The number of magazine launches is dropping, but the market for bookazines — high-priced one-shot special issues costing $10 or more — is on the rise.
That’s the observation of Samir Husni, a journalism professor at the University of Mississippi who has emerged as the dean of tracking new magazine launches and even given himself the trademarked nickname Mr. Magazine.
“I’ve never seen so many bookazines launched,” said Husni. “They are definitely replacing regularly published magazines.”
Through the first three quarters ended Sept. 30, there were a total of 591 new magazines, down slightly from the 614 in the first nine months of 2012.
But Husni noted that one-off special issues, often with cover prices in the $10 range, actually rose about 2.4 percent, to 457, compared with 446 in 2012.
The specials range from a Saturday Evening Post 50th-anniversary commemoration of the death of President John F. Kennedy to a Life special on the Beatles.
Fifteen to 20 years ago, he noted, sex magazines could be expected to dominate as the most populated launch category, and in some banner years the total number of launches would top 1,000.
But porn has largely migrated to the Web. Today the biggest categories are more niche-oriented and mostly upscale: Food is No. 1, followed by crafts and sports/leisure magazines.
For the fourth quarter, and early next year, he notices big publishers getting active again.
Bauer is launching a celebrity lifestyle weekly in November called Closer, Condé Nast recently partnered up to revive Domino, and Hearst plans to introduce the Dr. Oz Magazine.
But Husni doesn’t think the arrival of big publishers means more launches overall. He predicts the full year will be flat-to-down, compared with 2012.