The buzz around town of late has been a positive uptick in assignments and even gasp* budgets for photographers.  I must say a very nice change from the terribly somber fall we had here in NYC.  Perhaps it really is true, things are on the mend, or perhaps attitudes are adjusting and we are all just making the best of things.  Maybe its a bit of both.  Not to rain on the parade but I caught an article on the way home last night published in the New York Times that had some pretty somber numbers for the magazine industry with a newsstand sale drop of 9.1 percent.

Here are a couple of the hardest hit according to the article:

“W, down 41.7 percent to about 25,000 for an average issue; Newsweek, down 41.3 percent to about 62,000 (Newsweek had decreased the number of copies on sale, noted a spokesman); SmartMoney, down 37 percent to about 26,000; Time, down 34.9 percent to about 90,000; Good Housekeeping, down 30.7 percent to 395,000; and Redbook, down 30.1 percent to 126,000.”

Not all news was bad.  Women’s Health one of the more familiar titles mentioned rose 21.5 percent.

I think we are all still very much aware of the uncertainty facing our industry.  I personally have friends and colleagues at several of these and other titles, so I’m certainly rooting for them all to get through these rough times.  And even though things have been looking up this year it would be most prudent to keep planning for the uncertainty ahead.

You can read the full article from The New York Times here.

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