Understanding women’s magazines: NYT columnist David Brooks, whose made a career out of writing about such things, explains the difference in the two types of women’s magazines:

As you know, there are two kinds of women’s magazines in
the world, nonsmiling and smiling. In the nonsmiling magazines, which tend to be upscale, the models in the photo spreads wear these blank or haughty expressions because, you know, happiness is so middle class…..Interestingly, though, the magazines that are thriving these days have an entirely different sensibility. This is the golden age of the smiling magazine. O, the magazine
named after the historically important first initial of Oprah Winfrey’s name, is so relentlessly encouraging it is like being hugged to death by the Care Bears. InStyle, the celebrity and fashion magazine that is now as thick as Vogue, is an ink and paper version of Prozac Pop-Tarts.

(Belatedly posted with thanks for the heads-up from Lewis.)

Putting a price tag on a college education: Okay. I want all of the Ole Miss students who are studying with Samir Husni to gather ’round. I want to tell ya’ll something: Listen to him. (I know, I know. I poke fun at how he gets quoted all the time, but he knows I’m just kidding, really.) I’m serious. You listen to him and then go tell your parents next week at Thanksgiving that they are getting the deal of their lives when they pay the tuition for you to sit through one of those classes.

Rarely in this world can one measure precisely the return on investment (or, as they say over in the business school there in Oxford, “ROI”) of the price of a three-hour semester course. But in your case, you can now tell your parents with a straight face, that sitting through Professor Husni’s course is worth $4 million.

That’s right, $4 million. Here, let me prove it.

In July of 2002, right on this weblog, I pointed to an LA Times story (that’s now a dead link) in which your professor was credited with this three sentence quote about the launch of the magazine, Grace:

“There may be many, many large women out there, but they don’t necessarily want to focus on that aspect of themselves. That’s why there is not a successful Divorce magazine. Grace may get a cult following, but I believe they will have trouble attracting a mass readership.”

While this is a good quote, it’s not one of his wittiest, but it is one of his most valuable: Three sentences worth exactly $4 million.

How did I calculate that? Well, today, Grace announced it is shutting down. According to AP, the magazine’s editor Ceslie Armstrong said the company lost the backing of its main investor, a Bahamas-based hedge fund called Seibels Technology Fund that had invested $4 million in the venture.

Well, there you have it. Three sentences. $4 million.

Next semester, I suggest you sign up for Professor Husni’s course in how to raise capital from Bahamas-based “technology hedge funds” that invest in magazine start-ups.

And they said it wouldn’t last: A magazine you may have never heard of celebrates its 20th anniversary.

Collateral damages update: No time to comment on this Ad Age story about collateral damages from the G+J Circ-cooking Scandal except to suggest the term “collateral damage” in this context sounds familiar.

Everything old is new again: Joe Strupp of Editor & Publisher joins the chorus of concerned journalists who have discovered the new “custom publishing” thing, which, as I continue to point out, is a century-old new thing.

Quote from Strupp:

A newer version of the advertorial, known as “custom publishing,” is gaining popularity at many Gannett Co. Inc. newspapers.

By the way, if you were wondering about the origin of the term “custom publishing,” Joe Strupp also provides this gem of history:

Custom publishing, which includes advertorials within the newspapers as well as entirely separate publications, has grown among Gannett newspapers. It began at the chain’s Reno Gazette Journal about four years ago, according to Karen Crotchfelt, who says she coined the name.

As one of the co-founders of the five-year old Custom Publishing Council and someone who started a “custom publishing company” 12 years ago, I would like to thank Ms. Crotchfelt with heartfelt appreciation for coming up with the name four years ago. (Speaking of coming up with names…okay, I’ll stop before I regret it.)