As Downtown Shuts Down, City Magazines Confront a Crisis

As the COVID-19 pandemic forces marketers to tighten their advertising budgets and organizers to cancel or postpone events, media companies of all sizes are scrambling to account for lost revenue. In cities across the U.S., a virtual suspension of public life is taking a disastrous toll on alt-weeklies—many of which entered 2020 on unstable financial footing—but it's also having an acute impact on the nation's city and regional magazines, who devote much of their pages and resources to guiding readers toward experiences: things to get out and do, see or eat. On Monday alone, Time Out Group announced it was suspending the print editions of each of its roughly 40 city-specific magazines worldwide, while San Diego Magazine laid off nearly its entire staff, apparently shutting down after more than 70 years as a result of the pandemic, reports the Voice of San Diego, though its owner says he hopes to restart operations after the crisis is over. "After this has peaked, there will be plenty to report about if, when and how places are coming back," says Margaret Seiler, managing editor at another city magazine, Portland Monthly. "But those activities that have ground to a halt include a lot of our advertisers, too. So while we're pivoting to more immediate digital coverage and revamping plans for our sure-to-be-delayed next print issue, we're also not sure we'll all still be employed." Mike Schaffer, editor of the D.C.-based monthly Washingtonian, notes that while paid... Continue reading at 'Folio Magazine'

[ Folio Magazine | 2020-03-23 14:46:51 UTC ]
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Comedy in a crisis

How good it was to be forced to read some funny novels in the early days of the virus crisis. A judge’s lot in the Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction - for which the shortlist was announced last week - is usually a happy one. True, it is also a reminder that humour on the page needs... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-01 07:29:18 UTC ]
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Riots Continue to Affect Twin Cities Shops and Bookstores

A second night of rioting in Minneapolis/St. Paul continues to affect booksellers located in the areas that have become scenes of violence. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-05-29 04:00:00 UTC ]
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NYT Mag Wins Big at Virtual National Magazine Awards

The New York Times Magazine was the top winner at this year's National Magazine Awards (commonly referred to as the "Ellies"), which were held as a virtual ceremony Thursday evening after the annual gala, originally set for Brooklyn in mid-March, was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. By... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2020-05-29 01:15:13 UTC ]
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The Crisis Below the Surface: How the Pandemic Weighs on Women in Publishing

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[ Publishing Executive | 2020-05-27 12:00:06 UTC ]
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Daunt rush-publishes Fisher crisis cooking classic

Daunt Books Publishing is rush-publishing How to Cook a Wolf, MFK Fisher’s classic book on shopping, cooking and eating with courage during a crisis.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-22 07:44:41 UTC ]
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Mekkiayah Jacobs: New York City Needs to Care For Its Homeless

Every year, Girls Write Now provides the opportunity for mentees to be published in a book form; in recent years, the print edition has been produced by Dutton, and the digital edition by the Feminist Press. Taking Our Place in History: The Girls Write Now 2020 Anthology invites you to witness... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

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The New Normal: How Industry Magazines Are Navigating the Pandemic

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[ Folio Magazine | 2020-05-19 18:45:36 UTC ]
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Bauer to Close, Merge or Sell Ten Magazines as Covid-19 ‘Accelerates Trends’

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How 6AM City Is Rethinking Digital Media at a Local Level

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[ The Washington Post | 2020-05-18 12:00:00 UTC ]
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‘A tale of two cities’: The coronavirus is creating a barbell effect for publishers’ ad sales

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Faith-Based Books Multiply on Covid-19 Crisis

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-05-13 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Staffers at California Sunday and Pop-Up Magazines Are Unionizing

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Crisis comms: gaining perspective from writers past

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Coronavirus: In Spain, Publishers Weigh Crisis Management and Digital Capabilities

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Picador pre-empts book on 'next big climate crisis'

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BNP Media to Take Most of Its Magazines Digital-Only By August

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With Retail Outlets Closed, Indie Magazines Band Together on Subscription Bundle

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Behind West Virginia’s opioid crisis, an addiction to money

Reporter Eric Eyre exposes the people and companies that flooded the state with pills. Continue reading at The Washington Post

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