MOSCOW, June 19 (RIA Novosti) - A new magazine goes through three developmental stages lasting a total of 25 years, at the earliest, before it gains a steady readership, say Argentine experts Norberto Angeletti and Alberto Oliva, authors of the book Magazines That Make History.
"A magazine spends its first three years attracting readers, who need the next ten years to get accustomed to it. We cannot be sure the magazine has acquired a market share and regular readers until at least 25 years after its founding," Angeletti said in a lecture at the Publishing Expo 2007 forum and exhibition in Moscow.
Organized by the Russian Guild of Press Publishers, the Expo brought together more than 2,000 specialists representing publishers, printers, news agencies and other companies. RIA Novosti is its news partner.
Angeletti and Oliva spoke in detail about the emergence of The Economist, National Geographic, Vogue, Time Magazine, The New Yorker, Esquire, Life, Elle, Der Spiegel, Cosmopolitan and other world-renowned magazines.
They have all contributed a great deal to contemporary journalism and publishing, Angeletti said.
"The appearance of women's and children's magazines launched a new era in press publishing - family magazines. The first issue of Time came out in the United States in 1923, ushering in the era of news magazines," he continued.
The experts trace the genre of the magazine photo essay back to the establishment of Life in 1940.
If you want your magazine to sell like hot cakes, pay attention to its cover, they said.
"The cover is a magazine's visiting card - the queen of all pages," Angeletti stressed.
He divided the history of the cover into three stages, just like the development of a magazine - the Illustration Age, the Photograph Age and the Marketing Age. The latter has made the cover the most important part of a magazine.
Teenagers' magazines have been one of the greatest innovations of recent years. In particular, the famous women's magazines Vogue and Elle have launched youth versions.
"They aim to win over young readers and make them buy the same brand later on," Angeletti said in conclusion.
