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Images from:  http://www.inkart.com/pages/entertain/Gutenberg_2.html

 

           

 

                                                                         "It's a press, certainly, but a press from which shall flow in inexhaustible streams, the most abundant and most marvelous liquor that has ever flowed to relieve the thirst of men! Through it, God will spread His Word. A spring of truth shall flow from it: like a new star it shall scatter the darkness of ignorance, and cause a light heretofore unknown to shine amongst men." -Johannes Gutenberg [1]

 

     “Johannes Gutenberg is known for the invention of the Gutenberg press… He invented the printing press with replaceable/movable wooden or metal letters in 1436 (completed by 1440)… This method of printing can be credited not only for a revolution in the production of books, but also for fostering rapid development in the sciences, arts and religion through the transmission of texts.” (Inventors)

 

     The Gutenberg printing press led the way for a revolution in the world of literacy. The printing press gave the masses books, and because books were so readily available, the need for literacy became more pertinent and important. Thus, with the increase in the number of books, came a substantial increase in literacy rates. 

 

     “Books had been costly and education rare; only the clergy had been regular readers and owners of books. Most books had been written in Latin, considered the language of scholarship. In the Renaissance, the educated middle classes, who could now afford books, demanded works in their own languages. Furthermore, readers wanted a greater variety of books. Almanacs, travel books, chivalry romances and poetry were all published at this time.” (Learner)

 

For more specific information on the development and effects of the Gutenberg Press, please visit the following link: Gutenberg Printing Press

                                                                                                                                                      Credit to the MASS COMM Book Industry Group

 

NEEDS CITATION

 

Why this is important? The Gutenberg Printing Press laid the foundation for print mass media including books, newspapers and magazines. 

 

 

THE EARLY HISTORY OF MAGAZINES

 

The Emergence Phase

     The story: During the Magazine Industry's emergence, or novelty phase, there was an intended market of wealthy, educated, noble people. The emergence of this form of mass media was the answer to delivering selective content to a specific upper class audience.  It was a combination of two of the earliest forms of mass media: newspapers and books. It was newspaper content in the form of books.

 

                                                                                                     

 

 Erbauliche Monaths Unterredungen                         The Ladies Mercury                                                The Review                                                     The Gentleman's Magazine

 

Highlights of the Emergence Phase

     The emergence phase began in Germany in 1663 with periodicals called "Erbauliche Monaths Unterredungen". Periodicals were publications that resemble today's magazines, but with a different approach. With literal and philosophical topics mainly created by one author targeted to an intellectual audience. The concept of periodicals spread throughout Europe.  In 1693, the first woman-targeted periodical, "The Ladies Mercury ", was released in London. Also, in 1704, "The Review" was created and edited by political activist and novelist Daniel Defoe. In 1731 the name 'magazine' appeared in London to describe the periodicals. "The Gentleman's Magazine" created by Edward Cave, being the first of the general interest magazines. At that time, "magazines" were closer more like pamphlets in the form of bookseller catalogs. 

 

The Term 'Magazine' 

     The origin of the word magazine causes controversy for historians. Some sources identify the word magazine as a stem from the French term "magasin" which translates to "storehouse." Other sources think magazine came from the Arabic word "makhzan" which means, "the warehouse." Both words are very similar and capture what a magazine is so really, both are correct. A "storehouse" is a place or building in which goods are stored, which is also known as a warehouse. This term can also be related to an abundant source or supply of knowledge. Magazines were some of the earliest forms of visual storytelling. 

 

     Magazines originally had little or no original content within their pages. They usually appeared monthly or bimonthly at best. They included content such as poetry, politics and philosophy, and were oriented to a broad domestic and political commentary rather than recent news. They appeared as small "pamphlets" and began publishing original work in 1731 by writers Daniel Defoe, Samuel Johnson, and Alexander Pope. Magazines have substantially more liberty than other forms of mass media to participate in democratic discussion and debate. Magazines were not very successful at that time because literacy rates were low, making it difficult to mass produce. Adding to the issue of mass production were the high costs of printing and lack of efficient transportation.

 

Flynn, Christopher. "Daniel Defoe." Defoes Review RSS. St. Edward's University, n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2014. <http://www.defoereview.org/?page_id=6>

Nikola. "History of the Magazines." Magazine Designing. Magazine Designing, 26 Mar. 2013. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.

<http://www.magazinedesigning.com/history-of-the-magazines/>

Biazao, Rafael. "As 10 Primeiras Revistas Do Mundo Com Circulação Superior a 300 Mil Exemplares." AGÊNCIA GERAÇÃOY. N.p., 21 May 2010. Web. 06 Mar. 2014.<http://agenciageracaoy.blogspot.com/2010/05/as-10-primeiras-revistas-do-mundo-com.html>

                                        

  

MAGAZINES IN COLONIAL AMERICA 

 

      The Story: American magazines were originally just regurgitation of British news.

