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.

Sorry for my absence, I know you have missed me. So without further delay let me introduce the three magazines I will review for this week’s installment of What’s Hot, What’s Not. The nominees are (I’ve always wanted to say that): The Drift, Sibyl and Forbes Life Executive Woman. I thought it is fitting that this week’s installment would feature publications geared towards women. First up is The Drift…………

The Drift www.futuresnowboarding.com Proving that girls can be daredevils too, The Drift (from the word snowdrift) is a bi-monthly magazine from the editors of Future Snowboarding Magazine that features the snowboarding lifestyle from a female point of view. There are many extreme sport magazines on the market but few have attempted to tailor their content to feature the young female athlete. This publication is more than just female jocks flying through the air, it has articles on essential gear, fashion and movies. The Drift has a niche and delivers its content in an aggressive style similar to fashion/glamour magazines on newsstands, and that may be this magazine’s downfall. While this magazine has a niche it is competing with other established magazines for the same consumers, that plus the weird title could leave this publication adrift and unnoticed in today’s marketplace.

Forbes Life Executive Woman www.forbesmedia.com Forbes Life Executive Woman is a spin-off Forbes Life which subscribers of Forbes magazine have been receiving for the past two years. Forbes Life Executive Woman is for senior-level businesswomen. The content for this magazine is well thought out and executed with profiles of self-made women who have reached the upper echelon of the business world while dealing with extraordinary demands on their time, from home and the office. This publication also features regular departments on fashion, travel, health and personal finance. By tailoring its content for this audience, Forbes Life Executive Woman is targeting the underserved mature woman who has a more sophisticated taste and a need to stay abreast of events in the business world, from a female point of view.

Sibyl www.sibellaonline.org Sibyl is a quarterly magazine for women seeking spiritual enlightenment, personal growth and guidance. This publication features inspirational personal profiles, poetry and a heavy emphasis on God and religion. Sibyl offers a lot of personal uplifting messages which is the magazine’s niche. A potential problem for Sibyl is whether its message will grow stale over time. The magazine attempts to combine religion and motivation which can be tricky to do in today’s social climate where so many consumers could be turned off by Sibyl heavy-handed approach. Sibyl also needs to address the magazine’s layout, some of the spreads are poorly designed and distract from the magazine’s content. It will be interesting to see if Sibyl’s message will lead to lasting success on newsstands.