Depending on who you ask at what time of day, the new Self magazine is either for a “more mature readership” or has gone through a major revamp to specifically focus more on fashion or is still for millennial readers. Alternatively, perhaps it sits in the middle of a venn diagram of all three of those groups, as most publications that are attempting to boost their readership while still developing a specific voice do.
The October issue of the magazine is the first entirely edited by Joyce Chang, who was hired in April after former editor Lucy Danziger was fired, Because it’s the hot new thing on the market, its getting some press. After firing and hiring a bevy of new staffers (a shift that competitor Shape is currently experiencing right now as well), Chang told Capital New York that Self‘s ideal reader is “women who have hit a place where they’re making conscious choices in their lives.” Not sure how that means they’re more “mature” but maybe that’s because the magazine is probably still going after the previously announced, always-sought-after-in-every-industry youth vote. They’d like to have their mature women while getting their disposable income women too.
Compared to twenty-somethings, who live “frantic” lives, “our reader is someone who has gotten to a point in their lives where they feel they can take some control over what they eat, what their schedule is.”
“I wanted Self to be this world in which it was bright, it was sunny, it was daytime, it was optimistic,” Chang said. “When you’re inside it’s like the great Tribeca Loft. When you’re outside, you’re at the beach, you’re in the country.”
This “grown ass lady” approach makes a little sense; part of the reason Self got into trouble last time was because they clearly thought that being young meant being dumb.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
