It’s a happier day for the magazine industry, as a new title makes its debut in home subscriber copies of The Globe and Mail.
Johnny Lucas, publisher and editor of the new title What Makes You Happy, said that the subject of happiness is something “absolutely everybody” is interested in. Advertisers in particular, he noted, are keen to be associated with uplifting content.
The controlled circulation magazine will be distributed six times a year to The Globe and Mail’s approximately 150,000 home subscribers, which Lucas said provides a “very special niche” for the magazine.
“[Subscribers] pay $400 to get that piece of newsprint thrown on their front step,” said Lucas, a longtime freelance writer and the former editor of Driven. “That is convincing self-identification that those people like to read.”
The 68-page premiere issue of What Makes You Happy features ads for the Bahamas, Royal LePage and the PricewaterhouseCoopers Canada Foundation. Lucas said he is striving for a 70/30 editorial-to-advertising ratio for future issues. “I need this to look valuable to the readers,” he said.
Editorial content in the launch issue includes a cover story on Canadian comedy icon Rick Mercer and a blend of what the magazine describes as “happy, inspiring, silly, important, useful and/or frivolous” articles addressing different aspects of happiness.
Content is paramount for the fledgling title, said Lucas, especially because the magazine is distributed for free. “Distribution does not equal readership,” he said. “We’ve got to audition for people’s time all the time. If people pay $20 for the Harvard Review of Business, they’re going to review the thing. We’re not in that category and we know it.”
While Lucas is quite happy about the launch of his new magazine, the prospect of advertorials makes him frown. “I like advertisers. I want to work with them and I want keep them happy, but my real bond is with the reader,” said Lucas. “If we start compromising that, I’ve got nothing to sell.
“Advertisers will always put a bit of pressure on you, but that’s fine. I can stand up to that,” he said. “We need the advertisers, but it’s got to be good for them and it’s got to be good for us. They don’t want us to destroy the product by doing advertorial.”
