Yesterday the Herald business section ran a story I had waited for for two years: about the proliferation of "regional glossy lifestyle publications." The one I edited for two years did not get a mention, perhaps because we broke the luxury mold and published fiction, devoted an entire issue to ethnic groups, and put the town's public defender on the cover.
The article began with a scene of a publisher on a call to a marketing director and telling her "he has more to offer her than just an advertising page. 'I'm going to talk about editorial opportunities,'" the publisher told the Herald, "'social media opportunities. I'm about trying to get my clients results and making them more a part of the fabric of the magazine than just an ad.'"
From the first paragraph you discovered that the vast majority of these magazines are being produced not for readers but for advertisers, and you got a sense of why I'm no longer the editor of one.
