The number of outrageously poor digital alterations on magazine covers just grew by one.

The latest: Demi Moore on W’s December cover. As Boing Boing reported earlier this week, Moore's left hip was cropped in order to make it appear thinner, which had potential to be a deft move had the bottom half of her leg not remained the original size. Moore’s one thin hip makes the rest of her leg bulge below the sarong.

But it appears to go beyond the hip snafu. Look at Moore on the cover [pictured]. She looks like a starving actress—like she hasn’t More...

[EDITOR’S NOTE: You can read the complete version of this post on Blanks’s blog here.]

I have been swimming in the Web metrics for several of RBI’s brands recently, and am constantly amazed at the insights that pop up. The question I am given again and again is: "How can we increase performance?"

Sometimes this question is with regards to an entire editorial strategy, other times it is focusing on just one content channel such as blogs, or it gets into focusing on one particular blog, newsletter, video series or Twi More...

It’s been more than a year since former Alaska governor and ex-Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin did her first in a series of on-camera interviews with CBS’ Katie Couric. In case you’ve somehow forgotten, it was during that interview in October 2008 that Couric asked Palin what newspapers and magazines she read to inform her worldview. A visibly annoyed Palin said she reads “most of them,” “all of ‘em,” “any of ‘em,” but wouldn’t (or couldn’t) name even one specific news source.

Now, after so ma More...

Wednesday was the deadline for representatives of the Newspaper Guild to notify Time Inc. brass about how many staffers accepted buyout offers as the company looks to eliminate as many as 500 from its overall workforce.

Time Inc. is expected to begin slashing jobs as early as next week. The number of cuts will depend on how many volunteers stepped up for the buyout packages. I was told today by a company spokesperson, not unexpectedly, that Time Inc. won’t be disclosing the number of employees who accepted the buyouts.

The New York Post’s Keith Kelly has a relatively detailed More...

It seems like each digital platform has had its moment in the sun as the next new savior of print magazines—Web sites, PDFs, mobile, digital editions and e-readers. But based on a 2009 Forrester Research study released last week, called “Publishers Need Multichannel Subscription Models,” which surveyed 4,711 U.S. consumers during the third quarter (and is part of their “Media Meltdown” series), no one delivery method reigns supreme among consumers.

When asked, “If the publications you read were no longer available in print, how would you prefer to access that content,” responses showed that no single channel dominates. Thirty-seven percent of consumers said they’d prefer to access content on a Web site, while smal More...

Ever since taking over as Playboy Enterprises CEO in June, Scott Flanders has been adamant that he is not only “absolutely committed” to keeping Playboy in print, but that he’s a big believer in print and that he’s certain “the magazine will come back” to profitability.

More recently, during an earnings call last week, Flanders said that while “bolder steps are required” to get the print edition in the black More...

Online events, such as Webinars, are a cost-effective ways to build your business. Unfortunately, too many are promoted poorly because they’re not promoted enough. This approach leaves money on the table and hinders the growth of your customer file.

However, you can capture those lost dollars by developing a strategic online campaign—a series of coordinated messages fired off during a specific timeframe. Each message or “contact” builds on the previous efforts, giving the series momentum and intensity.

A campaign gives you added advantages: Multiple opportunities to reach prospects, an ongoing conversation rather than a single hit-or-miss contact, the chance to bond with your audience and build a mutually beneficial More...

After a more than hour-long debate, six panelists were split between two candidates they thought should be named Time magazine’s 2009 Person of the Year. Neither, for the record, were actually human beings.

Three panelists voted for Twitter. Three voted for the economy.

“Twitter affects a lot of people, but not as many as the economy,” said former New York City mayor and debate panelist Rudy Giuliani. “From the wealthy to the poor who are out of jobs, the economy affects us all.” Other panelists included Barbara Walters; cardiac surgeon and newly-named television show host Dr. Mehmet Oz; O the Oprah Magazin More...

In terms of innovation in the print medium, Hearst’s Esquire magazine has been a pioneer on a number of fronts in recent months. Last year, it partnered with Cambridge, Massachusetts-based E Ink to produce an electronic “paper” display for the magazine’s 75th anniversary October issue. Then in February, Esquire produced a cover “window” that opened to a mini table of contents and featured an advertisement on the back flap. Its May “How to Be a Man” issue featured More...

Did you ever read “Sometimes a Great Notion” by Ken Kesey? Yes, the Ken Kesey with the psychedelic bus. Before the Merry Pranksters and after his successful “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” Kesey penned this novel, one of the great works of American fiction, a sprawling tale of the struggles of a northwest logging family, the conflict between brothers, the small independent logging company the family owns and their fights against larger timber interests.

The most recurring metaphor in the book is fighting progress, alluded to in the form of the Stamper family home, which is built on a bend of a great river that is constant More...

Hachette Filipacchi announced Monday that Metropolitan Home will shut down after its December issue, adding to the already-substantial list of ceased shelter pubs this year. But despite a tough '09 for the sector, recent data reports that home magazines have still seen top growth over the past five years, meaning the number of individual titles has actually grown.

According to the 2010 National Directory of Magazines, which tracks data for 17,020 North American pubs that accept advertising, home titles have seen More...

One of our keynote presentations at the virtual FOLIO: Show Virtual last week included a panel of leading executives in the industry, including F+W Media CEO David Nussbaum.

Nussbaum gave one of the most provocative responses during the hour-long discussion, essentially saying that print advertising is an irrevocably declining source of revenue, and that companies that don’t recognize that do so at their own risk.

As it turns out, Nussbaum jotted down some notes to the questions I asked the panelists to consider in advance. Here are Nussbaum’s no More...