What's Hot What's New

The good, the bad and the ugly. You'll find them all here. Each week you'll get my take on the intriguing, and sometimes peculiar, titles to recently hit the newsstand.

Regional Publications have become extremely popular in recent years. More and more magazines are becoming specialized by not just having a niche, but having a niche to a specific region. So, in this edition of What's Hot, What's Not , I decided to feature three new regional publications that support this growing trend.

Kentucky Bridal Cover Price: $4.95 www.kybridalmag.com Just in time for the summer wedding season comes Kentucky Bridal Magazine, a regional bi-monthly wedding publication focused specifically on the Bluegrass state. It is no longer good enough to be a wedding magazine, in today's market you have to be even more specialized. Kentucky Bridal is hoping to capitalize on this trend by providing content to future brides in Kentucky.   This magazine wants to be a one-stop resource for weddings in Kentucky and tailors its content to achieve this end. Everything from local photographers, bakeries, wedding venues and dress makers are covered in this magazine. The content provided in this publication is as specific as the title of the magazine itself and further illustrates the trend towards specialized publications on today's newsstands.

Lake Erie Living Cover Price: $3.95 www.lakeerieliving.com Lake Erie Living is a bi-monthly magazine about the life and communities surrounding Lake Erie. The editors of this magazine state that they want this publication to highlight the people and places that make Lake Erie unique. This magazine has great visuals and features articles on lake real estate, boating and gardening which give Lake Erie its reputation as a great resort location. But while this magazine has a niche, it remains to be seen if there is enough of a potential consumer and customer base to support this magazine long-term. It will also be interesting to see if the editors will be able to provide enough substantive content to keep up this magazine's bi-monthly frequency.

South Carolina Alive Cover Price: $3.50 www.scalive.com South Carolina Alive is a bi-monthly magazine attempting to highlight the different communities and attractions that make up the state of South Carolina. South Carolina Alive like its sister publications, Alabama Alive and Gulf Coast Alive, is a regional lifestyle magazine featuring people profiles and travel destinations. South Carolina Alive establishes its niche by providing content that is unique to its region with articles on outdoor life, historic sites and local cuisines. South Carolina Alive does a good job of focusing on topics that will interest its potential consumers, the people of South Carolina. This magazine is off to a good start, and as long as it stays true to its niche it could be ALIVE on newsstands for a long time.