Wal-Mart and Time Inc. are publishing a magazine that will be sold only in Wal-Mart stores, according to this Reuters story.
If Wal-Mart, which controls 15 percent of all U.S. newsstands sales, is successful, other retailers could try publishing special magazines, says a journalism professor quoted in the article. Tip from rexblog.
Procter & Gamble is considering a print publication building on the success of its web site HomeMadeSimple.com, according to AdAge. One reason P&G is considering a print edition of that brand is possible backlash against Martha Stewart Living from Martha Stewart’s conviction. A P&G executive quoted in the article says HomeMadeSimple has also tested a TV show in the UK.
P&G has created a new online media brand HealthExpressions.com, to tap the unmet need of “light health-care information” and the ability of P&G products to meet that need.
One more publishing note, NY Times reports on Ford’s UK division signing a sponsorship deal with “Chick-lit” novelist Carole Matthews, that includes writing references to Ford’s Fiesta into her next novel. The novel, The Sweetest Taboo, was almost finished when the deal was signed. In the original draft it was a Vokswagen Beetle.