 for 200 pages of which only 10 may interest them," Mr.
Husni says.  "It's up to the publishers to find a willing audience, to
pinpoint an audience which will pay."

The life cycle of a magazine, Mr.  Husni notes, is no longer dependent
on advertisers.  "The ads are the icing on the cake.  We are back to the
good old days of high-quality content with an audience who can afford to
foot the bill.  Advertising will come to magazines.  Witness Men's Journal
[published by Rolling Stone magazine] - its second issue had 167 pages of
ads, way up over the first."

As to what kind of magazine is making it today, the answer runs the
gamut.  Last year health magazines were weak, but this year they're strong.
All the genres, in fact, look strong.

Mr.  Husni answers the prophets of gloom and doom who believe that
technology will drive out print: "The survival of print magazines is always
going to depend on technology to enchance printability.  Magazines are here
to stay."


This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to
other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American 
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