Manzine is a quirky, DIY take on the glossy male-focused publication.

The latest issue of Bidoun (#18) is the magazine’s second interview issue, where various artists, writers, designers, and public figures share insight into the Middle East’s artistic and cultural scenes.

We recently came across Motto Berlin, a unique, carefully edited store dedicated to fanzines, small run magazines, books and self published printed matter.

The other day, we highlighted some of the ways that magazines are diversifying their business models to remain both relevant and solvent as more and more of their audience moves online. We suspect (and hope) that print and by extension, traditional storytelling will always have its place, but there is clearly a shift towards multimedia narratives – combining video, audio and other interactive features – taking place as more publications bolster their reporting with additional content available online.
While this trend is most noticeable among print magazines that are attempting t0 adapt their product to the web, there are also a [...]

With the internet taking a significant amount of its readership and the recession impacting physical sales, running a profitable print publication these days is becoming even more of a daunting proposition. But despite these struggles, many magazines are finding new opportunities outside of the printed page, diversifying their business model with alternative revenue streams. Advertising Age recently surveyed five such publications, representing diverse cross-section of the entire industry  - Men’s Health, Make, The Atlantic, Complex and Fader – to find out what their outlook is going forward.
While advertising, both print and digital, remains an integral component of the revenue mix, [...]

Nate Page, an artist based in New York City, recently unveiled a new series of magazines with different layers carved out that are on display at the Jen Bekman gallery.  Page removes layers from magazines and billboards, revealing the rainbow of colors behind the images.  These topographic assemblage designs focus on eyes and strip away the collections to their core.
In the artist statement, Page describes his desire to investigate the dichotomies between materiality and images, occupied space and presence, and potentiality and reality.  He transforms the everyday objects into personal expressions and informs his work with “personal memories and consumer [...]

PSFK recently caught up with Karen Bard, the Pop Culture Expert over at eBay. Her insights were a follow-up to our recent coverage on the creation of instant nostalgia.

As many magazines go the way of the dodo, other publications are staying strong despite industry woes.  A recent survey of listings on eBay show that people are actively sharing issues of their favorites, even from recently defunct magazines.
Domino Magazine, which folded earlier this year, fetches prices across eBay well above the original news-stand price.  Teen Magazines, which some may argue are one of the lowest forms of magazine value, occupy more than 5,000 listings on eBay including the dead publications, CosmoGirl and Teen Magazine.  The common tactic to dub an issue as a collectors edition now has more relevance [...]

According to a recent New York Times article, major magazine publishers are considering raising prices on their newsstands and subscription issues. However, the short term benefits may hurt the publications consumer base and reputation in the long run. Magazines are getting desperate to retain revenues during the recession, but considerations of online content pay walls and higher prices are threatening readership numbers, data highly valued by advertisers.
A careful balance of readership retention and advertising value is necessary for the long term survival of print media. Subscription prices per issue are barely covering the price to mail the [...]

The Economist, the international affairs magazine, recently established a market for subscriptions in India through a unique SMS marketing campaign.  The tiny share of The Economist in India’s news media marketplace drove the magazine’s utilization of a miniaturized mobile news update.
Every day at 11 a.m. the magazine would issue a free summary of headline news and accompanying links to a new mobile updates channel.  The snippets of interesting stories brought mobile readers to the newsstand, bringing sales up by 15%.  Over the course of the year, The Economist increased circulation in India by 39% and subscriptions by 26%.  Campaign India [...]

There is so much serious, snooty editorial about fashion, we always appreciate when Vice comes out with its Fashion issue. Their most recent is no different. From the interview which hails Kai Kühne as a renegade fashion star before getting him to admit that he doesn’t understand fashion, to the article which claims in all seriousness that epaulettes (those ornament-like shoulder accessories on army uniforms) are the future of fashion, to the amazing cover featuring a wild pig (see above), the whole thing is a breath of fresh air.
Vice Magazine: The Fashion Issue 2009

Michael Surtees shares some interesting thoughts about the bizarre situation of media shape-shifting that is happening these days. He explains how after he stopped subscribing to the bulky print version of the New York Times, he discovered via micro-blogging site Twitter that the Economist magazine has a word-for-word audio recording of it’s issues available for download. After all this jumping around in different media worlds, Surtees discovers the usefulness of the audio version of the magazine, and sees a future in this kind of media-hybrid.
He explains:
As weird as it is for all the different types of media to be converging [...]

Advertising Age, the leading trade magazine for the marketing industry, has pulled its March 16 issue. There has been a lot of talk about the decline of print media recently but instead of just reporting another story about how this not only impacts readers but the lives of the people who work there, PSFK decided to find out more about what’s going on internally. We asked Ad Age editor Jonah Bloom for the inside scoop:
Jonah, we’ve heard rumors that the next issue of Ad Age will be digital only – true?
Yes, it’s true. No print issue on March 16th, next [...]

We Make Magazines is a directory of more than 700 independent magazines featuring interviews and large layouts.  It’s meant as a celebration of the visual design and vibrant spirit of the publishers outside the mainstream.  It focuses on the hundred top magazines from around the world and includes a fuller directory in the back.
The book was developed by devoted magazine insiders and examines all aspects of a successful and beautiful magazine.  Topics include discovering who your readers are, the golden rules of advertising and how to visually drive your content.  The interviews span the globe and include BabyBabyBaby from Mexico, [...]

The day The Face magazine fell was a dark one. As fashionistas gave a collective sigh and the media moaned the end of an era, a wave of uncertainty washed…