Magazine Death Pool

Portfolio still living on smoke and mirrors until the circ numbers come out

Today's New York Post gives a very wide berth for Portfolio Publisher David Carey to post about the large amount of ads the magazine is getting, although the number is getting lower and lower each month.

While it's been well documented that the ad sales people have been doing their job and editorial people are abandoning ship, there's that little area of concern called circulation. It's an area Carey doesn't address this time out because it backfired on him when he boasted the first issue sold out (and we all know that was far from reality).

To borrow the financial terms of this magazine, the Reaper is short-selling Portfolio for the long run once the newsstand numbers start appearing. We shall see if the readers will continue to be there to support this beast, because if they don't, those ad page numbers will be dropping a lot steeper.

RIP "Inquest Gamer"... New Museum addition -- Viva

InQuest Gamer, a monthly devoted to "collectible card games," (i.e. Magic: The Gathering) passed away in September 2007. It was launched in 1995.

And then there's this title which we're also adding to the Museum,  an oldie but goody from the soft-core 70's porn days. You may remember Viva, Bob Guccione's "international magazine for women" which launched in September 1973? Deceased in 1980. This is where Anna Wintour got her start!

Other ways of saying "we're putting this magazine out of its misery"

In Iowa, they will believe any old spin hook line and sinker. The Associated Press in Des Moines reports that the "Meredith Corporation has big plans for a Spanish-language magazine." And what are those plans? "The Des Moines-based company plans to combine 2 of its magazines to create what it says will be the largest Spanish-language consumer magazine in the U.S."

TRANSLATION: Healthy Kids en espanol is bombing so we're folding it into Ser Padres, available in doctors' offices everywhere.

This news has inspired the Reaper into making a list of how many different ways can a company say the magazine they publish no longer exists. Let The Reaper count the ways, and if you have any, please send them in:

• "cease publication..."
• "... will become a section of [insert larger magazine name here]."
• "...continue on as a web property."
• "Its last issue will be published..."
• "folding...."
• "shutting down..."
• "cease operations"
• "shuttered"
• "discontinue publication..."
• "closed its doors"
• "merged into [insert name of section of larger magazine here]."
• "...has gone to that great printing plant in the sky..."
• "closed its last issue..."
• "outlived its purpose..."
• "The presses have stopped for..."
• "Will no longer grace newsstands..."
• "Lost its struggle..."
• "Got the axe..."
• "After careful review..." [you know what comes after this...]
• "Shown the door..."

New additions to the Museum of Dead Magazines

Savoy (both closings in 2003 and 2005)

Gear

The Public Interest (after a 40-year run)

Ebony Jr.

New York Woman

Option (music magazine)

Thanks for the suggestions.

Hey, Reap, why so quiet?

The Reaper has taken a break because, well, nobody's about to keep over just yet.

I am hearing little tidbits of information, such as that publishers are starting or about to start putting their underperformers on the block. Not just the very biggest publishers, but smaller ones too, perhaps looking to cash out while the getting is good. And if nobody decides to buy any of these properties, then it may be time to put them out of their misery.

December and January are usually busy times for the Reaper. When publishers aren't performing for their end of the year issues, their track record has been bleak, and the first quarter of the next year is not looking too hot either, well, that's when the Reaper starts sharpening the scythe.