Magazines: the good and bad

Those who know me know that I’ve been a magazine junkie for years, so even during these times when the print industry is going through a very rough time there are a few moments to celebrate (or criticize).  Here are a couple of examples.  I begin with the bad.

“Vamanos!”

No, that’s not a typo.  Yes, that was the sub-headline on the COVER of LA’s Angeleno, the trendy, glossy magazine published by Modern Luxury.  It’s one thing to make a typo inside the mag, it’s quite another when you show your ignorance on your COVER.  The sub-headline was a teaser for a story about tourism in the Mayan Riviera.  Looks like the economy has forced Angeleno to cut back on its copywriters and copy editors.

And speaking of copy editors, in the same issue as the Mayan Riviera story is a story about French electro-pop musician Anthony Gonzalez, accompanied by a photo caption spelling his last name as Gonzales.  He’s not related to me but let’s get the surnames correct.  Maybe I’m being picky but we’re talking about a high-profile glossy publication!

The GOOD!

I was recently in Phoenix on business and met the young publisher of Latino Future (www.latinofuture.com) magazine, Matt Molina.  Wow, it was nice to see a nice, glossy, English-language magazine for Latinos.  And unlike in the bigger Angeleno, I didn’t see any typos in Latino Future.

Latino Future is a cool, hip magazine with lots of great Hispanic content.  It has its share of profile of Hispanic trendsetters in music, food and fashion, but it doesn’t take a patronizing approach to Latino culture.  It’s based in Phoenix but carries stories about people and events in LA and Dallas.  And it has caught the attention of such advertisers as State Farm, Wells Fargo, Hennessy, Allstate and Johnnie Walker.

Like a lot of folks, I spend a lot of time on the internet but I still do my share of reading magazines.  And so do a lot of other Latinos.  I wasn’t surprised to see how well some high-profile English-language magazines (can’t get myself to use General Market) do with Hispanics.  Details, which I have read since it launched years ago has a readership that is 21% Hispanic.  Latinos over-index on other titles including GQ whose readership is 17% Hispanic.  Wow!  We Latinos DO read!

There’s no doubt that the magazines that have developed engaging online versions have a better shot at surviving these crazy times, but as I’ve said before let’s support those entities that celebrate our culture in the face of extraordinary adverse conditions.  More power to Matt and Latino Future.