I will admit that I enjoy reading Cosmopolitan magazine. I recently have been reading it more often because my aunt got me a subscription for Christmas. In the latest May issue, there was a reader's survey in the back about the online website. It asked things like "How often do you check the website?", "Do you check the website more than buying the magazine in the store?" and so on...
I have been noticing lately that the magazines I enjoy reading are getting thinner. I have noticed this especially in my favorite magazine I read cover to cover: Entertainment Weekley. I feel like there is less advertisements and articles and reviews are more condensed than they used to be. To me, the slimming of magazines and newspapers is a real problem. Of course it is nice to have instantaneous updates online, but there is just something about holding a magazine or newspaper in one's hands. It is real, I can flip through it, and I can tear out articles I enjoy. I can give it to someone else to read and enjoy. It is more difficult to read things online. It hurts my eyes to stare at a screen for hours at a time.
So I'm hoping my favorite magazines don't fail like many newspapers. But in today's world maybe this is going to start happening soon. I think Gutenburg is going to roll over in his grave.
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Some of my favorite magazines are cutting down too, it's frustrating. Rolling Stone, which used to be a nice coffee-table format mag, is now just a standard "Home & Garden" style magazine. Also, a recent Newsweek article had a cover that said "The Decline and Fall of Christian America," which apparently cost them hundreds of subscriptions, I think people are a little touchy about their magazines these days.
ReplyDeleteI definitely feel your pain here. I am an avid magazine reader and it makes me sad each time that I buy one of my favorites and I notice that it is slimmer than normal.
ReplyDeleteAlso, just like you, I like having the physical magazine in front of me, even though I've probably read most of its contents online in some way or another prior to buying the magazine.
I read perezhilton and tmz daily, but still buy Us Weekly and People each week and read it cover to cover. Some people find this to be strange, but I have a feeling that you are with me.
Your post made me laugh because only a girl would be so concerned about the future of Cosmo but I must admit that I am right there with you. I am also a huge magazine writer. In fact, it is the one and only thing that gets me through long hours of work during the summer especially haha.
ReplyDeleteI have noticed many magazines getting thinner and thinner by the month and it alarms me! I need them to get through long work days and to get my fill of celebrity gossip. So I just wanted to let you know that I feel your pain and hope this turns around in the near future.
I agree completely. I am a magazine junkie (Vogue, Elle and Marie Claire are my drugs of choice) and have definitely noticed an increase in advertisements and a decrease in content. I was hoping that the magazine industry would hold out longer than the newspaper industry, for many of the reasons that other people have mentioned. A big part of magazines are the pictures, and it's different to see those on a nice, glossy page instead of from your computer screen. However, most magazines play to a very specific audience, and hopefully those audiences are dedicated enough to those publications, so they'll keep subscribing.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with every other commenter here. And i must say that Cosmo is my favorite magazine and i read every months issue cover to cover. I also read People cover to cover, and I would be so sad if these magazines were to disappear. However, with the way that the economy is going and the industry it seems like only a matter of time before something changes. But I hope that that isn't for a long time and the magazines will stay and I will continue to get my magazines in the mail every week and month.
ReplyDeleteI'm right here with all of you. A few months back I noticed an issue of GQ being ridiculously thin compared to usual, and I got worried real fast. Weird thing was, though, that the next month the magazine was thicker, then the month after that thinner, then a lot thicker again. I dunno what's going on in the magazine industry, but I hope it doesn't spell doom. I don't really mind getting news online, but magazines are the one thing I need to read on the page.
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