How magazines work

The structure of the magazine industry
The magazine industry trade body, the Professional Publishers Association, represents about 400 companies, which between them account for about 2,300 magazines – 80 per cent of the UK magazine market by turnover. However, in total, more than 8,000 titles are published in Britain ... Read more

Magazine industry sectors
Magazines are periodicals that can be categorised as belonging to one of these industry sectors: consumer magazines; trade magazines; contract magazines; newspaper supplements … Read more

Why the UK industry is so well developed
As well as competition from newspapers and contract magazines, many other factors make the UK highly competitive … Read more

Profiles of consumer and trade magazine publishers
Some 90 publishers are listed alphabetically, with information about their histories, magazines and with links to their international owners ... Read more

Profiles of contract magazine publishers
Contract publishers are known by many names, such as customer publishing or content marketing agencies, but whatever you call them, they produce magazines in print and digital formats to be read by the customers, employees or clients of large companies … Read more

Digital magazines: news and a history timeline
It can seem as if digital magazines have just suddenly appeared, but there have been many attempts at creating such a medium going back decades ... Read more

Timeline: a history of magazines
The history of magazines in Britain stretches back more than 400 years. These pages trace events and list developments in technology, distribution and corporate strategy as well as the influence of periodicals on culture … Read more

Links to magazine-related websites
Links to websites about magazines, magazine publishers, design and related information in the UK and internationally. The list is organised into 9 sections … Read more

The biggest consumer magazine publishers
The biggest consumer magazine publishers by newsagent sales revenue are Bauer; IPC; BBC Magazines; and National Magazines (Hearst) … Read more

Robert Maxwell's The European
In 1988, Robert Maxwell laid out grandiose plans for a pan-European newspaper. Two years later the first copies hit the streets, but Maxwell was lost at sea in 1991, his empire collapsed and it was found that he had stolen pension money from thousands of employees. ... Read more

Not Private Eye
Private Eye and its editors, Richard Ingrams and then Ian Hislop, spent years trying to show Robert Maxwell was a crook, losing several libel cases in the process ... Read more

Man About Town
Man About Town magazine – the brainchild of John Taylor, one of the most influential journalists of his generation – can be seen as Britain's first modern consumer style title for men. Yet this was not its only influence on the development of magazine publishing ... Read more

London Life Covers
London Life, a magazine published by New Picture Press from 1920 to 1960, started as a weekly with a larger-than-A4 format, but war rationing forced it to reduce its frequency ... Read more

412 Magazine covers
412 of the finest magazine covers to grace news-stands .... Read more

Glossary of magazine terms and jargon
Terminology can vary between magazine and newspaper industries, as well as between individual titles and internationally. These pages are used by the Periodicals Training Council … Read more

Frequently asked questions about magazines
How do I get listed on Magforum? Where can I find cover images? Which are the best-selling magazines? Are circulation and sales the same? How can I find sales figures around the world? These are questions that visitors to Magforum have asked. Take a look, and if you need to know more, e-mail me … Read more