• Mr. Magazine, Friday, March 31, 2006 11 AM

Samir Husni, the University of Mississipi journalism professor who has adapted the handle Mr. Magazine, has launched an eponymous blog in which he shares his thoughts about happenings in the world of mags.  This week he interviews Justin B. Smith, president of Dennis Publishing's The Week magazine, which Husni loves. "I asked him whether four years ago he expected The Week to be where it is now. 'I guess in the beginning we didn't really know,' said Smith. 'We just knew that this was a very compelling editorial idea that really connected with readers and, when it got in people's hands, they would basically renew at extremely high rates, eventually evangelizing the product to the community and their friends. We had seen how (The Week in England) had grown. What happened in England is that once the magazine got to a certain size, word of mouth began to drive circulation growth almost on auto pilot. It was a combination of that word of mouth and extremely high renewal rates that got us all excited.'" 

Read the whole story at Mr. Magazine »