                             

                        (wikipedia)                                                                                               (wikipedia) 

      The First Colonial Magazine appeared in Philadelphia in 1741, about 50 years after the first newspapers. Andrew Bradford's American Magazine was the first magazine in colonial America and provided a monthly review of the political state of the British Colonies. Bradford's magazine lasted for only three monthly issues, due to circulation and postal obstacles that Benjamin Franklin, who had replaced Bradford as Philadelphia's postmaster, put in its way. Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine and Historical Chronicle appeared shortly after Andrew Bradford's magazine. Franklin mailed his magazine without paying the high postal rates that he subsequently charged others for. Franklin's magazine primarily duplicated what was already available in local papers. After about six months, its publication also stopped. The most successful magazines were reprinted from London Periodicals, Independent Reflector and Pennsylvania magazine. However, magazines developed slowly in colonial America due to lack of a substantial middle class, let alone a literate one, and technology for printing just wasn't advanced enough.

 

     With the ratification of the First Amendment in 1791, guaranteeing freedom of the press, Congress fixed postal rates in 1792. Also, a revision two years later lowered rates on magazines, but production and distribution costs remained high and magazines were still a luxury for the privileged, literate, elite class. A circulation of 500 copies would have been considered high.

 

"Magazine Publishing History." AAMP. AAMP | The Association of Audience Marketing Professionals, n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. <http://audiencemarketing.org/magazine-publishing-history.asp>

 

 

 

U.S. MAGAZINES IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

 

The Entrepreneurial Stage

     The next stage of the Magazine Industry is the Entrepreneurial stage, where the major players of the emerging period begin looking for a practical and marketable use for the magazine. This stage takes place during the 1800's because of major events such as _________ . This Era also marked the rise of General Interest Magazines in the magazine industry. General Interest magazines were the most innovative idea of the nineteenth century due to the unprecedented business models that accompanied them. This mass medium of content was beginning to rise with the introduction of national, women's, and middle class magazines. With that, new ideas began to redesign the purpose of a magazine, its audience, and ultimately its content. Throughout the nineteenth century, the magazine industry developed itself through the power of high and low culture structures in our society, targeting people of all different walks of life through the now various, interest-driven magazines.

 

Saturday evening post 1903 11 28 a.jpg                                                  North American Review - 1st issue - William Tudor's copy.gif                                                 American Journal of Mathematics (front cover).jpg

                  (wikipedia)                                                                                              (wikipedia)                                                                           (wikipedia)

 

     The growth of the magazine industry in the newly independent United States remained slow while delivery costs remained high. Some postal carriers refused to even carry magazines because of their extensive weight. Because of these issues, there were only roughly twelve magazines operating in 1800. By 1835, there were 100 active magazine, but nearly 500 had failed to make it in that time frame. During the first quarter of the 19th century, most communities had their own weekly magazine in local circulation, focusing on local issues. They also touched on government activities, and political intrigue, as well as the usual reprinted material from other sources. Some magazines were dabbling in advertising to help pay for the financial strains prevalent due to slim circulation. As the 19th century progressed, categories and specification of magazine audiences increased and the idea of specialized magazines devoted to particular categories of reader's developed. 

     Many early magazines were overtly religious and boasted the largest readerships of the day. For example, the Methodist Christian Journal and Advocate claimed twenty-five thousand subscribers by 1826. Literary magazines also emerged at this time.  The North American Review established the important work of important writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Mark Twain. Specialty magazines addressed various professions, lifestyles and topics also appeared. Some of these magazines included The American Farmer, The American Journal of Mathematics, The American Law Journal, Medical Respiratory, and the American Journal of Science. This type of specialization spawned the modern trend of reaching readers who share a profession, a set of beliefs, cultural tastes or social identity.

 

 
 
The Beginning of General Interest Magazines 

 

     The Story: The rise general interest magazines was one of the most important developments in the magazine industry. The notion of reaching a broad audience with the intention of controlling the majority of the market stood out as the first major general interest mass medium in 1821. The Saturday Evening Post was the longest-running magazines in U.S History and was one of the earliest examples of what a general interest magazine could accomplish

       The first General Interest magazine began in 1821, targeting a national audience. In 1821, two young Philadelphia printers, Charles Alexander and Samuel Coate Atkinson, launched the Saturday Evening Post, which became the longest-running magazine in U.S History. Similar to other magazines, the Saturday Evening Post included a few original essays but "borrowed" many pieces from other sources. However, the Post grew to incorporate news, poetry, essays, play reviews and more. The Post published the writings of such prominent authors as Nathaniel Hawthorne and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Although the Post was a general interest magazine, it also was the first major magazine to appeal directly to women, via its "Lady's Friend" column, which addressed women's issues.  

 

For more information about the Saturday Evening Post click the link: Saturday Evening Post

 

     Why is this important? General interest magazines are important because they set the foundation for the one of the earliest and most organized business models of the magazine industry. The idea behind what a general interest magazine is    

 

Women's Magazines are Born -1825

 

     The story: Shortly after the release of general interest magazines, women's magazines began to rise significantly. Exclusive Women's Magazines began to circulate in the Magazine Industry. With increases in literacy and public education, the development of faster printing technologies, and improvements in mail delivery, a market was created for more national magazines like the Saturday Evening Post. Whereas in 1825 one hundred magazines struggled for survival, by 1850 nearly 600 magazines were being published regularly. (Thousands of others lasted less than a year.) In 1828, Sarah Josepha Hale started the first magazine directed exclusively to a female audience: the Ladies' Magazine.  In addition to general-interest articles, the magazine advocated for women's education, work, and property rights. After about nine years and marginal success, Hale merged her magazine with its main rival, Godey's Lady's Book (1830-1898), which she edited for the next forty years. 

