Just as Reader’s Digest announces that its US operations will be filing for bankruptcy, the British newspaper The Independent has a fascinating story about one magazine owner who seems to be getting it right in this cyber-crazy world.
The venerable magazine—which I loved to read when I was about 10 or 11—insists that employees and its various media products won’t be badly affected by the plan aimed at restructuring its debt. But it is just the latest in a series of print media to run into very stormy seas lately, so the success of Monocle and Wallpaper* is that much more surprising—and encouraging.
Winnipeg-born Tyler Brûlé is the man behind the two magazines. A journalist for the BBC and print publications, he lost the use of his left hand after being shot by a sniper in Afghanistan in 1994. During his convalescence he dreamed up Wallpaper*, a high end life style magazine that became a big success and was snapped up a few years later by Time-Warner. After staying on for a while, Brûlé left it and three years ago launched Monocle.
The magazine, based in London, sells 150,000 copies worldwide at £5 a pop. It has spun off a line of exclusive shops (one is due to open in Toronto soon) and is experimenting with a wide variety of both audio and artistic features.
Brûlé explained the magazine’s success to The Independent: “Media owners around the world are scratching their heads, asking why magazines and newspapers aren’t selling anymore. Why? Because you’ve downgraded the experience. When you are competing against digital, which can zoom in and animate? then your print experience needs to be tactile and exciting and, for magazines, a bit collectable.”
Hey, what a revolutionary thought: concentrate on quality and give your readers good material. Sure, Monocle is at the de luxe end of the publishing world, but there must be ways to translate that message down the ladder.
If print media don’t do that, they’re headed toward the fate of Reader’s Digest. (I did mention that I liked the magazine when I was just old enough to read well? It doesn't hurt to mention that again since seems to me there’s a message there, too.)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Ten was the right age to swallow its right wing politics, too. One of the more fascinating -- horrific? -- arcs in Max Eastman's autobiography was his descent from editor of The Masses to editor of Reader's Digest. Too many of us believe we must accept the flaws of the present because of the failures of others to change perfectly.
--ml
Unfortunately a lot of old lefties went right. That's one of the things I find saddest about Doris Lessing's later works--she can no longer see anything good in left win politics.
Keep the faith, Martin!
Mary
150,000 copies of Monocle are sold worldwide - over what time period? Six months? It's difficult to track down. I would take that number with a large pinch of salt.
Post a Comment