"Remember who brought you to the dance" - some lines about the the 2007 American Magazine Conference:

What happens when a bunch of people from the magazine industry gather in one big hall for the American Magazines Conference? What would happen if it actually happened here in tiny Malta? How would the many local SOHO design agencies face the big print giants! We could discuss success stories such as 'Homeworks' or 'Circle', but then we could also question what went wrong with 'The Onion' and similar good ideas that did not succeed in the long run.

I discovered the wonderful print industry in my University days. Print is nice and most importantly very engaging. Magazines are considered to be the most trusted advertising medium, much better than the web. At the same time, some think that media is currently in its 'Golden Age', as stated by Beth Comstock, NBC Universal President - Digital Media and Market Development. People are estimated to spend an average of 12 hrs a day with media! In this 'Golden Age', the magazine industry should be at its best, but this is certainly not the case.

Alternative media are shouting for attention and it seems the magazine industry, with its expensive production costs, is having a hard time. Wenda Harris Millard, who previously worked at Yahoo and now is president of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia believes magazine publishers will soon pay the price for the bad circulation practices and the fragile distribution network. Many would add that the 'paying-the-price' part is already happening.

On a positive note, alternative media could (and should) be seen as an opportunity magazine publishers could benefit from as Adam Moss of the New York Magazine thinks.

I am all for interactive media and strongly believe that finally it's all about content coupled with wise distribution at the right time and over the right medium.

The bottom line though is the end user, the reader, the audience. It is this audience that the magazine industry should focus on if it wants to succeed. It could be print, it could be web, but finally it is about delivering relevant content in the readers' preferred format. As editor of Essence Angela Burt-Murray nicely puts it, "Remember who brought you to the dance".