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Tough times ahead for Publishers

Bob Toovey : 18 December 2001

Yet another size related magazine is closing its doors. Following the demise of Mode Magazine, Ohh Baby BABY will soon be closing down. I am sure that like mode magazine, the reason is due to the lack of paid advertising. It costs to print and retailers seem to be hesitant to place adverts. Could the internet be the cause? More and more companies are taking to advertising on the Internet and seeing a greater return for the money spent.

However, there are more designers and retailers then ever realising that the fuller figured market is there and waiting to be exploited. There is a long overdue period of extraordinary growth in the plus sized clothing industry. Major fashion houses that include Tommy Hilfiger and Liz Claiborne have launched Plus Size lines to cater to the larger women. It seems such a pity that they are determinded to procede without support from the plus sized community. Not every one has a connnection to the Internet or even want one. Magazines such as Ohh Baby BABY are the only way in which some can stay informed and keep up with plus sized fashions.

There are many who would love to provide feedback to designers and retailers. After all, they have suffered for years with most high street shops ignoring that fact that big people need clothes as well! This of course applies to us here in Europe as well as the USA.

You would be hard pushed to find any size related magazine that was not American. There is a demand for a European magazine supporting the plus size community. The US publishers can not offord to distribute their magazines in Europe due to the postal costs. So how do the Europeans keep up to date and keep informed? They visit the American sites and hopefully SizeNet!

So if some one was to produce a magazine in Europe how would it be financed? Well from the lessons learned from the magazines that have closed you can't entirely rely on advertising. As there in no real interest in pushing for more recognition of the plus sized community, people are not really aware that there are groups willing to provide support. Therefor potential advertisers are again relying on the Internet and taking orders world wide. Particualy the UK, there needs to be the equivalent of NAAFA. A group willing to make plenty of noise and hassel the government. Till then groups, events and retailers will be relying on the Internet.

So what is the future for size related magazines? In Europe there does not seem to be much of a future. In America, there will be more closures. Its a shame but society is changing. General interest magazines are now becoming more available on the Internet. EBooks are becoming more and more popular as more people are becoming aware of their potential. The plus sized community will survive by becoming more Internet savvy and perhaps more noticed.

It saddens me to see the demise of long established magazines but may be they need to change with the times and focus more on the net. More companies are now offering subscription services and seem to be making money from it. Perhaps we will see the publishers of size related magazines transform themselves from print based editions to Internet based ones. This may be a good thing, they may be able to reach a wider audience and perhaps spread the message of acceptance to places where they could not reach before.

The magazine is dead, long live Ezines!

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