Each year I see a thousand new magazines, and I scour through them to pick the 30 most notable launches of the year. Because it is impossible to tell which magazines will be published five years from now, I don't use "probability of success" as a method of comparison. You can't compare new magazines on these terms. In the words of Merrill Panitt, longtime editorial director for TV Guide, "Magazines are creative work. You can't put a scale or measure to what or how a magazine is created. It's all in the creative world of its editors and publishers."

So, when I say these magazines are notable, I'm not necessarily saying you'll see everyone of these 30 titles in a few years. The survival rates say it probably won't happen. In fact, out of last year's top 30 notable launches, only 22 are still published-that's 27 percent that have already folded. Clearly, I can't pick the notables in terms of what I predict will survive. Instead, my choices reflect my opinions and belief that these magazines are innovators, or will otherwise make an impact on the industry.

In analyzing 1999's magazines in terms of innovation and impact, I try to answer five basic questions:

1. How much publicity did the magazine generate? We scanned the media and found all the information we could about each launch. Some new magazines had more articles written about them then all the articles that appeared in the premiere issue of the magazine itself. Talk is the perfect example.

2. How relevant was the magazine to the leading issues of the time? No one argues that changing needs of "Baby Boomers", the new interest in family heritage, the death of John F. Kennedy, Jr. and the booming marketing approach to teens have topped the media coverage of 1999. Family Tree Magazine jumped on this renewed interest in the family.

3. Was the magazine notably diversified and specialized? Was it aiming at specific segments of society within a larger segment, or just concentrating on one specific area of interest? Looking down the list, Bride Again, which is a magazine for "encore" brides, really nails this criterion.

4. How innovative were the magazines? New titles usually fit into three categories: the ground breakers, the quality copycats and the cheap imitators that are willing to take a chance making it based on success, or the apparent success of the titles already in that field. Incite Video Gaming and Incite PC Gaming were not entirely original, but their copying jobs were done so well, that Incite is now a "name" among the gaming community.

5. Was the magazine so bizarre it had to be included? If the answer was "yes", we included it. As far as bizarre magazines go,Schwing!, the alternative golf magazine, takes the cake.

The following magazines meet these criteria to be "notable". They are not ranked, but simply included alphabetically. Last year I picked the launch of the year. This year, however, I found it extremely hard to pick one as the launch above all other launches. As good as this year's crop of magazines may be, I don't think any of these titles deserve the honor bestowed upon ESPN The Magazine last year.

Some of these magazines were launched on multi-million dollar budgets, and some of these were started by people using money borrowed from relatives. All of these publications, however, have recognized a market -sustainable or not-and sought to fill that niche. We sometimes think of the Internet as the only place where highly specialized groups can find a community. Look over this list and these write-ups, and I think you'll find that magazines are the real pulse of specialized communities.