Thinking women's magazines have had their day

[EduardoBarcelona]

I was given a copy of Marie Claire. I just read it. Why? Adverts. Adverts. Hard adverts hard to bend. Samples.

Shit trite editorial and letters "I read the article on North Korea im so pleased to live in Europe". Yup thanks for that.
Articles on what it's like in the hamptons. A big on dodgy abortion providers. Pages on a woman in the desert with skeletal legs. See pic.

Then the most hilarious "get the look for less" see pics.

Sorry, YoniD I can't agree with you.

Many "celebrities" come from obscurity and want to be known by the public.... "Know me, love me!, adore me!, marvel at my hair extensions/tan/talent/luck". They can't then turn around and say "only see me like this or that. How I want to be seen/portrayed".

I used to subscribe to Marie Clare but dropped it about 10 years ago when they changed the format, took out the majority of the great reporting they used to do and filled it with ads and fashion shoots.

When I was in early labour with DS I asked DP to buy me a couple of magazines to fill the time. I think he was a bit scared that he'd get it wrong so he came back with half the shop in his arms and virtually the only one to engage me at all was Take a Break and that was pretty terible though good for low concentation. It seemed the glossier and more expensive the magazine the worse the content

Ubik1 Tue 13-May-14 18:52:01
I don't care how turned on it gets him, I'm not rubbing my nice scarf all over someone's penis.

And the above quote illustrates why mumsnet is so much better than any women's magazine grin

Women's magazines have had their day, and this is why^^

Nowadays chat forums, news sites and blogs are doing a much better job for free than the women's mag does for a fiver+ a throw.

It's a shame for the publishing industry, and for journalism in particular. I work in video games and the demise of High St retail and boxed games has had a transforming effect on the industry. We have had to completely change our business over the last five years to survive, and it's still tough going.

Magazine publishing will have to undergo the revolution created by the internet, because it's not going to go away.

I don't know when I last bought a magazine. I tried a few online versions, but I don't think many of them have transitioned well to digital. They all seemed to have gone for the app version, and it just doesn't work.

If I read a great article, I want to share it with friends. Can't do that if it is on a standalone app.

I read websites such as Mashable, Wired, New Statesman, Buzzfeed etc. I try to avoid Huff Post cause they don't pay their writers.

I'd be quite happy to pay for online access to a magazine, if I knew that they were paying their staff - I think that people are coming around to the idea of paying for online reading because you are paying for consistency and good writing.

I have been thinking this for ages.

All women's magazines make me feel like shit. Whether it's because I am enjoying the bitchy tone and funny writing in Heat and I realise I'm being appallingly intrusive, or whether I am being preached to about "how to be perfect" by almost every other women's magazine.

Even the ones which are hobby-or-home-based, make me feel dissatisfied that I'm not finding time to do my hobby or my home isn't entirely grey with antlers in it.

I read "Red" the other month and quite enjoyed it. It did have some content to it, and while there were aspirational fashions in it, there were also some down-to-earth bits.

They are all very London-centric though. And they're all designed to make me think I need stuff when I don't. "This month's skincare essential: eye roll-on!" Pur-lease.

The only magazine I read and actually enjoy these days is The Big Issue which has a good mix of music and cinema stuff and interviews with interesting people, plus consistently reminds me how lucky I am to have my life.

I read stylist, but only because I get it free on my ipad.

I am the exact target audience for some of these mags and I hate them. Much happier with Bloglovin and mumsnet :)

Red and Psychologies are the ones I buy. They are the best of whats left. Still wish theyd lose the Red120FitClub though.

I stopped buying them once I was out of my mid twenties about a decade ago. Even then, 80% of the content seemed to be adverts for high-end products I'd have a snowflake's chance in hell of ever being able to afford unless I maxed out on the credit card. I taught myself to sew properly (come from a long line of seamstresses but didn't think it was cool prior ) in this period which is something I still do and enjoy. Now I will read the magazines if I get them for free (doctor's office, show bag etc) and if there is something I really like (which is not often) I'll try and find a pattern for something similar or modify and existing one. I still salivate over some of the exquisite ball gown type stuff but I'd never have occasion to wear it.

I find my local free newspaper more interesting than women's magazines. I am not joking.

I'm almost finished with the same issue of Marie Claire OP and have been thinking whilst reading it, this is rubbish! I subscribe to MC, Red and Glamour but Glamour is just about to run out and I will never ever be lured it by £1 an issue again. It's just tosh. I've always really liked Red but again, I will only subscribe when it's £12 for 12 issues or £25 for two years like I'm currently on.

It's all very cyclical and I'm not remotely interested in celebs but I do like Laura WIT blogs fashion editorials towards the front and Rosie Green's column always makes me chuckle. At £1 an issue I can suck up the adverts and the un-interesting bits but I'd never fork out cover price so I guess readers like me are why there are so many adverts?!

I like Rosie Greens column too. Always makes me giggle. One of the subjects she discussed a few years back was her husbands tightwaddery and how he tried to use eco reasons for it. It was hilarious.

Magazines were a huge help to me as a teenager and in my early 20s (back in the 1980s). I learned an awful lot about sex and relationships from them. My particular favourite was Honey which was edited by Carol Sarler at the time.

Now, they're just a bit redundant. As others have said chat forums have superceded them. Who would write to an "agony aunt" when they can come on here and solicit advice from all walks of life and experience and get opinions and answers within seconds?

Looking on-line isn't the same though. I am the same about kindle and books. I just love the feel and look of magazines and books.

Would appear that I will be the only subscriber to anything soon although glad to see my favourite Red is fairly well regarded of them all.

Magazines definitely are different in rl. Even online newspapers di find hard to deal with, I never quite feel as though I have read it properly.

I don't buy mags any more but just subscribed to The Week in an attempt to get dd interested in features on current affairs.

I have to have print magazines. When you buy them for the photography too, both editorial and advertising, digital doesn't quite cut it.

Burma I feel the same as you I would much rather have a magazine or a book in my hands than use an app or a kindle. I cant afford all this technology anyway.
Apps for this...apps for that. I find it all a bit confusing. I was born in 73 so I see myself as being of the last pre digital generation.
I cant get the hang of apps at all. I think I was born too late.

YY Mignon it was the same with the change from vinyl to CDs . Artwork used to look fantastic on a big album cover.

I miss the album artwork Darkest. It was such a big deal to get a record you'd waited ages for and then pour over the sleeve and liner notes.

They were so beautiful weren't they?

They were. And a lot of trouble was taken with the artwork too. I remember pulling the second sleeve out and looking at the song lyrics.

And the record label itself could be lovely. I used to love the primary coloured palm trees of the Island logo.

And the black on red of Polydor.

The excitement of a group or solo singers new album coming out on the Monday and rushing into town to get it.

And not being able to access precise info about when it was coming out either made it all the more exciting. I remember rushing into school with my brand new copy of the Kate Bush album, the Clash's Sandinista and the Adam and the Ants one feeling so cool and so proud.

Todays young people will never know the excitement of that.