Magazine Death Pool

Seed to stop selling ads, which won't be hard if it stops publishing too

Seed magazine, the seemingly positioned "Vanity Fair of science," has announced it has stopped selling advertisements,says Mediaweek.

Was that on purpose?

Seed has not appeared since June and its founder said that although its future frequency has not been decided, the next issue will not carry any ads.

Now, the Reaper had Seed marked for death this past August and its certainly looking like its kinda dead. Or on life support, at least. 

However, somebody had better tell the founder that when your magazine hasn't appeared in five months and you don't know when your next issue will come out, if ever, it's doubtful you're going to be getting ads anyway. Some <cough> "wunderkind."

Submitted for your approval: SEED magazine

Yah man. Every time I plant a seed, he said kill it before it grows.

SEED (don't you love those magazine titles in all capital letters?) is one of those "Final Destination" titles which have somehow amazingly and luckily escaped death, but death eventually comes around to extract it from the living.

Started by Canadian science boy whiz Adam Bly started the "Vanity Fair of science," the magazine that put the sizzle back in science (!) and somehow has kept it levitated for several years. Of course it has looked nice and won some awards, but you know what that means when it comes to making money. Nada!

So it is no surprise that The Reaper received this letter from a faithful reader: "I just got an email directly from SEED magazine saying that they have not mailed the August issue, and that they do not know when it will be mailed. It is 'delayed.' I nominate SEED for the death pool."

The Reaper most certainly agrees.

ODDS OF SURVIVAL: 10%

Discover cuts its publisher... let the death odds begin

Discover magazine just laid off its publisher and a senior editor, according to FishbowlNY.

When a magazine lays off its publisher and there's no replacement, that is a seriously bad sign. Nobody running the ad sales team at a small magazine publisher?

ODDS OF SURVIVAL: 15%