Last week, I was asked if I'd be willing to post this announcement about the new Victoria on Coffee Tea Books and Me. I'm very happy to and I am so excited about the possibilities of the new (resurrected) magazine. They publish all but one of the magazines I read on a regular basis (the other being Country Living).
So...here is their "official" announcement:
HOFFMAN MEDIA, LLC AND HEARST MAGAZINES
FORM JOINT VENTURE TO RE-LAUNCH VICTORIA
The Magazine about Romantic Living to Debut October 2007
Birmingham, Ala. (April 26, 2007)—Hoffman Media, LLC, publisher of the successful magazine Cooking with Paula Deen, today announced that it has partnered with Hearst Magazines to re-introduce Victoria, a magazine that ceased publication in 2003. The two companies have formed a joint venture for the purpose of publishing Victoria and ancillary media products and events under the Victoria brand name. Owned and operated solely by Hearst from 1987 to 2003, Victoria will now be entirely under the direction of Hoffman Media, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.
Under the terms of the agreement, Hoffman will handle all editorial, production, distribution and advertising for Victoria. Hearst will contribute the Victoria trademark, copyright, URL, subscription database, and access to historical content of both editorial and art.
Founded in 1987 by Nancy Lindemeyer, Victoria was the authority on romantic living, including home and garden, fashion and beauty, food, home decorating, collectibles and profiles of remarkable women. Its mission was to create a community of kindred spirits – those who recognize the importance of beauty and manners and traditions in daily life. In its new form, Victoria magazine will once again take its place as the official guide to gracious living.
Victoria will be published bi-monthly with its first issue hitting newsstands in October 2007 with a November/December issue. The magazine will carry a cover price of $4.99. Hoffman Media’s launch plans for Victoria include heavy newsstand distribution, strong internet presence, and targeted direct mail campaigns. The ultimate goal for the launch of this bi-monthly magazine will be to reach 250,000 paid copies after just two issues.
“Victoria magazine had a unique editorial perspective and a loyal readership since its very first issue in 1987,” said Cathleen P. Black, president, Hearst Magazines. “Because of its success in the niche women’s lifestyle market, Hoffman is the right publisher to bring the Victoria brand back to life in its new format and we are confident that Phyllis and her team will do a great job.”
While Hearst ceased publication of Victoria following the June 2003 issue, the brand has lived on through a series of branded books published by Sterling Books.
“Women across the country have longed to have their beloved Victoria back and now they will,” said Phyllis Hoffman, CEO, Hoffman Media. “Victoria is a perfect fit for our roster of lifestyle titles that share a similar editorial and demographic focus. We’re thrilled to be working with Hearst to revive this brand for a more targeted audience of women.”
A leading special-interest publisher, Hoffman Media is known for specializing in magazines targeting the women’s market. The company’s most recent launch, Cooking with Paula Deen in October 2005, met with unbelievable success—reaching a rate base of 750,000 after only eight issues. The company also publishes titles such as Southern Lady, Tea Time and Taste of the South.
About Hoffman Media, LLC
Hoffman Media, LLC, headquartered in Birmingham, AL, is a leading special-interest publisher specializing in magazines targeted to the women’s market. In addition to publications, the company has a growing consumer seminar business and an established ancillary products division.
About Hearst Magazines
Hearst Magazines is a unit of Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com) and one of the world’s largest publishers of monthly magazines, with a total of 19 U.S. titles and nearly 200 international editions. Hearst reaches more adults than any other publisher of monthly magazines (73.4 million according to MRI, fall 2006). The company also publishes 20 magazines in the United Kingdom through its wholly owned subsidiary, The National Magazine Company Limited.
Since its founding in 1983, Hoffman Media has been a leader in special-interest publications. Targeting the women’s market, the company publishes TeaTime, Southern Lady, Taste of the South, Just CrossStitch, Sew Beautiful, Sampler & Antique Needlework Quarterly, and Cooking with Paula Deen.
7 comments:
Oh I'm so happy that you were asked to put this entry up, here. After all, you are the one who alerted me, to this wonderful news... in a comment in my blog.
And also thank you for your comment in my blog today. I really didn't think much of my entry at all. I wasn't feeling like I had much of anything to write today. But, I guess at times, those can be my best entries. Just saying some little something, I feel.
Mari-Nanci
Brenda ~ after reading about this on several blogs now, I will have to check out this magazine at our library. Maybe I'd never bothered to read it before because it seemed more teatime-romantic-frilly, etc. rather than just plain "country" (which is more me). At least that's the impression I get. But I'll check it out the new issue that's coming out. Thanks for the post. :)
I hope the new version is more like the original Victoria magazines than the later ones. It seemed as if they ran out of things to photograph as the years went on. I read the older ones over and over and over again. I wish I had kept them. I "decluttered" them after tearing out the articles I wanted to save. Blogs weren't even invented back then, and now I find that there are so many kindred spirits on the web!
I like Hoffman Media-I think they do a wonderful job with "Tea Time" and "Southern Lady." This gives me hope that the new "Victoria" will have the same feminine, classy feel to it.
I found five issues of "Victoria" at a garage sale last Saturday, issues from the early 90's. I probably owned them at one time but how fun it will be to go through them again. I decluttered my old issues several years back also...what was I thinking?!
My favorite issue, that I had the brains to keep, was from July 1992.
Oh, I can't wait to get that new first issue into my hands this fall!! How do you spell "giddy"?
hee....hee.....
joanna :)
I'm so excited about the Victoria magazine coming back! It was one of my favorites!
I can hardly wait!
If anyone else was involved in this project, I'd wonder if they could do it right.
However, since I love so many of their other magazines, I think we will like the results.
I'm very hopeful too Brenda - and excited! I loved Victoria!
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