     By 1850, Godey's, which was known for its colorful fashion illustrations in addition to its advocacy, achieved a circulation of 40,000 copies - at the time, the largest distribution ever for a U.S magazine. By 1860, circulation swelled to 150,000. Hale's magazine played a central role in educating working- and middle-class women, who were denied access to higher education throughout the 19th Century.  

 

The Arrival of Illustrations in Magazines:

 

     The story: Another significant addition to the magazine industry is the arrival of illustrations.

 

  • It Began during the mid-nineteenth century

  • Early magazines relied on the printed word. However, drawings, engravings, woodcuts, and other forms of illustration had become a major feature of magazines. During this time, Godey's Lady's Magazine employed up to 150 women to color-tint its magazine illustrations and stencil drawings by hand. 

  • Harper's New Monthly Magazine, founded in 1850, offered extensive woodcut illustrations with each issue. During the Civil War, many readers relied on Harper's for its elaborate battlefield sketches. 

  • Publications using visual language to add to the printed word began to help transform magazines into a mass medium.

  • Bringing photographs in magazines took a bit longer. Matthew Brady and his colleagues, whose thirty-five hundred photos documented the Civil War, helped to popularize photography by the 1860's. 

  • It wasn't until the 1890's 'til magazines and newspapers obtained the technology to produce photos in print media.

  • Photojournalism bit here 

    • For more information on photojournalism click here Photojournalism  

     

     

    Why is this important?  

     

     

     

    U.S. MAGAZINES IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

     

    The next stage of the magazine industry blurb

     

     

     

     

     

    THE MOVE FROM TECHNOLOGY TO BUSINESS 

    The Development of Modern American Magazines

     

    The story: As the magazine industry progresses in to the twentieth Century...

     

  • In 1870, about 1200 magazines were being produced in the United Stats; by 1890, that number reached forty-five hundred; and by 1905, more than six thousand magazines existed. 

  • Part of this surge in magazine titles and readership was facilitated by the Postal Act of 1879, which assigned magazines lower postage rates and put them on an equal footing with newspapers delivered by mail, reducing distribution costs. 

  • Advances in mass-production printing, conveyor systems, assembly lines, and faster presses reduced production costs and made large-circulation national magazines possible. 

  • The combination of reduced distribution and production costs enabled publishers to slash magazine prices. As prices dropped from thirty-five cents to fifteen and then to ten-cents, the working class was gradually able to purchase national publications. By 1905 there were about 25 national magazines, available coast to coast and serving millions of readers.

  • Jobs and the population began shifting from farms and small towns to urban areas, magazines helped readers imagine themselves as apart of a nation rather than as individuals with only local or regional identities.

  • The dramatic growth of drugstores and dime stores, supermarkets, and departure stores offered new venues and shelf space for selling consumer goods, including magazines. 

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    Why is this important?

     

     

     

    The power of advertising in the magazine industry

     

    The story: As the magazine industry skyrocketed, as did the demand for advertising...

     

  • Magazine circulation began to skyrocket and advertising revenue rose significantly along with this shift in the Magazine Industry's success. The economics behind the rise of advertising was simple: A magazine publisher could dramatically expand circulation by dropping the price of an issue below the actual production cost for a single copy. 

  • The publisher would then recoup the loss through ad revenue, guaranteeing large readership to advertisers who were willing to pay to reach more readers. The number of ad pages in magazines grew exponentially. 

  • Advertisers continually and increasingly used national magazines to capture consumers' attention to build a national market place in the turn of the century. Magazines began using a broader scope to reflect various audiences that assisted in creating the magazine industry and ultimately the development of Modern American Magazines. 

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    Why is this important?

     

    Social Reform and The Muckrakers

     

    The story:

     

     

     

                               Lincoln Steffens                                     

              Muckraking magazine                                                      Lincoln Steffen's                                                                 Theodore Roosevelt

                       (wikipedia)                                                                (wikipedia)                                                                              (wikipedia)

     

  • The Magazine Industry begins to reshape their content to maintain sales. 

  • In the 1890's magazines began to incorporate more original content such as providing more fictional and essays of popular writers of the day. Major publishers also included content relating to yellow journalism which would crusade for social reform on behalf of the public good to help maintain their emerging form of mass media. 

  • The Rise in Magazine Circulation's Connection with Social Change in the Early 1900's. 

  • Many Americans at this time were moving from the country to the city in search of industrial employment, and millions of immigrants made their way in as well.  The nation that journalists had long written about had grown increasingly complex by the turn of the Century. Many newspaper reporters became dissatisfied with the simplistic and conventional sides of newspaper journalism and turned to magazines for answers. Thus they were able to write at greater length and depth about broader issues such as corruption in big business and government, urban problems faced by citizens and immigrants alike, labor conflicts and race relations. 

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    Why is this important?

     

     

     

     

    Investigative Reporting

     

    The story:

     

  • McClure's Magazine and the Breakthrough of Investigative Reporting in 1902. 

