As we all wait for the economy to turn, and as we see signs that that’s happening, virtually all of what used to be called the magazine industry is wondering about what, exactly, is emerging in the place of a healthy magazine industry.

There’s a crisis of identity in this business right now more than I’ve even seen. If you look around at the leading companies, and the industry associations, there’s an unprecedented level of flux and confusion. The big consumer-magazine companies have been playing musical CEOs for months.

Yes, they’re motivated by the economic down More...

So far, 2010 has not been an exciting year for magazine launches. According to MediaFinder, a database of U.S. and Canadian magazines, 176 new print titles launched in the first three quarters and 127 shut down. That's down from 259 new launches and 383 closures in the same period 2009.

I suppose any new launch these days is still worthy of notice, and fewer closures is a good thing. However, MediaFinder's numbers bring up an interesting anomaly—that launches were higher during 2009 when the industry was still in turmoil.

In effect, 2010 is noted for a drop in shut-downs (good news) More...

The boxing gloves go on, then they come off. Or, perhaps they were never on in the first place.

Tapping into the growing fervor and fascination surrounding the speculation that Sidney Harman’s Newsweek and Barry Diller-backed Daily Beast (run by celeb, power editor Tina Brown) could soon merge, the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper last week ran a piece alleging a monumental rift between Brown and Huffington Post founder/top editor Arianna Huffington.

Citing one anonymous media executive who allegedly is “familiar with both women,” the Guar More...

Who says publishing is an old person’s game?

On the contrary, as the magazine industry, and media in general, evolves into avenues beyond print and traditional advertising models, a crop of fresh, young talent is surging to the top, leading their companies in their respective fields of work and innovation.

For the November issue, FOLIO: will be profiling 13 of these rising stars, looking at how they’re redefining traditional roles such as editorial, sales, production, design and audience development, as well blazing a trail in new types of positions in social media and e-commerce.

And every one of them will be younger th More...

Last week the magazine industry celebrated the Postal Regulatory Commission's unanimous decision to deny the United States Postal Service's attempt to break its existing CPI cap and raise rates for periodical mailers by 8 percent and First-Class mail stamps to 46 cents.

It was a huge win for periodicals mailers-many of whom would have been drive out of business by such a hike. But the fact remains that the industry is still likely to see a postal rate increase within the cap, and possibly (although unlikely) renewed efforts by the USPS to float the 8 percent rate hike a More...

As consumer magazines continue to dig their way out of the economic recession, several hundred top managers across the industry gathered in Chicago early this week for the MPA’s American Magazine Conference to talk about the issues facing their business and the tactics for overcoming them.

The speaker lineup included Barnes & Noble CEO Howard Shultz, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar, Wired creative director Scott Dadich, "The Facebook Effect" author David Kirkpatrick, Oprah Winfrey and many more. Much of the discussions surrounded the impact of e-readers and tablets—especially Apple’s iPad—on the magazine market. Other conversa More...

As the world begins its long slow spin from one decade to the next, the spin (or marketing) industry also is undergoing a marked transformation-from "impact" to "information." In the 20th century the focus of marketing was on advertising-specifically on making a short, sharp impression. Advertisers' print creative had to pass the three second test-imparting as much positive information as possible before a potential customer quite literally turned the page.

The Internet, of course, is different. And when the World Wide Web happened, everything in marketing *should* have changed. But it didn't, and I More...

Production departments have been among the areas most ravaged by lay-offs, and some observers say that loss of expertise leaves publishers at a disadvantage when negotiating printer contracts.

"When publishers got rid of the production manager, they got rid of people who understood contracts," publishing consultant Steve Frye tells me. "Now you have people negotiating printing contracts who are editors, art directors, publishers, who don't really know anything about what the terms should be. Many standard clauses that protected publishers from increases have been eliminated."

Frye cites paper pricing as an example. "Publishers used to buy specific paper, say Chocktaw 40 pound, and the printer would sa More...

For a lot of publishers, creating an app for Apple’s iPad is like blazing a new trail—in more ways than one. Among them is Condé Nast’s The New Yorker, which debuted its app today. While it has had a Web site for nearly a decade and a digital edition for some time now the magazine, arguably, is still most regarded for its print product. And the editors know it.

In a note to readers, the editors say they are “at once delighted and a little bewildered” by the la More...

After reading the story of how Advantage Business Media got scammed by a telemarketing firm on its qualification efforts, here are some observations:

• BPA was right two years ago to require that calls be recorded. It stands to reason that these violations would never have been discovered had the calls not been a required part of the audit record.

• BPA proved its value here, for sure. The audit bureau, faced with a perceived decline in importance as print magazines become less important in the media-company revenue mix More...

Back in June, Condé Nast said it planned to bring back the Gourmet brand as "Gourmet Live," a digital product developed in HTML5 that would be available across multiple devices and platforms. And it delivered. The innovative app for the iPad hit Apple’s iTunes store today. Chock full of stories from the magazine (which Condé closed down last fall), recipes, videos and slideshows, Gourmet Live is free and content is available without registration.

However, Condé says users need to sign in to Facebook or Twitter in order to access the app’s interactive features. It� More...

Not even Bob Dylan could have predicted the amount of upheaval among consumer magazine publishing companies this summer. Seriously, either chief executives and/or the top staffers in charge of media divisions at all the major companies have been in constant flux.

The most recent and perhaps final example came Tuesday when Paris-based Lagardere Active announced that Alain Lemarchand, who has served as CEO of Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. since June 2008, will be stepping down and that former Primedia Enthusiast Media and Source Interli More...