12/15/2009 by Beth Bily

(Photo: Marti Buscaglia, publisher of Duluth-Superior Magazine.)

Marti Buscaglia is more bullish than most on the future of the print industry.

The publisher of Duluth-Superior Magazine and former publisher of the Duluth News Tribune ushered the magazine onto newsstands in February 2008 – just as many print publications were squeezing newsrooms and looking for any viable revenue stream alternative.

Are magazines immune from the financial woes facing newspapers? Certainly not. Revenue sources are similar, as are the challenges, Buscaglia said. While she acknowledges the widespread use of the Web as a place to gather information, she also believes some of her colleagues have overestimated the Internet, underestimated print, and abandoned core readership in the process.

“I think the (Web) is grossly overrated,” Buscaglia said. “The Web audience is so fragmented. I don’t know that advertising reaches people on the Web.”

Nora Paul, director of the University of Minnesota’s Institute for New Media Studies, agrees that advertising is often lost with Web readers. “People don’t often see ads on Web sites because they’re usually positioned on the right rail which people have learned to ignore,” she said, adding Web site advertising too often is based on a display ad model.

Duluth-Superior Magazine

Buscaglia’s magazine targets an upscale demographic, much like Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine, through its print and online presence. The look and feel are modeled after Diablo, San Francisco’s travel, culture, food and entertainment magazine.

Buscaglia’s monthly has paid and controlled circulation of about 7,000. About 3,000 more copies are sold on newsstands and distributed as free samples. That’s well short of the 20,000 circulation Buscaglia envisioned in 2007, but it’s respectable and growing. “We’re not making a fortune but we’re paying the bills,” she said.

Like circulation, revenue also is on the rise, she said, declining to share actual results. But third quarter results in 2009 were better than the year-earlier period, a significant accomplishment, she said, given the soft economy climate and large number of media outlets in the Twin Ports.

Hometown Focus

In Virginia, long-time newspaper brothers Scott and Jeff Asbach, also jumped in with a new print venture last year. Although their weekly publishes on newsprint, the Asbachs describe Hometown Focus as a magazine.

They have survived a Duluth News Tribune story last April about their past-due printing bill owed to the Duluth newspaper after the brothers won an “Entrepreneurial Vision” special award from UMD’s Center for Economic Development. Circulation is growing, they said.

When they launched Hometown Focus in early 2008, they described it as “reverse publishing” venture, meaning content would be published online first, then in print.

They had to rethink that model, given the East Range’s older demographic where only half the households have personal computers. They added a weekly print product three months after the Web site launch.

While they view the Web as a valuable tool, the brothers are focused primarily on their print product that delivers largely positive news stories.

The co-chief executives formerly worked for the Mesabi Daily News where Scott was its publisher and Jeff its general manager. The upstart doesn’t see itself as a direct competitor to Virginia’s established daily. “There’s always competition for advertising dollars, but our content is totally different,” said Jean Cole, Hometown Focus editor.

Community members generate most of the weekly’s content. Stories are human-interest features, not hard news. Hometown Focus has combined paid circulation and free distribution, varying between 9,000 and 15,000 copies. It employs eight FTEs.

Magazines fare better

Given the prevailing climate, it may seem surprising anyone would launch a new print publishing venture. Unlike newspapers, however, magazine circulation appears more stable. In the last decade, total subscription and single copy sales of magazines slipped only slightly, from 372.1 million in 1999 to 368.4 million last year, according to the Magazine Publishers of America.

Their more specialized focus and content may offer some stability, as well, for journalists.

The number of reporters from general circulation newspapers covering the U.S. Capitol has declined sharply, 19 percent in 2008, according to a February 2009 study by from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. However, the overall pool of reporters doesn’t appear to have changed much in the last decade. The same study reports journalists working for niche and specialized publications covering Congress was 1,362 in 1997 and still more than 1,300 in 2008.

That data seems consistent with the mood within these two local magazines.

The Asbachs said the Virginia area is welcoming its community journalism model. “People tell us it’s fun to read,” Cole said. “We’ve created something people care about.”

While she expects the number of print media titles in the market to shrink, Buscaglia said there’s a future for publications that resonate with their target audiences.

“Print will still be around,” she said. “I don’t think it’s going away in my lifetime.”

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