  • Probing stories such as Ida Tarbell's "The History of the Standard Oil Company," which took on John D. Rockefeller's oil monopoly. Lincoln Steffen's "Shame of the Cities," which tackled urban problems in the industrial age. 

  • The new reporting style was critical of many American institutions. So much that, Theodore Roosevelt dubbed these investigative reporters "Muckrackers," because they were willing to crawl through society's muck to uncover a story. 

  • Muckraking was a label that Roosevelt used with disdain, but it was worn with pride by reporters such as Ray Stannard Baker, Frank Norris, and Lincoln Steffens.  

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    Why is this important?

     

     

     

    The Magazine Industry Creates Social Change 

     

    The story:

     

  • The Magazine's Role in passing the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act, The Jungle. A fictional account of Chicago's meatpacking industry by the muckraking reports of Collier's and LHJ. 

  •  In 1906, Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act. Other reforms stemming from muckraking journalism and the politics of the era including anti-trust laws for increased government oversight of business, a fair and progressive income tax, and the direct election of U.S senators.   

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    Why is this important?  

     

    THE MOVE FROM A NEW

     

     TECHNOLOGY TO THE MASS MEDIA

     

    The story:

     

    The Fall of General Interest Magazines:

  • The mass epoch of muckraking lasted in to the mid 1910s, when America was drawn in to World War I. After the war and through the 1950's, General Interest Magazines were the most prominent publications, offering occasional investigative articles but also covering a wide variety of topics aimed at a broad national audience.   

  • A key aspect of these magazines was photojournalism - (the use of photos to document the rhythms of daily life). Such high quality photos gave general-interest magazines a visual advantage over mass media's channel of radio, which was the most popular medium of the day.

  • In 1920, about 55 magazines fit in to the general-interest category; by 1946 more than 100 such magazines competed with radio networks for the national audience. 

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     Why is this important?

    The story:

     

    THE EMERGENCE OF COMPETITION

    HOW TELEVISION IMPACTED THE MAGAZINE INDUSTRY

     

    The story: 

     

  • Television provides more options to advertisers  other than pictures and words, now with also audio-visual content.

  • New magazines adapted to televisions are created such as TV Guide. 

  • Supermarket tabloids become more popular due to being based on famous people coming from TV.

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    Why is this important?  

     

     

    HOW THE INTERNET IMPACTED THE MAGAZINE INDUSTRY

     

    The story:

     

  • Convergence: Magazines Confront the Digital Age  
  • Magazines Move Online 
  • Paperless: Magazines Begin to Embrace Digital Content 

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    The Magazine Industry moves into the Era of Specialization

    Long before the arrival of motion pictures or cable television, magazines were the first medium to bring visuals to the masses, and the first to segment the masses into groups of various interests and demographics. Early magazines used engravings and illustrations to visualize life; later, magazines of the twentieth century used photographs to disseminate some of the most iconic images of modern times. Although some of the largest magazines once targeted a large general-interest audience, most magazines succeeded by creating content for a specific audience based off of culture, race, gender, personalities, hobbies, interests, work, and more.

     

    The Domination of Specialization

     

    The story: 

     

     

  •  The general trend away from mass market publications and toward specialty magazines coincided with radio's move to specialized formats in the 1950's. With the rise of television, magazines ultimately reacted the same way radio and movies did: They adapted. 
  • Magazines traded their mass audiences for smaller, discrete audiences that could be guaranteed to advertisers.

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    Why is this important?  

     

    Men's and Women's Magazines

     

    The Story: 

     

    One way the magazine industry competed with television was to reach niche audiences that were not being served by the new medium, creating magazines focused on more adult subject matter. 

     

    Magazine Industry- Playboy  

     

     

     

  • Women's magazines ad long demonstrated that gender-based magazines were highly marketable, but during the era of specialization the magazine industry aggressively sought the enormous market of magazine-reading women even more.
  • Magazines such as Better Homes and Gardens, Good Housekeeping, Ladies' Home Journal, and Women's Day focused on cultivating the image of women as homemakers and consumers. In the early 1950s and 1960s this proved to be very successful.  
  • However, the women's advancement in the 1970s caused magazines to become more contemporary and sophisticated, incorporating content related to feminism, women's sexuality, and career and politics (topics that were originally geared primarily towards men). 

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    Magazine Industry- Good Housekeeping

     

    Magazine Industry- Cosmo

     

      (Photo Credit to The Guardian)

     Helen Gurley Brown was an influential figure in the magazine industry because she created dissonance, she changed the way the world works and transformed Cosmo magazine into something new and spectacular and controversial, which allowed the magazine to not only stay in business, but flourish and stay in business for over fifty more years and counting. She was bold and “outspoken when speaking up was not a lady-like thing to do.” She changed not only the world of magazines, but women’s social standings and behaviors as well. She was a controversial figure that created a reaction in the world that caused people to be curious and buy the magazine. Today its contents are socially acceptable, but the popularity of the magazine is still very much there. She saved the magazine and helped lead women into wanting a change and wanting a cultural revolution. Her legacy is debated because she preached feminism but concentrated on vanity and sex. She was a powerful force in the industry and will be remembered as such, whether in a positive or negative light.

