Quote, unquote: Don't let editorial veer away from the mission

"The average shopper...is not a PhD. If they want to buy a craft magazine — let’s say knitting — they are buying the magazine for creative ideas and designs they can duplicate. They are not buying the knitting magazine to learn how wool is made, the DNA differences of sheep, and 101 uses of lanolin. I can assure you that a knitting magazine offering 101 new patterns and a guide to making beautiful baby gifts will sell better on the typical newsstand than a more technical cover."

-- John Morthanos, "For newsstand success, magazines must stay true to editorial mission"  in Publishing Executive. He points out that a change in editorial mission can kill even the most successful titles.