Magazine & Catalogue News Roundup

Magazine and Catalogue News Roundup

Reader’s Digest Association is cutting 150 positions, half of which are in the U.S., by the end of the year.  The company said the moves are part of its plan to focus on its core, or “master”, brands, Reader’s Digest, Taste of Home and The Family Handyman.

Source Interlink ‘s GrindMedia has acquired Baseball America, which is published 26 times a year and has an average circulation of 32,300.

Oriental Trading Co., the largest direct retailer of party supplies, arts and crafts, toys and novelties in the U.S., is introducing new digital catalogues accessible via iPads.

Hearst has purchased a Commander CL offset press from Koeing & Bauer AG for its Albany Times Union newspaper.  The press is scheduled to come online in 2013.

F+W Media acquired Script Magazine from Final Draft.  Terms of the deal were not disclosed.  The magazine will no longer be printed; subscribers will receive Writer’s Digest in its stead.

American Media announced a new printing schedule for its OK magazine, a move designed to cut costs; the title will be printed almost a week before it goes to newsstands, unlike other celebrity weeklies, which wait as long as possible before initiating the production process.

Immediate Media’s Top Gear and Aurasma have created “a fully augmented print magazine.”  After downloading a free app, readers can point their smart phones or tablets at the printed pages of the magazine and see highlights from the Top Gear television show.

Summit Business Media is closing its Florida Underwriter magazine after its December issue.  The title focused on the insurance industry.

New York Times CEO Janet Robinson is stepping down by the end of the year.  Chairman and publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. will assume the responsibilities of the position until a new CEO is found.

TIME has named Michael Duffy as Executive Editor.  Mr. Duffy is currently the Washington Bureau Chief.

The Virginia Quarterly Review has named Jon Parrish Peede as publisher.  Mr. Peede was the director of literature for the National Endowment of the Arts.

Vertis Closing Plant

The Vertis Communications plant in Saugerties, NY will close Jan. 7 because, they said, of economic conditions. The plant employs 150 people and produces advertising inserts.

Digital Production Print in 2011

The close of the year end is always a good time to look up from dayto-day business and review the important news that happened during the year. Overall 2011 proved to be a pretty decent year for digital production printing. Installations of digital production printing equipment were on the rise again, after recovering from a drop in 2009 in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

NRF Expects Sales to Rise 3.8%

The National Retail Federation has revised its holiday forecast upward, expecting holiday sales to rise 3.8% this year to a record $469.1 billion. NRF's initial forecast, announced on Oct. 6, called for anticipated sales growth of 2.8%. A 3.8% sales increase is considerably above the ten-year average sales increase of 2.6%.

$1.1 Billion Spent Online for Green Monday

comScore has reported holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 42 days of the November - December 2011 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date through December 12, $26.8 billion has been spent online, marking a 15% increase versus the corresponding days last year.

Commercial Printing Profits Up Eight Consecutive Quarters

US commercial printing industry profits were up in the third quarter of 2011, marking the eighth consecutive quarter of positive results. Though the industry has been going through hard times in terms of sales, rising profits have been a sign of the industry’s restructuring and the departure of its weakest establishments.

For the last four quarters, inflation-adjusted profits were $3.96 billion, and finally exceeded the low level of 2005. These were the best four-quarter profits level since the four-quarter period ending in 2007, when profits were $4.3 billion, and inflation adjusted sales were $112 billion, about $27 billion more than the $85 billion that has been estimated for 2011.