More bad news for the publishing industry

Magazines are another aspect of the publishing industry hit hard by the economic downturn. Domino, a decorating magazine, announced this week that it's folding. Though the magazine has a large number of readers, they weren't getting enough ad sales to finance the publication. Domino's parent company Conde Nast is experiencing fianancial problems that extend beyond the failure of one house furnishings magazine. If a large media conglomerate like Conde Nast is floundering, how will smaller companies be affected?

To me this says it's a perfect time for magazine companies to launch something completely different. Consumers are looking for distractions from depressing economic news. While everyone else is playing it safe, sticking to a formula, Conde Nast and others should be looking to launch something completely different from what they've done before. Lately all the magazines look frighteningly similar. Sure, there are different ones targeting a variety of audiences--cooking magazines targeting amateur chefs, fashion magazines targeting mall rat preteens, car magazines showcasing shiny sportscars--but they still all look similar. Headlines jostle for space on the front, overpromising what's inside. If I were the publisher, now is when I'd be looking to try something unexpected to revive people's spirits.

Another option for Conde Nast is to tighten their budget, focusing on revamping existing periodicals. On Sunday, when tvs across America were tuned to the Superbowl, I was slumped on the couch watching the chick flick "13 going on 30." In a flash-forward hypothetical scenario, Jennifer Garner's character is a magazine executive, whose publication flounders because a rival keeps scooping their covers and stories. During a boardroom meeting, the staff calls "redesigning" the beginning of the end for a publication. Is that true? Does redesigning media always lead to readers losing confidence in the product?