    She was the editor of Cosmopolitan magazine for roughly 50 years. She was a feminist with a progressive and also retrogressive approach to women’s social roles. She fought for women’s liberation but with a strong focus on sex. She is the author of “Sex and the Single Girl” and transformed Cosmopolitan magazine from its original form as a house wife magazine into one that empowers women and encourages them to be free and not be ashamed of sex and being strong and independent. Source:  Grinberg, Emanuella. "Helen Gurley Brown's Complicated Feminist Legacy." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 06 Mar. 2014.

     

     

     

    Sports, Entertainment, and Leisure Magazines.

     


    In the age of specialization, magazine executives have developed multiple magazines for fans of soap operas, running, tennis, golf, hunting, quilting, surfing, and video games only to name a few.     The most popular sports and leisure magazine is Sports Illustrated, which took its name from a failed 1935 publication.

  • Launched in 1954 by Henry Luce's Time INC., Sports Illustrated was initially aimed at well-educated, middle class men. It has become the most successful general sports magazine in history, covering everything from major league sports and mountain climbing to fox hunting and snorkeling. Although it was frequently criticized for its immensely profitable but highly exploitative yearly swimsuit edition. 
  • Another popular magazine type that loosely fits in to the leisure category includes magazines devoted to music- everything from hip-hop's The Source to country's Country Weekly. The all time circulation champ in this category is Rolling Stone, started in 1967 as an irreverent, left wing political and cultural magazine by twenty-one-year -old Jan Wenner. By 1982 the Rolling Stone had paddled into the mainstream with a circulation approaching 800,000.

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    Magazine Industry - National Geographic

     

    Magazine Industry- Sports Illustrated

     

    Magazine Industry- Life

     

    Magazine Industry- Time

     

    Magazine Industry- Rolling Stone

     

     

    Magazines for the Ages.

     

  • Highlights.jpgMagazines have further delineated readers along ever-narrowing age lines, appealing more and more to very young and to older readers, groups often ignored by mainstream television. 
  • The first children's magazines appeared in New England in the late 1700s. Ever since, magazines such as Youth's Companion, Boy's Life, Highlights for Children, and Ranger Rick have successfully targeted pre-school and elementary-school children.  

    •  

  • Targeting young men in their twenties, Maxim, was launched in 1997, was one of the fastest-growing magazines of the late 1990's, leveling off with a circulation of 2.5 million by 2005. Magazine obsessions with sex, sports, beer, gadgets, clothes, fitness and other related content helped it eclipse rivals GQ and Esquire. 

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  • In targeting audiences by age, the most dramatic success has come from magazines aimed at readers over age fifty, America's fastest growing age-segment. These publications have tried to meet the cultural interests of older Americans, who historically have not been prominently featured in mainstream consumer culture. The American Association of Retired Persons created the AARP Magazine which was found in 1958 by retired California teacher, Ethel Percy Andrus. In the 1980s the success of the magazines circulation approached 7 million people. Including topics such as lifestyle, travel, money, health, entertainment issue, sex at age 50 plus, secrets for spectacular vacations and how poker can give you a sharper mind. 

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    Magazine Industry- Highlights

     

    Magazine Industry- AARP

     

     

     

                                            (wikipedia)  

    Original New Yorker cover.png

     

    Elite Magazines.

  • Although long in existence, elite magazines grew in popularity during the age of specialization. Elite magazines are characterized by their combination of literature, criticism, humor, and journalism and by their appeal to highly educated audiences, often living in urban areas. 
  • The most widely circulated elite magazine is the New Yorker which was launched in 1925 by Harold Ross. The New Yorker became the first city magazine aimed at a national upscale audience.  It introduced some of the finest literary journalism of the twentieth century, devoting an issue to John Hersey's Hiroshima and serializing Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. By the mid 1950's the New Yorkers circulation hovered around 500,000. 

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    Magazine Industry- New Yorker

     

    Magazine Industry- Reader's Digest

     

      

     

    Minority-Targeted Magazines.

  • Advocate-Issue994.jpgMinority-targeted-magazines, like newspapers have existed since before the civil war, including the African American antislavery magazines Emancipator, Liberator, and Reformer. The major 
  • magazine 
    publisher for African Americans has been John H. Johnson, a former Chicago insurance salesman, who started Negro Digest in 1942 on $500 borrowed against his mother's furniture. By 1945,  the magazine received success with a circulation of more than 100,00. 
  • Negro Digest's profits enabled Johnson and a small group of editors to publish Ebony, a picture-text modeled on Life but serving black readers. The Johnson publishing Company also successfully introduced Jet, a pocket-size supermarket magazine in 1951. Essence, the first major magazine geared toward African American women, debuted in 1969. 
  • The Advocate, founded in 1967 started out as a twelve page newsletter and was the first major magazine to address issues of interest to gay men and lesbians, and it has in ensuing years published some of the best journalism about antigay violence, policy issues affecting the LGBT community, and AIDS - topics often not well covered by the mainstream press. Out is the top gay style magazine. Both are owned by Here Media, which also owns Here Networks and several LGBT web sites. 

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  • Along with the increase in hispanic populations and immigration magazines appealing to Spanish-speaking readers have developed rapidly since the 1980s.  The bilingual Latina magazine was started with the help of Essence Communications in 1996, while recent magazine launches including ESPN deportes and Sports Illustrated in Espanol. 

