Hard Times at Conde Nast

We were out to dinner last weekend with some friends and the topic turned to magazines and newspapers. We compared subscriptions and were delighted to learn we were not the only ones still reading an enormous number of newspapers in print, on a daily basis. When it came to magazines, however, it seems that our habits are sadly reflective of many others. I admitted we were down to one or two subscription magazines--from the days of yesteryear when it seemed like we received and read at least a magazine a week. They were too.

I tell you this because on Monday, the venerable Conde Nast announced its plans to halt publication of Gourmet, Cookie, Modern Bride and Elegant Bride, news that reverberated throughout the publishing community like a lead balloon. Certainly writers across the country will be impacted by this decision.

To be fair, two out of those four publications covered niches that could have probably been served by the other two, but it is never pleasant to hear of any publication closing its doors, whatever its circulation.

Gourmet's editor, Ruth Reichl, is something of a cult figure in the foodie world, as is the magazine, so it was no surprise to learn that they are maintaining their imprint on the web, in book publishing and on television. In other words, ad sales for the magazine just couldn't cut it.

No surprise there. Pick up any issue of any magazine and you'll find you can flip through it in about ten minutes. Time magazine, with its redesigned format, does not even beg to be purchased: you can literally read it while standing at the magazine kiosk in the airport. And yes, ad sales are too blame.

It is also the continual debate about who reads magazines anyway? Practically everything they contain can be found on line, for free. And if we, subscribers to three daily newspapers, have let our other print subscriptions slide, that must be telling you something.

There are those that believe a shift in the economy and habits of consumption is the perfect time to break into the market. Perhaps so, but my guess is that for magazines, the niches are probably growing smaller and smaller and one that does not rely on dated content--rather content that is "timeless"--just might make it.

In the meantime, four more printed records of consumer behavior bite the dust.....