[Coco] Re: [Color Computer] Emails with Ziff Davis (Color Computer Magazine)

[Arthur Flexser]

On Tue, 12 Jul 2005, Gene Heskett wrote:

> Why should ZD care?  After all, they wrote the definitive book on how 
> to kill a successfull magazine, everyone they've bought thinking it 
> was a gold mine has petered out and been shuttered inside of a year 
> of their takeover.  I think the only potential survivor of their 
> kill-a-mag school may have been Analog, I think someone gave them 
> $.50 for the carcass a few years back after they'd taken the press 
> run from 175,000 down to 7500 in 2 years.  Its still around I think 
> although I haven't seen it recently, but then small publishers have a 
> heck of a time finding shelf space on the local newsstands.

I think Ziff-Davis are less incompetent and more evil than you give them credit
for.  As I see it, they bought the magazines in the full expectation of folding
them soon.  Why would they do such an odd thing, you ask?  Because they would
offer subscribers of a magazine they folded the option of fulfilling the
remainder of their subscription with one of their flagship magazines such as
(in the case of TCCM) Creative Computing, thereby enabling them to boost
advertising rates based on the increased circulation figures.

Art