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  • Although national magazines aimed at other minority groups were slow to arrive, there are magazines now that target virtually every race, culture, and ethnicity.

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    Magazine Industry- African American Magazines

     

    Magazine Industry- Latina Magazines

     

    Magazine Industry- LGBT Magazines

     

    Supermarket Tabloids.

  • National Enquirer (cover).jpgSupermarket Tabloids push the limits of both decency and credibility in the magazine industry. Even though they are published on newsprint, the Audit Bureau of circulations, which checks newspaper and magazine circulation figures to determine advertising rates, counts weekly tabloids as magazines. Tabloid history can be traced to any newspapers' use of graphics and pictorial layout.  

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  • The National Enquirer was created by William Randolph Hearst in 1926 and struggled so much that it was purchased in 1952 by Generoso Pope, who originally intended to use it to "fight for the rights of man"and "human decency and dignity. Pope settled on the "Gore formula" stating that "I noticed how auto accidents drew crowds and I decided that if it was blood that interested people, I'd give it to them. By the early 1960s the circulation for The National Enquirer was at 7,000. 
  •  
  •  By the mid 1960's, the National Enquirer's circulation had jumped over one million through the publication of bizarre human-interest stories, gruesome murder tales, violent accident accounts, unexplained phenomena stories, and malicious celebrity gossip. By 1974, the magazine's weekly circulation had topped 4 million. 

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    Magazine Industry- National Enquirer

     

    Magazine Industry- Globe

     

     

     

     

     

    (wikipedia) 

    First issue of the Reader's Digest, February 1922.pngReader's Digest.

  • The most widely circulated general-interest magazine during this period was Reader's Digest. Started in a Greenwich Village basement in 1922 by Dewitt Wallace and Lila Acheson Wallace. The magazine was able to champion one of the earliest abilities of the industry: printing condensed versions of selected articles from other magazines. In the magazine's early years, the publishers refused to accept ads and sold the Digest only through subscriptions. 

  • With its inexpensive production costs, low price, and popular pocket sized format, the magazine's circulation climbed to over a million during the Great Depression, and by 1946 it was the nation's most popular magazine. By the 1980s, it was the most popular magazine in the world with a circulation of twenty million in America and ten-twelve million abroad.  

    •  

     

     

     

    (wikipedia) 

     

    Henry R. Luce

     

    Henry Luce, considered one of the most innovative and powerful mass communicator in the history of mass media, had some major impacts in the magazine industry with the creation of many well known magazines, such as Time and Life. He was six feet tall, blue eyes, bushy eyebrows and was very energetic yet always known to have a serious face on. His early career Luce and his partners raised 86 thousand dollars to start their first magazine Time, in 1923, which soon enough with the creation of other magazines he reached up to 45 million dollars. 

    Superman considered the most influential character ever created in comic books 

    Henry R. Luce was not just the owner of some of the most popular magazines in United States, but also had many achievements in the magazine industry. During the late 1930's Henry and his partners created Time, providing a "more gripping and coherent view of the world than was to be found in similar periodicals and daily newspapers." During the 1940's, Henry Luce created Life, a introduction for the readers to photojournalism, where pictured were used to make a summary of the week and causing major impact in society. In his magazines, Henry Luce always tried to show a more contradictory point of view, getting involved in politics and demonstrating his point of view without boundaries. When summarizing the news in words and pictures through Life and Time got old and started to decline, Henry decided to expand the reaches of his magazines and allow room for science, politics, art etc. This was quickly adopted but not only other magazines but by other types of media such as radio, TV and newspaper.

    Henry Luce was a very important and very famous men in the 1930’s till his death, and will be remembered forever as one of the most influential and important names of the magazine industry.

     

    Baughman, James L. "Henry R. Luce and the Rise of the American News Media." PBS. PBS, 28 Apr. 2004. Web. 02 Feb. 2014. <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/henry-luce/henry-r-luce-and-the-rise-of-the-american-news-media/650/>

     

    Time.

     

  • During the general-interest era, national newsmagazines such as Time were also major commercial successes. Begun in 1923 by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden, Time magazine developed a magazine brand of interpretive journalism - (assigning reporter-researcher teams to cover stories while a rewrite editor would put the article in narrative form with an interpretive point of view. 

  • Time had a circulation of 200,000 by 1930 and increased to over 3 million by the mid-1960's. The magazine's success encouraged prominent imitators including Newsweek (1933- ), U.S News and World Report (1948- ) and more recently the Week (2001- )

    •  

    Life.                              Magazine Industry - Life

  • Despite the commercial success of Reader's Digest and Time in the 20th Century, the magazine that really symbolized the general-interest genre during this era were the oversized pictorial weeklies Look and Life. More than any other magazine of its day, Life developed an effective strategy for competing with popular radio by advancing photojournalism. Launched as a weekly by Henry Luce in 1936, Life was able to combine the public's fascination with images (incorporated by the movie industry), radio journalism, and the popularity of advertising and fashion photography. 
  • By the end of the 1930s, Life had a pass-along readership- (the total number of people who come in to contact with a single copy of a magazine - of more than seventeen million, rivaling the ratings of popular radio programs.  

