OK, so Jann Wenner would have me believe that people aren’t buying Rolling Stone anymore because it is oversized? Ummm, yeah OK, sure.
Some packages like the curvaceous old Coke bottle become so iconic that they are recognizable at 30 paces. So it is with Rolling Stone, whose large format has stood out on magazine racks for more than three decades. It won’t for much longer, however. With the Oct. 30 issue, which will go on sale Oct. 17, Rolling Stone, published by Wenner Media, will adopt the standard size used by all but a few magazines.
…
Along with the change in size, Rolling Stone will switch to heavier, glossy paper and sleeker page designs, and it will be glued rather than stapled “” “perfect bound” instead of “saddle stitched,” in magazine lingo “” giving it a flat spine rather than a tapered edge. In all, the revisions make for a more professional, more grown-up look. [NYTimes]
so lame. why dont they come out and say that the re-size is a product of rising paper prices & the economy, etc?
I actually buy the argument that a standard sized magazine may attract more advertising dollars, but I don’t believe for a minute that a smaller RS will have “significantly” more newsstand sales.