A record 75 new titles hits the newsstands in August
September 1, 2009
Talk about a hot August. I am not talking here about the weather temperature, but rather on the temperature of the new magazine launches. August ’09 surprised even the skeptics and brought a furry of launches and announcements of launches.
Earlier in the week Folio magazine reported on the increase of the pulse of companies bringing new titles. Today, the early statistics of August 09 show that there were a total of 75 titles launched, almost double the 43 ones in August 08 and even higher than August 07 with 61 new titles.
The August numbers include 17 titles with a frequency of four times or more, 2 annuals and 56 specials, including the Newsweek special edition on sale for $9.99 on the late senator Ted Kennedy.
Some of the noted August magazine launches are pictured above and include Afar, Clash, Photoshop Retouch, Green Craft, Wednesday Comics and Prosper.
I have noticed with interest all the news about the decline in newsstands sales for the ABC audited magazines, however, in almost all the reports no one stopped and checked the figures analyzed by John Harrington in his The New Single Copy newsletter that shows that we are still selling more than 23 million magazines every week on the nation’s newsstands. So, we are down by 2 million copies or so. What is the big deal? Can you name any other industry that has not suffered under the current economic climate that we are all witnessing? Why is it that a decline in magazine sales from a previous six month period always means the doom and gloom and demise of an industry, while a decline in attendance for a football or baseball game after few losses does not indicate the end of football or baseball?
I hope you will enjoy any or all of the 75 new titles of August and you will be willing and able to spend more than $800.00 on these titles, if for nothing else but to keep the prophets of doom and gloom and the media pundits at bay and keep our industry up and running.
Mr. Magazine 
I guess it just doesn’t pack enough drama into the headlines to report good news. I guess it’s for the same reason that Obituaries are a more popular newspaper section than announcements of birth or marriages.
Print has immense value. Kudos to these publishers for having the clarity to see that, despite the negative noise surrounding them.
Titles keep coming out but publishers are running on skeletal staffs. As a victim of magazine industry layoffs, print is dead to me personally as far as continuing a career in it.
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Observer, magazine readership is up especially in the 18-49 demo. Quality, niche market magazines still deliver valuable content and excellent advertiser impact and benefits.
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A comics magazine? I like comic books but don’t think there’s a market for such a magazine
Sadly, so many of these titles seemed doomed in any economy; another photoshop mag? another travel mag? Please people, the internet isn’t killing mags, lack of ideas is killing mags…