• by John Capone , June 23, 2009

Meredith has got it all backwards -- which is not to say wrong. The publishing company is launching a print magazine based on its social site about cooking and food. Mixingbowl.com launched in February, and by March, the editorial staff was cooking up an idea for a print product.

A sort of user-generated magazine, Meredith boasts that Mixing Bowl magazine "celebrates the everyday heroes of the American kitchen." Specifically, those heroes who are signed up for Mixingbowl.com. The print product features content inspired by the site, which is largely user-generated, such as favorite recipes and profiles of members that make the editors' "best of" lists. Available in supermarkets, mass merchants and bookstores nationwide, the launch issue has a distribution of 260,000 and comes out this month.

The debut issue is not ad-supported, but the second issue, in January, will rely on revenue from ads as well as newsstand sales, says Jeff Myers, vice president/general manager, Meredith Special Interest Media. He sees Mixing Bowl magazine as both an "introductory vehicle [to the site] for folks and as a reward, an incentive and opportunity for recognition for those contributing members of the community."

He tells OMD that Meredith is planning to do the magazine, at the very least, as a semi-annual or quarterly, but is undecided on what the frequency will be in 2010. That decision, he says, will be made "based on results at the newsstand as well as continuing community support."

It's an unorthodox way to launch a magazine -- in every respect -- but these are hardly normal times for the publishing world.