Just Common Sense: Mr. Magazine’s™ Ideas to Grow and Cultivate Magazine Media. A New Book with an Introduction by David Carey, President, Hearst Magazines

Today, I turn 40. That is if you believe that 60 is the new 40. It has been 51 years since the day I bought my first magazine and I can honestly say I never looked back. I have been blessed time and time again by God and family, to continue my hobby, turned education, turned profession, every single day of my life since 1962. I do not think you will find too many people who can repeat that last sentence.

But through my entire hobby-turned-career (if you can call it that) I had one, and only one, guiding principle: Just Common Sense. The principle has been validated, almost every time I give a speech, consult or teach. Folks come to me at the end of my presentations and lectures and say, “Samir that was just common sense.” My answer has always been, “and you paid me for that!”

So on my 60th birthday I decided to compile some of “the just common sense” articles and blogs in this mini coffee-table style book aptly called Just Common Sense: Mr. Magazine’s™ Ideas to Grow and Cultivate Magazine Media. I invited David Carey, president of Hearst Magazines, to write the introduction. I am glad that he accepted my invitation. His intro follows:

How many people can call themselves Mr. Magazine™ and get away with it? Exactly one: Samir Husni, who has been enthralled by the medium since his youth in Tripoli, Lebanon. Since then, he has been living, breathing and dreaming magazine media. He is a source of knowledge, inspiration and constructive criticism. All in all, there is no better cheerleader for our industry, and this collection of his essays tells the story of his passion for ink on paper.

Many in the industry fell in love with magazines early in life. In my case, it was as a teenager growing up in Long Beach, California. We share a belief in the power of truly original, engaging content that transports readers, shapes dreams and aspirations, and provides windows into faraway worlds and cultures. As a professor of journalism and director of the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi School of Journalism, Samir has taught some of the most talented editors in the business, including our own Newell Turner, editorial director of the Hearst Design Group, who, after winning House Beautiful’s first National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 2012, immediately texted his former professor to give him the good news. I imagine there’s nothing more rewarding than seeing your life’s work come to fruition in a student’s success and recognition by his peers.

Samir believes in modernity and understands print’s important place in the future of entertainment. He champions the incomparable experience of devouring a magazine full of images, information, ideas and inspiration. At the same time, he believes in the exciting opportunities that digital and mobile offer our industry, when approached in a smart, strategic way. A healthy dose of Samir’s insight and optimism is good medicine, indeed.

David Carey
President, Hearst Magazines

To order a copy of Just Common Sense click here.

A Must-Have Magazine History Book: The Magazine Century

My friend, magazine educator and colleague, David E. Sumner has just released his latest book: The Magazine Century. The book traces the history of American magazines from 1900 until 2000. I had the opportunity to review the book before it was published. It has been a long long time since I had a magazine book in my hands that I was not able to put down until I finished every single word in every single page. What a wealth and depth of the history of American Magazines in the 20th Century. When I say a must-have, I mean must-have.

Here is what I wrote in reviewing and supporting the book and its mission:

Taking a page from the legendary magazine publisher Henry Luce, who termed the twentieth century ‘The American Century.’ David E. Sumner aptly adapts his magazine history book and names it The Magazine Century. The book scans the magazines of the twentieth century and provides the reader with a carefully crafted buffet of historical nuggets — enough to engage its audience with an amazing experience that leaves them satisfied and wanting for more at the same time. The love affair with magazines that this book offers is a historical asset to anyone thinking of starting, studying, or even dreaming about launching a new magazine. It is the cornerstone of our past, from which we can live our present and better prepare for our future. A must-read for anyone who ever doubts the power of magazines and their place in our history.

To order your copy of The Magazine Century by Professor David E. Sumner, click here.

Innovation is the 2010 catch word, and Innovations in Magazines is its catch book

It seems as if the word innovation is occupying the center stage in anything “magazine-ish” these days. However, a great effort by the London based International Federation of the Periodical Press (FIPP) has resulted in the first ever compilation of examples of “how technology, out-of-the-box thinking and old-fashioned hard work are enabling innovation that is delivering new readers, revenues and relevance to magazines around the world.”

The result is the first ever Innovations in Magazines 2010 World Report, a well illustrated, 100 pages book that brings the reader an up-to-date round-up on what is going on in the world of magazine innovation world-wide. FIPP is not stranger to being on the cutting edge of what is best for the magazine industry world-wide. Chris Llewellyn, President and CEO of FIPP reminds the book readers of FIPP’s mission, “to strengthen links between magazine publishers world-wide in order to exchange knowledge, experience, and ideas.” This book is just one example of what FIPP has done and continue to do to help the periodical industry world-wide.

