over the news that Jane magazine has folded. Staff on the Conde Nast title returned from a long weekend to be informed of the news yesterday. The last issue will be August (the June/July cover is pictured).I've had a love/hate relationship with Jane (started by former Sassy editor and media tart Jane Pratt in 1997 – she sure knows how to jump ship at the right time, having also left Sassy before it got the Conde-chop – and edited by Brandon Holley, founding editor of the now-defunct ELLEGirl – did she see the axe swinging? – since 1995) for a couple of years now, so I have mixed feelings about the news.
On the one hand, it's such a shame that a smart, sassy magazine that doesn't comply with traditional women's magazine standards (no diets, advertiser-endorsed editorial or Nicole Richie here!) should bite the bullet. On the other hand, last-ditch editorial attempts to be edgy, like including a column by an almost-30-year-old virgin who wants to get laid, brought the overall standard of the mag down to a shadow of its former self (how empowering to sell off your own deflowering!). Like Michael Jackson, every mag has its heyday and, unfortunately, Jane's has passed.
What brought about Jane's demise? Falling circulation? Lack of advertiser interest? MySpace? YouTube? Sites like Jezebel.com? An outdated editorial vision? Celebrity obsession? A buoyant fashion and health magazine market? Fierce competition from more mainstream women's magazines? Likely a combination of all the above.
Where will 20-something Jane readers turn to now? Jezebel speculates Nylon and Missbehave (a new mag published out of Brooklyn – bit trashy and brash for my liking) are contenders. But Jane was an individual – no carbon copies exist. No doubt some devotee will dedicate their own version of How Sassy Changed My Life to Jane some time soon.
In the industry, we always lament the passing of another women's mag. In the past few years, we've reluctantly farewelled ELLEGirl and, here in Australia, Elle and B. In this fickle, online-driven environment, when even Cosmo's circulation is nothing compared to what it used to be, no mag is really safe. Which makes me grateful to be working on one now. As my editor said this morning, one day we'll look back and tell our daughters that we once worked in magazines, at a time when the industry was full of big personalities, glamour and lots of fun. Said daughters may look at us and say, "What are magazines?", but with newspapers still hanging in there and tween mags like Total Girl still selling well, there's hope for the future. Magazines – even with all their faults and contradictions, and how crap they can make us feel – are our friends. Jane was the quirky friend who wasted a lot of time dating the wrong guys, drinking too much red wine, reciting lines from Reality Bites and dreaming about how she could change the world – but she didn't make you feel bad. In fact, she made you feel better.
R.I.P Jane.
Yours truly,
Girl With a Satchel
2 comments:
What killed Jane? For truth, Jane was a pale comparison to Sassy, and has been for many many years. Jane Readers were Sassy Readers, and we kept looking for that glimmer of hope that inspired our riot grrlness... but no. The lameness just kept coming... eventually we just gave up.
The future of the publishing industry is fascinating. I think they face a lot of competition from online publications and bloggers but I do believe that our glossy friends have a place on the news rack. The reason being because magazines are an indulgence, something that a woman can buy and read on the journey home from work, curled up on the sofa or in bed and in the bath. You just can't do that with a website. Also reading a magazine is an experience, a glamorous and sexy one which is gained from the glossy pages, the immaculate adverts and editorial. And as I said before, online magazines cannot offer this. So I guess magazines are hear to stay
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