    •  

     

     

     

     

    (wikipedia) 

     

    TV GuideTV Guide Logo.png

  • While other magazines were just beginning to make sense of the impact of television on their readers, TV Guide appeared in 1953. Taking its cue from the pocket-sized format of Reader's Digest and the supermarket sales strategy used by women's magazines. 
  • The magazine addressed the nation's growing fascination with television by publishing T.V listings (many newspapers and magazines were not yet listing T.V programs.)
  • T.V Guide highlighted America's new interest in specialized magazines. T.V Guide demonstrated the growing number of sales power of the nation's checkout lines, which also sustained the high circulation rates of women's magazines and supermarket tabloids. T.V Guide underscored the fact that magazines were facing the same challenges of mass media in the 1950's: the growing power of television. 

    •  

     

     

    (wikipedia)  

     

     

    U.S. MAGAZINES IN THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY  

    Consumers continued to cut back on print magazines in 2011, although the decline eased slightly from previous years.  Overall print magazine circulation was down 1% in the last audited period (final six months of 2011), according to PEJ’s analysis of data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

    On the other hand, there are some data emerging that the demand for magazines on tablets and smartphones may provide a boon to the industry.

    http://stateofthemedia.org/2012/magazines-are-hopes-for-tablets-overdone/magazines-by-the-numbers/

    For now, however, the bulk of the magazine industry is still print, and here the numbers were more than challenging. Paid subscriptions, which are controllable and make up roughly 92% of magazines sold, were flat in 2011.

    Newsstand sales were down far more. Single copies, falling for the fourth consecutive year, dropped almost 9% compared to the same period last year.

    The top 25 magazines did not fare much better than the industry overall. Nearly two-thirds saw circulation declines in the second half of 2011. The 12th ranked Ladies’ Home Journal declined most. It fell 15.8%, a loss of more than 600,000 copies, in the second half of 2011.

    The magazine on this list with the greatest gain in 2011 was the same as in 2010: Game Informer Magazine, which features articles about video games and associated consoles.  Its circulation rose more than 48% to 7.5 million copies.  Overall, though, the 25 magazines with the largest circulation were nearly the same as in 2010.

    d pages fell in most major ad categories. The steepest decline, 17%, came in food & food products makers. Automotive ads, one of the largest single categories, fell 5.7%, after having risen 16.9% in 2010.

    Three categories saw gains in 2011. The financial, insurance and real estate sector posted the strongest increase, at 12.7%. The toiletries and cosmetics category had smaller gains, as did the apparel and accessories sector.

    ccording to Kantar Media, the top ten magazine advertisers spent $2.7 billion between January and September 2011, a decrease of 2.8%. These ten accounted for 17.1% of total magazine ad spending.

    After four years of declines, three out of the four biggest publishing companies in particular showed signs of recovery in 2010, though revenues have not recuperated to the levels prior to 2008. In 2010, however, only Meredith, owner of Better Homes and Gardens, has experienced continued revenue losses, of 5.7%.

     

    http://stateofthemedia.org/2012/magazines-are-hopes-for-tablets-overdone/magazines-by-the-numbers/

     

     

     

     

     

    THE EMERGING BUSINESS PROCESSES

    (PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION MODELS)

    OF THE MAGAZINE INDUSTRY 

    The Organization of the Magazine

     

    The story: The organization of the magazine is divided into 3 main parts

     

    Editorial and Production

  • The editorial department is where the magazine industry produces the content with the exception of laying out advertisement pages. 
  • Chain of commands, starting from editor in chief, managing director, a variety of subeditors and writers.
  • The subeditors take care of the visual, layout, design, etc. 
  • The writers write the articles, and are divided into:
  • Subject specialized staff writers
  • Region focused freelance writers
  • People who write well-written manuscripts, however more than 95% of those are declined.
  • Most large commercial magazine employs hundreds of people.
  • Many national magazines digitally transport magazine copy to various regional printing sites for insertion of ads and faster distribution 

    •  

     

     

     

     

    Why is this important?

     

     

     

    Advertising and Sales

  • Magazines are heavily reliant of advertisement
  • They provide the advertiser a rate chart which show much each space cost.
  • As in digital magazines, the prices may vary depending on how developed the ad is.
  • Some magazines such as Highlights for Children, rely solely on subscriptions and newsstand sales instead of ads.
  • Magazines developed different editions to attract the advertisers such as:
  • Regional editions, based on geographic areas
  • Split-run editions, same content but with local ads.
  • Demographic editions, targeted particular group of consumers. 

    •  

     

    Why is this important?  

     

     Circulation and Distribution 

  • This department monitors single copy distribution and subscription sales. 
  • They strategize the best  way to increase subscription and circulation of the magazine in order to obtain the most revenue.  

    •  

     

    Why is this important? 

    WE NEED TO SORT THE FOLLOWING TO THE RESPECTIVE AREAS ON THE TIMELINE :D 

     

    HOW INNOVATIONS HELPED THE GROWTH OF THE MAGAZINE INDUSTRY  

     

     

    Distribute these in the appropriate places  

     

  • Increase in Literacy and Public Education.

