When Magazines Die

Peter Rukavina

As I derive a substantial part of my income working with magazines and periodicals, I take more than a passing interest in the health of the magazine publishing world.

And so I was saddened to hear of the death of Talk magazine. Although I wasn’t a regular reader, I did enjoy the magazine from afar, especially in its wacky early days when it tried to emulate a European magazine in style and format. Talk will be missed.

As for what happens to good magazines when they die, witness the Saturday Night magazine website today:

Saturday Night Website

Not a pretty site. Although certainly truthful: ceci n’est pas une site web.

Comments

Submitted by Alan on

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I am amazed how, in my daily life, magazines have not gone the way of newspapers due to the internet. We do not have a subscription to any newspaper as I can find all I need at canada.com, canoe.ca, bbc.uk.com. I do however get an increasing number of magazines in the mail monthly at work and home which I rely upon - especially along with the seed catalogues in winter - to keep up with particular interests:

Canadian Geographic - gets better and better.

National Geographic - MAPS!

Rural Delivery - a fantastic monthly out of Liverpool NS on rural life.

Brew Your Own - small quality New Hampshire homebrewers publication.

Canadian Living - what are overworked Etobicokans are having for dinner?

Chirp - toddlers version of “Owl”.

Chatelaine - shared from mom.

Vintages - you can dream of a day that the LCBO will be nationwide.

NetLife - somewhat imposed but not unuseful.

Tidings - U. of Kings College alumni mag.

Adbusters

Harvard Management Update

Lexpert

about three more legal profession mags.

The Northern Star - North Rustico monthly paper but really a gossip magazine.

I also pick-up from the newstand at different degrees of regularity:

New Yorker

Architectural Digest

Wallpaper

Shambala Sun

The Buzz

Canadian Gardening

Wired

Fast Company

Zymergy - [what I actually say when you think you hear I am supporting “more synergy”.]

Magazines I’s like to subscribe to:

Spiderman

Index on Censorship

New Yorker

Hockey News

Mags I have stopped getting:

Martha Stewart - trendy (1994), encyclopedic (1995-1997), obsessive (1998), just plain weird (since). I gave it the boot.

Harrowsmith - content quality went south when bought by large publisher. Also booted.

New Maritimes - sadly defunct leftist policy discussion publication. Greatly missed.

Observation - only one mag I really like has disappeared in a decade.

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Photo of Peter RukavinaI am . I am a writer, letterpress printer, and a curious person.

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