She didn't see it coming

According to a report in the Globe & Mail, Suzanne Boyd, the wunderkind editor of Suede (and former Editor at Flare) which was killed this week by Time Inc. after only four issues, was gobsmacked by the news. She never saw it coming, which may be part of the problem.

Editors who pay little or no attention to the economics of their magazines are doomed to be similarly surprised. It is not possible to maintain some elegant distance from "the money stuff" and editors should be suspicious of a company whose senior management says "You leave that to us."

The flat fact is that 70 or 80% of revenue for most consumer magazines come from advertising and the indicators are impossible to hide. One needs only count the pages and smart editors do exactly that. Even if they are being sold at a deep discount, the actual number of ad pages is a dead giveaway, particularly if the ratio of ad pages to edit falls below 40%. There is a reason why fat fashion books have 55% ad ratios -- they need that money to pay for the very expensive product.

Editors who pay attention to the relatively simple arithmetic of magazine publishing will never be surprised, even if they are getting smooth reassurances from their betters at corporate headquarters. Follow the money.