  • Magazines were originally meant for people of higher education, wealthier class, and expressed ideas solely about noble culture. The growth of the industry began to increase with growing rates of literacy and public education. Women's magazines and specialized magazines for various cultures and subcultures allowed the industry to emerge with an explosion of new topics and increased circulation. With circulation came advertisement which led to great competition and magazine industry success. Newsstand sales greatly increased with the idea of general interest magazines as well. 

    •  

  • The Development of Faster Printing Technologies.

  • The Gutenburg Press:  

  • During this period of improvement of the printing press, another major improvement was happening in France. Arago and Daguerre announced to the world their revolutionary method of photography. Before, taking photos was possible but it was a long, 20 minutes process that could be dangerous because of the long exposure to the sunlight. Arago and Daguerre with usage of better technology, they reduced the exposure from 20 min to 30 seconds. This news exploded in France and everyone wanted to get their picture taken.

  • The technology kept improving throughout the years, and in 1888 the new major improvement happened. Kodak, with the slogan, "You push the button and we do the rest!", re-invented photography and allowed anyone to take a picture of anything or anyone.

  • Improvements in Mail Delivery. 

  • Although the mail deliveries were frowned upon in the beginning stages of the magazine industry, magazine circulation has increased a dramatic amount since the postal act of 1879. Both postal rates and rail transportation costs plummet, allowing magazine distribution to thrive. 

    •  

    Collins, Ross. "A Brief History of Photography and Photojournalism." History of Photography and Photojournalism. North Dakota State University, n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2014. <http://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~rcollins/242photojournalism/historyofphotography.html>. 

     

     

     

    Distribute these in the appropriate places  

     

    HOW INNOVATIONS HURT THE GROWTH OF THE MAGAZINE INDUSTRY

     

     

     

  • Television Impacts Magazine Production and Profit Margin. 

    •  

  • National Advertising Revenue Split Between Magazines and Televisions.

    •  

  • Dramatic Increase in Postal Rate Leads to Low Circulation  

    •  

    Moving in to the Era of Specialization...

    Magazine Past                                                          Magazines Now(Present)                             The Future of Magazines

    Works Cited 

    1. "Inspirational Quotes." Beliefnet. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2014. 

      2.  

      • If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

      • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

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    2. here
    3. here
    4. here

      5.  

       

       

      Magazine Past

      Page history last edited by bhespanhol 10 years ago

       

      Magazine Group

       

      Magazine Past                                          Magazine Present                                    Magazine Future

       

       

       

      The History of the Magazine Industry 

       

      The Gutenberg Printing Press

       

       

      The story:  

       

      Main Points of the Video:                                                                                                                         

           

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        Comments (11)

        Zachary Larson said

        at 11:40 am on Feb 3, 2014

        Links Added!

        Zachary Larson said

        at 12:28 pm on Feb 14, 2014

        Hey group!

        I added a couple more points we can use when transitioning from the past to the present. All should be able to go off from the book. Any takers for certain things? Please put your initials by them so everyone has a clear understanding of what they're doing!

        Thanks a mil.

        -Z

        bhespanhol said

        at 6:02 pm on Feb 17, 2014

        continued with the history.. I feel like I got a good grasp of it... I am having trouble to fill in the gap 1730s to 1800s any ideas?

        Amy Newman said

        at 11:33 pm on Feb 18, 2014

        You two are so amazing... Bruno, Zach, you rock

        bhespanhol said

        at 1:48 pm on Feb 23, 2014

        Guys... Idk who posted the information about the early history of magazines, but our sources are contradicting each other... I found that I came from a Arabic term, not french... also... i foun that the first was in germany not france... What you guys think... we need to remove either mine or the french one... Sorry I have not been very active.. but my plan is to master the past... I am going to look at our textbook and kinda follow the chronological timeline from it.. For sure we'll have the past completed by the presentation...Alright!? Leetsss do this :D - Bruno

        Zachary Larson said

        at 3:30 pm on Feb 23, 2014

        Bruno, if you follow the textbook you'll find that the French argument is the one we need to make. I'd use that one in my op. Since you're going by the textbook. I have layed out a lot of ground work for the past page going solely by the text. Use this to your advantage. Also we need to make sure the present and future pages are up to par as well. We should have a powerful wiki in all tenses.
        Just post content like crazy and we will organize it later!

        bhespanhol said

        at 4:50 pm on Feb 23, 2014

        Alright!!! I did some paragraphs all the way up to 1900's... We might want to add/remove some stuff... but the background is there... we could focus on on some specifics to increase the length..

        bhespanhol said

        at 9:32 am on Mar 3, 2014

        sorry guys... I had a super busy weekend!!... I was able to work for a couple hours tho... I made a quick outline of the thinks we need to write still for the past... I also posted A LOOT of good information on diigo about the present and future!! take a look...

        bhespanhol said

        at 1:55 pm on Mar 5, 2014

        can I fix the early history??...

        bhespanhol said

        at 1:56 pm on Mar 5, 2014

        Good job guys on adding content...Thank you very much!!! :D Would you guys be mad if I start formatting the past?

        bhespanhol said

        at 12:16 pm on Apr 2, 2014

        I am not doing the Dipity anymore... I talked to John and he thinks its not the best idea...

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