With last Monday a holiday we almost missed the opportunity to blog this local media tidbit reported in last weekend's Chron: DIY rag ReadyMade has been sold to Meredith Corp., a largish media company that owns Better Homes and Gardens and Family Circle magazines.
Co-founder Shoshana Berger stays on, and ReadyMade stays put in Berkeley.
It seems like a strange fit until you read that Meredith Corp. wants to reach a younger audience. So they did what all slumbering giants do when they need a burst of energy. They eat something young.
For what it's worth, Readymade has already had a previous instance of corporate shilling: a co-branded Toyota Yaris/Readymade giveaway publication piece. This slick little advertorial mini-magazine had some valid editorial content--short articles on crafting and the DIY-lifestyle; but over half of the publication was made up of plans and tips on how to pimp out your Yaris "the Readymade way". Oh, and the piece also included a sampler CD of indie bands (quite good actually... it included the most recent single by Canadian indie electronic act Junior Boys). The piece was given away in front of the Meltdown Comics store in Hollywood during the last Felt Club craft fair. Readymade/Yaris magazine--with indie music CD--given away from a Yaris parked in front of an indie craft fair. My head just about exploded from all the youth-targetted cross-marketing.
My point? Readymade isn't on the verge of going mainstream because, honey, it's already happened.
I noticed with this issue it feels MUCH MUCH more Domino or Real Simple....Sux!
Bad thing is I just subscribed......Why do all magazines feel the need to go the way of homogeny?
Oh, for the good ol' days of "Apartment Life"....
Actually Better Homes & Gardens does some great non-subscription design pubs, like the fairly new Real+Life Decorating, Bargain Style (my fav), and Do It Yourself, which are full of affordable DIY design ideas. Readymade will be their first one with edge.
They also tried to launch a similar mag to Budget Living called Living 101( an offshoot of their Midwest Living). For some reason, they did one test issue and then gave up. I still have a link to one of the stories on my site because they were one of the first to feature Lotta Jansdotter's adorable San Fran apartment.
I'm hopeful, I think it's a much better fit that if they were swallowed up by Conde Nast.
I'm happy for them? I mean, hard working gals with a great product get PAID for doing a good job... that's good...
So they got bought by a big corporate soul sucking machine... the editors seem to have moxie... and if it doesn't work out, we still have the new mag, Craft (from the editors of Make)
Actually, several years ago Meredith tried their own version of Domino/Budget Living called Living Room. I believe they let it go for two issues.
Living 101 was a test publication by Sunset Magazine which is owned by Time.