The range of innovative techniques and methods mentioned in this book brings the reader to a knowledge level that is required for anyone involved in the publishing industry. In fact, it almost leaves nothing to the imagination. It’s all in the book. A swift course at the fraction of the price that it will cost anyone to do all the research needed for this handy up-to-date information. Innovation in Magazines finally nullifies the definition of insanity that has been raging like a wild fire in our industry. It no longer talks about the same things time and time again and expect different results every time. The book does not talk about change or the need to change; it is “change in progress.” Grab it, read it and learn a lot from it.

As the book editors John Wilpers and Juan Señor write, “While many magazines cope with revenue and circulation losses by cutting back and retrenching, many others are countering hard times with hard work, imagination and innovation. This book highlights and celebrates this brilliance.”

A must have brilliance celebration. To order your own copy click here.

Designing Magazines: A new book and a new blog…

The blog is here and the book is coming soon. Jandos Rothstein, design director of Governing magazine and an assistant professor of graphic design at George Mason University, has launched a new blog Deisigning Magazines to accompany the launch of his new book Designing Magazines. The book will be out this coming Fall and can be ordered from now on Amazon.com. Click here to order a copy. Jandos writes in an e-mail to the contributors (I am one of 35 contributors to the book):

While the book bounces from analytical to theoretical to technical,
it’s my hope that the blog will be a bit more topical and dynamic,
which brings me to my main point, If you are interested, I would
like to invite you to consider the blog as your own. If you have any
thoughts about publication design, work of your own that you’d like
to share, or would just like to link back to new material on your own
site, any of that is appropriate for the blog as long as it has value
for the reader. Like the book, the blog can have debate and
alternative points of view, it need not have a monolithic voice.

I believe this book will be a needed addition to the magazine publishing world and to the magazine education world. There are few and far in-between good books on magazines in our country. Jandos’s book promises to be one to fill in some of that gap. I can’t wait to put my hands on a copy.

The power to HEAL and more (Hot and New this Week, take 5)

Once a week, I highlight three new magazines on my web site www.mrmagazine.com. This week the three new magazines are Heal, Laid Low and Map. Read here about these new launches. To be considered for review on my web site, please send a copy of your first issue to Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni, Department of Journalism, The University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677.

Some stats on the new mags of 2006

The latest edition of Samir Husni’s Guide to New Magazines (see cover here samir-husnis-07cover.pdf) will be out in four weeks. The book will be over 200 pages and will cover every category of new magazine launches from last year. It will have a picture of every new launch, stats about each category of new magazines from Art to Youth for the last decade, addresses and concepts for each magazine, and all the related information about frequency and price. The book this year will also include a special supplement on Launch Your Own Magazine: A Step by Step Guide to Succeeding in Today’s Marketplace, and a special section on the 30 most notable launches of the year. All at a price of $49.00. The book is published by The Nautilus publishing group.
For a little preview, here are some essential stats from the new book:
Total number new magazines: 901
Total number of pages in a new magazine: 112
Total number of ad pages in a new magazine: 14
Average cover price of a new magazine: $6.83
Average subscription price of a new magazine: $24.24
All these stats and how they compare to previous years will be in the 22nd edition of the Guide, coming soon to a bookshelf near you. Order your copy here.

Bo Sacks and The Last Magazine

My friend Bob Sacks, www.bosacks.com, has written an article/review (read it here) of yet another friend David Renard’s recent book called The Last Magazine. Bob warns at the end of his article “It’s never going to be the way it was. In fact, it’s not going to be the way it is.” Of course both Bob and David are great supporters of the e-paper future. I have no problem with that, my problem is not with the changes in the technology, but rather in the technology trying to imitate something we already have. Every day I hear that e-paper is going to look and feel like paper…but the question that I always ask, will be used in the same manner we use paper. One of the beauties of paper is that it is disposable. I can leave my newspaper on the train, on the plane, in the taxi…but I will never leave my laptop behind… well, at least I hope I will never leave my laptop behind. I am one of the early adapters of technology… I was, and still is, the one who rushes to buy the new stuff before it even celebrates its three months anniversary, but at the same time, I always appreciated the limits of the technology and the role it plays in my life. Will that change my look and love of the newspapers and magazines of today and tomorrow? Not a single bit, the joy of having multiple papers (especially from the UK) and tens of magazines all in the same room with me, still give me a high not any technological creation will ever change. Sorry folks, but I will continue to use the technology to spread the message. Remember, and remember well (Sorry Bob), don’t blame the medium if the message is not right.