Vs. 
Those fickle advertisers.... If you want to have a sense of what it feels like to have your empire slowly trickle away (well, maybe not so slowly) take a look at this month's Martha Stewart Living and compare it to Real Simple. We were a little shocked to notice how much Living has shrunk in the past few months -- it has started to resemble a svelte weekly, while Real Simple looks bulked up on steroids.
Here are the facts:
Thickness
Martha - 1/4 inch
Real S. - 1/2 inch
Total pages:
Martha - 160
Real S. - 300
Typical Ad:
Martha - Dodge Minivan, Australian wine
Real S. - Ralph Lauren, Estee Lauder
Ad pages before table of contents:
Martha - 9
Real S. - 23
We regret this demise and hope that Martha and her team pull this one out. Why? Because Living is still, hands down, a better magazine than its imitators. MGR
If in fact, the fine folks at Ralph Lauren did pull out of Living, shame on Mister Lipschitz, Hamptons hypocrite! Hope HIS books or trades don't get any special attention any time soon...
Never was a Martha fan. She'd be nothing without the hundreds of talented people behind her that get next to no credit on the things that they do.
that may be true, lisa, and i have heard that she is tyrannical at work, and my praise is really directed at the the whole organization she has created. liking her aside, however, i find her magazine - as well as her products - just plain better than the competition..so far. Kudos then go to all her designers and Martha for her talent in this area.
New competitors are coming on bloated as well. Cottage Living seems heavy on ad pages as well.
Interesting ad comparison, Maxwell. I actually find Real Simple to be a great read - but I haven't even opened a MSL, so I am not qualified to compare content.
Lisa:
It takes talent to find talent.
And a LOT of people on her magazine's bylines and masthead (and TV shows' credits) have been there for quite some time... so somebody's getting SOMETHING out of her deal over there at MSLO. I'd still work there in a heartbeat.
Right on! "Living" is such a superior 'zine! It would be a shame if it went down over this tragedy. I love your web
sight which I've just discovered. Good work.
And, not to pick on Lisa OR Ralph Lauren, but how many of the talented employees at Ralph Lauren can anyone name? Yet no one takes offense to that... You don't think Ralph is mixing up all that paint, embroidering all those Polo ponies, building that furniture and hemming all those tweed skirts himself, do you?
There is just something about used cars that I really like. Saving money always sounds good to me. :)