Closing Shop.

I had dinner a few days ago with the staff (and former staff) of a men’s magazine I’ve been writing for since 2005. It was like an anthology of sorts with former editors and writers showing up for that dinner (it was a fancy Italian restaurant that converts into a hip bar when the clock strikes 2300). There had been three editors in total and I went through two of them.

My saying “had been” preempts the focus of the dinner which was more of a “farewell and great job” letting us go and leave with heavy, yet alcohol induced hearts. And yet another magazine dies. Rumor has it that in ten years we’re going to see the death of print in the USA. But the downturn of this quarter doesn’t spare the Internet. Look at the New York Times. On the plus side, if “print is dead” why are we still putting up new magazines (By “we” it’s addressed to the industry in general)?

There are always two truths to market behaviors when it comes to “traditional” and “new.” Some will argue that the paper is still easier to read than text off a netbook’s browser while others will argue on how much time savers audiobooks can be. And magazines nowadays always have a web component as a way to complement their offline content. It works. It can work.

What I’m trying to say is that “the death of print” or whatever you call it is an oftentimes brash conclusion when the truth is that what really is dying is bad content and bad strategy.