Cookaholics Bulletin Board

So, the first Saveur with the new editorial staff has arrived, and I can see why the old editorial staff quit. This is the annual "Saveur 100", and the new design/layout frequently sacrifices content for appearance and readability. Plus way too much thinly disguised product placement (like a $15 mason jar -- really). I'm not optimistic about the February issue.

To make things worse, the founding editors of Culture Magazine are gone and they're looking for a new editor, which makes me concerned for the future of the magazine. Plus, no baby goats this issue!

Guess that shows that they're really not kidding around any more...

I agree about the new Saveur. I'd iike to get my money back. It's ridiculous.

fitzie

What is this thing 'magazine'?
We have gone from about 10 subscriptions to none...

I've been cutting out my magazine subscriptions, too, Wino.
Too many, no content worth my time and they become clutter.
I love Vanity Fair, but some issues are so boring, then some have some real worthy content. But the issues are huge and heavy and chock full of ridiculous ads. I get caught up when I see it on the newsstand with an article I need to read. Then I cancel again.

This month's Saveur is even worse.

"Ham and red-eye gravy danishes" made with dough from a can. Really. And that's the cover photo too.

Cancelling my subscription now.

That sounds pretty awful even without the dough from a can. I'm guessing tasters couldn't tell the difference because it sucked regardless of how they made the dough...

The one magazine that really surprised me was Food Network Magazine; I fully expected it to be full of crappy Kraft-style recipes but it isn't. Most that I've tried have been reasonably simple and tasty.

I too have done away with all subscriptions. Modern Farmer, which had some great content, also lost its editors recently. Food Arts went belly up. I think the magazine publishing industry is really on the ropes.

Traditional magazines, the kind printed once a month (or so) are seriously in their death throes for the most part. There are some that seem to thrive, but have much more narrow audiences. However, things like SeriousEats are clearly the children of those traditional magazines, and some of those are thriving like crazy. Also, food columns on certain newspapers like NYT and The Guardian seem to be doing well. Those newspapers, of course, will have to evolve to survive too.