| Read 'Em and Weep |
14 April 2003
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Magazines or Catalogues?
One has a great deal of affection for the lowly magazine. It is the artistic and financial culmination of movable type -- disposable yet durable writing. So, when trying to find an article by Christopher Hitchens (who is often wrong but always smart) written a while ago, one had the unpleasant experience of trying to navigate a recent issue of a magazine. Gutenburg never imagined such misery.
The sale of ad space is, regretably, a necessity for hard copy publishing. Subscribers are notoriously few and tight-fisted, and they can provide only a portion of the money required to print a monthly or weekly. The Kensington Review and others do get by on the web thanks to the free distribution and non-printing non-costs. But the advertisements have taken over elsewhere. In future, publishers should note the following requirements:
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The table of contents should be on the inside right page, not buried behind 30 pages of pictures of clothes that are over-price and scents that are over-hyped on models who are under-fed. Nor should the contents extend beyond a single page.
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The pages should be numbered, even if the photo selling things would be artistically superior in the absence of such numbering.
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Fragrance samples should be sealed so that handling the periodical does not become a malodorous event. Few smells deserve to be bottled and sold.
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Subscription cards, known to many as "blow out cards," are unacceptable. If one wishes offer a subscription, merely provide a card that does not fall out of the binding.
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Put the title on the cover, and do not partially hide it behind Miss Paltrow or Mr. Hanks' head.
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Do not continue anything on page 125 when the first section of the article ends on page 34. Just because the New York Times does it does not make it right.
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A picture is worth a thousand words, but a page will hold rather a lot of words -- publishers should use them and have them express thoughts beyond the photo of Ms. Lopez and her wardrobe tastes.
Above all, publishers should remember that they are making magazines not catalogues. Their purpose can be to enlighten (even about the most mundane topics) as well as enrich. Mr. Hitchens wrote something about that, one is almost certain, but finding it for a direct quotation is too much trouble.