• by Gaetano Pollice , January 2, 2009

As magazine publishers flail about wildly, laying off staff, canceling publications and breaking into cold sweats whenever an intern utters the word "Internet," an unlikely sliver of hope may be glimmering across the pond. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and 19-year-old tabloid bait Peaches Geldof recently launched publications in Great Britain that specialize in what they know best.

For Oliver, founder of newly launched Jamie Magazine, that means, of course, food. The debut issue runs the gamut from wooden cutting boards to the Stockholm culinary scene to more than 100 recipes. Oliver is reported to have funded the project himself, investing $370,750. The debut print run tallied 140,000, per The Guardian, and British chain retailer WH Smith will carry the first three issues.

For Geldof, the mission of Disappear Here, the perhaps-soon-to-be divorcée's joint venture with her manager, Andy Varley, and magazine editor James Brown (formerly of Loaded and British GQ) is a bit less clear. As Brown told The Guardian, "Nothing in this magazine comes from the PR industry - it's basically Peaches and other young journalists raving about stuff they love," including fashion, music and design. The 120-page debut issue ("issue zero," or so they say) of the 'zine boasted no advertising and was given away for free in select bars, record stores and clubs in New York and London - a recipe for publishing success.

The moral of the story: If you're independently wealthy and British, you too can launch vanity magazines, even in the midst of carnage.