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Possibly On a Mission from God
Oct. 25th, 2011 10:46 pmIt's pretty well accepted that it's been a rough few years for the print publishing industry. However, you would not know this from waiting rooms at doctors' offices or dentists' offices. Specifically, they contain recent issues of at least:
1. At least one home decorating magazine, probably Better Homes and Gardens, and usually several, often including Good Housekeeping, Martha Stewart Living, Southern Living, House Beautiful, In Style, Ladies' Home Journal, and/or Town and Country.
2. A women's fashion/lifestyle magazine, probably Redbook, but sometimes Self or Woman's Day. This is often paired with Vogue or more rarely Elle. (I don't see a lot of Marie Claire, to be honest.)
3. Either a golf magazine or a sailing magazine, plus Men's Health.
4. Newsweek and/or Time.
5. A financial magazine.
6. Reader's Digest.
It's a given. You know those magazines are going to be there.
You know what would be cool? If there was also, say, a copy of Apex. Or Tin House. Or Zoetrope. Or whatever you like to read, whether it's The Paris Review or Asimov's.
We could make this happen. All it takes is buying a subscription. You probably don't even have to ask permission; you know the doctor or dentist is going to put it out there if you send it to the office. And you have the address for the office; it's how you got there and it's on all the bills.
All at once you would (1) give yourself something to look forward to reading when you go to the doctor's, (2) give financial support to a magazine you care about, and (3) begin to re-normalize the idea of reading short fiction by putting it in the same safe middle-American context as Better Homes and Gardens. (Almost as though Reader's Digest was still Reader's Digest and not bad jokes and questionable health tips.) In one masterstroke, you would strike a blow for all that is good and beautiful. We could start a movement.
It's so simple. It's so charitable. I can't believe that in all the years of subscription drives, I've had publishers ask me to buy subscriptions for my friends, for my family, for classrooms, for libraries, but never for my dentist.
I feel like beauticians would be a harder sell, because it's a more frivolous and conversation-driven environment, but maybe I'm wrong.
1. At least one home decorating magazine, probably Better Homes and Gardens, and usually several, often including Good Housekeeping, Martha Stewart Living, Southern Living, House Beautiful, In Style, Ladies' Home Journal, and/or Town and Country.
2. A women's fashion/lifestyle magazine, probably Redbook, but sometimes Self or Woman's Day. This is often paired with Vogue or more rarely Elle. (I don't see a lot of Marie Claire, to be honest.)
3. Either a golf magazine or a sailing magazine, plus Men's Health.
4. Newsweek and/or Time.
5. A financial magazine.
6. Reader's Digest.
It's a given. You know those magazines are going to be there.
You know what would be cool? If there was also, say, a copy of Apex. Or Tin House. Or Zoetrope. Or whatever you like to read, whether it's The Paris Review or Asimov's.
We could make this happen. All it takes is buying a subscription. You probably don't even have to ask permission; you know the doctor or dentist is going to put it out there if you send it to the office. And you have the address for the office; it's how you got there and it's on all the bills.
All at once you would (1) give yourself something to look forward to reading when you go to the doctor's, (2) give financial support to a magazine you care about, and (3) begin to re-normalize the idea of reading short fiction by putting it in the same safe middle-American context as Better Homes and Gardens. (Almost as though Reader's Digest was still Reader's Digest and not bad jokes and questionable health tips.) In one masterstroke, you would strike a blow for all that is good and beautiful. We could start a movement.
It's so simple. It's so charitable. I can't believe that in all the years of subscription drives, I've had publishers ask me to buy subscriptions for my friends, for my family, for classrooms, for libraries, but never for my dentist.
I feel like beauticians would be a harder sell, because it's a more frivolous and conversation-driven environment, but maybe I'm wrong.
