• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, September 22, 2006

Having left their previous creation, The Source, in January, Dave Mays and Ray Scott are launching a new magazine covering celebrity news and urban lifestyles called Hip Hop Weekly, delivering news on film, TV, music, fashion, and sports. Published by Hip Hop Global Media, where Mays is CEO, the new magazine will be edited by Mimi Valdes, formerly editor of Vibe, with columnists including hip-hop radio personalities Wendy Williams, Star and Buc Wild. With a price of $2.99 for the first issue and $3.99 for all successive issues, weekly distribution will open at 100,000 issues when the mag goes on sale Oct. 16.

Almost 40 million people under the age of 40 identify with hip-hop culture nationally, according to Mays--divided more or less evenly along gender lines. Acknowledging the revolutionary possibilities of the Internet, Mays says the new medium would be central to the magazine's content strategy: "Hip-hop culture and its celebrities are making news every day, so there is a need for a magazine that can keep up with the much faster pace of news and information flow in the multi-media, Internet-driven world." Hip Hop Weekly's embrace of the Internet and other new media will extend to its ad strategy, according to Mays, who has created a company called Effective Creative Marketing to handle ad sales for the new magazine. "You need to be changing your creative more frequently and getting it in front of people faster. The Internet is one of the things that allows you to do that."

Mays noted that the weekly print schedule will give the mag a leg up against monthlies covering the same topics, including The Source and Vibe. "The weekly format allows a marriage of the Internet, mobile technology, email--all the things that are increasing the flow of content. You might get an alert about a news brief. Then in the weekly magazine, you'll see the full story, with the picture." Here, Hip Hop Weekly seems to be taking a page from the mainstream celebrity weeklies that broke into the consumer mag market at the expense of traditional celebrity monthlies, like People. Indeed, Mays notes, "I think monthlies are really challenged in the world today, especially pop culture and entertainment, because things happen every day."

Sherman's March: From Internet to Magazine

James Sherman, the CEO and online publisher of the Sherman's Travel Web site, launched a print magazine extension of the brand by the same name this week. The first issue debuted Sept. 19 with a rate base of 200,000. The magazine launched as a quarterly publication, but will begin bimonthly distribution in 2009. Sherman's free weekly electronic newsletter boasts a subscriber list of about 3.5 million, so there seems to be a substantial pool of potential subscribers for the print product. Like the Web site, the magazine targets 35- to-54-year-old women with an average household income of $75,000 who are interested in high-end travel but still want deals.

Outside's Targets Male Travelers with Outside's Go

This March, Outside magazine is launching a new quarterly travel and style magazine targeting affluent men with an interest in travel, called Outside's Go. With a newsstand price of $6 and an initial rate base of 200,000, the magazine hopes to appeal to men over the age of 35 with an average income of $150,000. Jake Hill, previously publisher of Spin, is serving as the new magazine's launching publisher, while Kent Black--an editor and writer who has worked for Details, Rolling Stone and Outside--will serve as editor.

Trump Magazine Unveils Regional Editions

Premiere Publishing Group announced this week that it's introducing a new, New York City-focused edition of Trump Magazine, which covers business and lifestyle topics for affluent readers powered by the sensibility and creative direction of The Donald himself. Beginning in October, Trump will offer a New York City edition with a different cover and 20 pages of additional content about New York. Because of the popularity of the new section with advertisers, subsequent editions will have 32 additional pages of info, and Trump is planning comparable regional editions for Florida and California.