The skinny on the magazine model

Ed's been putting a lot of thought lately into how the lady magazines portray women's bodies. Have you noticed how more and more of the high-end fashion titles like Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, now have coverlines that read "beautiful at any size" or "the best clothes for every body type?" Used to be that only the health mags or mags that focus on the "every girl" like Glamour had such declarations of self-love on their covers. Ed thinks this a great step forward, especially considering that young girls often grow up with these glossies. BUT when the coverlines are going in such a positive direction, why is there such little change actually inside the magazine?

For the most part, those gorgeous girls in the fall fashion features are still just that—girls. Young girls and still at least four sizes smaller than the average American woman. And don't even get Ed started on the amount of retouching that goes into covers to slim down whatever curves that month's Hollywood starlet actually does have.

Perhaps a "streamlined" cover girl does sell issues, and maybe thin models do sell clothes. (Who doesn't like to look at beautiful people?!) But do you think it's the public's own fault for buying into the skinny ideal or do you think it's up to the industry to start featuring real size women in its fashion features? What do you think, Edsters? Venting welcome!

—Ed

Did you ever doubt that you have what it takes?

Ed is confident and all, but sometimes—just like everyone—he questions his abilities. With tons of magazines and newspapers out there that he admires, he’d love to write for them all—naturally, since he’s a print (and website) junkie.

But since every title has its own tone and style, and Ed has his own style, he wonders if he’d be able to work at some prestigious titles or have enough wittiness to be funny at a certain weekly he adores.

This came about when he was having dinner with a good friend and commenting on how much he loved x magazine. The friend responded, “Why don’t you try to work there?”

Though we all know it’s not that easy to just “work there” in our industry, Ed didn’t correct his friend (who is so lucky to be in the marketing world) and looked past that snafu and onto the bigger picture: Could he work at that title?

Did he have what it takes to be funny, snarky, sarcastic, and creative on another level day in and day out? He is a funny guy if he does say so himself, but for one of the first time in years, Ed questioned himself.

Edsters, does this ever happen to you? Do you ever feel like you may not have a certain attitude, tone, or style that would fit one of your highly-admired titles?

Summer Fridays: Dead or alive?

Ah, the summer Friday. Ed remembers when he was a whippersnapper summer intern and his editor told him he was free to leave at 1 p.m. on Friday afternoons. “Wow,” Ed thought. “What a job!”

But many editors (and interns!) say it ain’t so anymore. It turns out magazines aren’t just scaling back their budgets, they’re reigning in their staffers’ summer hours too.

According to this New York Times article, Martha Stewart Living, Elle, In Style, and others have all trimmed their summer hours this year.

In a country that already complains about its scarce vacation time—especially compared to Europe—shortened summer hours gave overworked and underpaid magazine staffs a well-deserved green light to hit the beach early, and indulge in a longish weekend. It’s sad to see that go.

So, Edsters, how are summer hours at your magazine? Do you have a set number of predetermined half-days? Have the summer hour scale-backs hit your publication yet? Do you get any time off for good behavior in the summer? Ed wants to know.

Wishing you a tall lemonade and a shorter work week,
Ed

Netflix for Magazines?

Ed loves his magazines. (Recycling day usually sees Ed begging to keep ‘just one more’ back issue on the communal coffee table, and those gorgeous magazine racks at Barnes and Noble can induce euphoria.) But actual subscriptions? Ed’s allowed 5. After that, the mailbox starts to clog up, the piles overflow, and general chaos ensues. So Ed makes his picks and sucks it up. If one doesn’t work out, there’s always next year.

Then Time Inc. introduced Maghound (it officially debuts in September). Pay a flat fee each month, and pick the magazines you want. $3.95 gets you 3 titles a month, not including ‘premium’ titles. Ed’s thinking Backpacking in the summer, Ski in the winter, maybe checking out those smaller mags that catch his eye at the store. But there are some magazines he needs every month (or, ahem, every week). So maybe he’ll try a combo—subscribe regularly to some, and mix it up with 3 Maghound choices.

What do you think? Good for magazine lovers? Good for the magazine business? Good for the coffee table overload?
-Ed

Is it just Ed, or is the economy starting to hit magazines HARD?!

Not to be a downer, but Ed's gonna be honest—when all the reports came out about the current economic recession—or as Mister Bush likes to put it, a "slowdown"—he didn't really think he'd be affected all that much. Sure, maybe those suits down by Wall Street, but Ed? No way. But ever since Ed's own place of work has been cutting way back on its own magazine pages as a result of advertisers feeling the money crunch, he's been wonderin'...once they cut back on enough pages to stop the financial bloodshed, how much of the magazine will be left? And if they don't want to sacrifice content, will they start sacrificing employees like (gulp) Ed himself? After all, Ed doesn't work at any small mom and pop paper—this is a big national monthly that, well, is frankly starting to resemble more of a tabloid with its page numbers. And what about the people from recently closed Quick and Simple and Golf for Women? Did they get the ax because of already low newsstand numbers, or is the economy to blame?

Obviously, Ed's gettin' pretty nervous...but he's not losing hope yet. Please share—are you feeling the effects at your own publications?

Quick & Simple Put to Quick and Simple Death

Ed found it a bit curious when the publishers of relatively high-brow fare, such as Esquire and Harper's Bazaar, decided to venture into Bauer-land, where $1.99 supermarket buys reign supreme. But then Ed thought, "Hey, it's Hearst. They must know what they're doing." Unfortunately, not this time.

Quick & Simple's untimely shuttering and shift to exclusively online content is yet another solemn reminder that business isn't booming in print media. Ed's a little miffed that Hearst vehemently denied rumors months ago that Q&S wasn't faring well, even though the magazine's staff was denied a spot in the highly coveted tower on 57th and 8th, relegated to less stylish digs down the block. Maybe ignorance is bliss, and they were doing the staff a favor. At least they could take advantage of the airy cafeteria! Sadly, now Ed's got friends from Q&S who are all brushing up their resumes and mass e-mailing their contacts in hopes of landing another gig quickly and simply.

Ed can't help but wonder if Hearst is using the money saved from closing Q&S to help fund their soon-to-launch new food magazine, which is sure to give Everyday with Rachael Ray a run for her yum-o. Maybe they'll even attempt to entice those on Q&S's subscriber list to order the launch mag.

Whatever the case, if you run into any Q&S alums, buy 'em a drink or five.
—Ed

Fuller to Invade the Already-Full World Wide Web

If Bonnie Fuller's book last year was called "The Joys of Much Too Much," Ed can't help but wonder if the well-known magazine editor will feel the same way about attempting to carve a space in the digital world...which is reportedly her next venture. After all, there is definitely MUCH too much on the web already, especially when it comes to celebrity "news" and general women's interests.

In a nutshell, the 5850 Group is seeking to raise "tens of millions" to back Bonnie as an online brand. Her company is called Bonnie Fuller Media, is based in New York, and "will be heavily digital and offer a variety of femme-friendly products that will include, but not be limited to, gossip, fashion and romance." By the way, Ed got all this great info and quoteyquotes from an incredibly long NYT personality piece on Bonnie, which is linked above.

"Is she trying to be like Atoosa?" a fellow mag-hag asked Ed.

Ed doesn't think so. The 'Toos has her quirky Alpha Kitty brand, complete with a cult-like following, but Ed suspects Bonnie's got something big tucked up into her sleeve (other than investors!).

Thoughts? Have at it, kids.