From Media Week (RIP)
Former Chelsea football ace Ken Monkou is preparing to launch a quarterly aspirational glossy magazine in the UK called Life After Football. …[Monkou]claims launch circulation “will exceed 90,000 copies”
And Falkirk will win the Scottish Premiership.
Is it just me, or does this seem like it’s got ‘doomed’ written all over it in six foot high letters?
22-year-old to launch free glossy fashion magazine
There’s the combination of a hugely competitive market (one that needs very expensive content and production values), a small circulation and a product that’s entirely advertising funded (notwithstanding HRH’s few quid).
And I’d like to be fair and balanced and say that lots of top magazines have been launched by people with very little experience, but even so…“After completing a fashion history degree, Thomas-Ismond worked as a fashion assistant [intern]at Grazia … then became a buyer and merchandiser for Liberty.”
There must be something in the air, because on top of the previous post comes this email from ‘notlongleft’:
The BBC are going to launch a WEEKLY sports magazine and Jamie Oliver to launch a monthly magazine.
Sport’s great for attracting readers – everyone wants to read about it, which is why newspapers all have big sports sections. Unfortunately no one ever wants to advertise in sports pages, so that may present just one or two small problems for the BBC as it has for everyone else who has ever tried to launch a general UK sport title (with the exception to date of the giveaway Sport weekly). Still, buoyed by the success of Lonely Planet they’ll be able to afford to keep the thing afloat for ages.
From the Press Gazette website:
A former editor of Cambridge University’s Varsity magazine has started a quarterly publication aimed at getting young people interested in politics.
Independently published Politick has been started by University of Bristol lecturer Laura-Jane Foley, who said she has come into contact with a lot of “politically disenchanted” young people.
The 68 page magazine has an initial distribution of 30,000 and goes on sale … on 6 November for £3.99.
If it makes it to issue 2 I’ll eat my mortar board; another future corpse to add to the pile that will include Tribune, Standpoint, Total Politics, Spectator Business and, if there’s any justice, New Statesman.
There’s also this launch:
Buck launches on 30 October offering lifetyle content, fashion, furniture and food for men aged 20 to 35. [Editor Steven] Doyle was inspired to start the magazine after living in Japan, where he was a fan of popular men’s style magazine “Men’s Non-no”.
Doyle has most recently worked as an executive at accountancy giant KPMG in the City.
He is funding the magazine from his own pocket with inherited money.
Let’s hope that the inheritance lasts longer than his magazine will.
BBC to launch Lonely Planet magazine
Let’s hope that it does a wee bit better than the pevious BBC Holiday magazines, but the omens aren’t good: (more…)
