Making the List

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Sept, 2000 by Stacy Nicks

A new magazine hopes to find its niche by obsessively ranking everything--the best, the worst, the least, the most.

The groceries. Things to do today. Resolutions. Lists are part of almost everyone's life, categorizing, organizing--even allowing us to indulge in wishful thinking. The magazine List--filled with lists, creative photography, art and writing--hopes to fulfill society's need for offbeat information while creating its own niche.

The premise behind the New York-based quarterly is that everyone has made a list, and will therefore be attracted to a magazine filled with them. The challenge will be figuring out where to place the eclectic mix of lists--everything from dead porn stars to top IPOs--on the newsstand.

Finding a fit

Serge Becker, architect and owner of a tavern in New York, is co-founder, along with Michael Donahue and independent publisher CAN Resources. Becker claims that List, featuring everything from a scratch-off game to urban fantasy hairstyles, defies traditional magazine categories. "By default, List is an alternative magazine. It doesn't have the same appeal as the magazine it sits next to."

Creative director and editor in chief Lisa Ano says the idea came from dinner conversations, talking to people in the community and to friends. Ano and Becker say they are deliberately keeping the platform open to allow more room for creative input. "Fashion and art are our main categories, but we're trying not to be like anyone."

The 180-page magazine, which launched in June, ran 10,000 copies of List/01 Spring/Summer 2000. It will be available at newsstands in Los Angeles and New York, with possible future expansion into Paris, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong and the Netherlands. Cover price is a hefty $15. Becker says the magazine will also be at bookstores and various hotels and boutiques.

Gaining credibility

Being first to market has advantages, but it can have setbacks, as well. Rebecca McPheters, an industry consultant, says List would have an easier time if people were familiar with the category. "Having a second book come into a category makes it more acceptable to advertising. Alone, it takes people longer to become comfortable with it. With a distribution of 10,000, getting newsstand space is nearly impossible."

One way the magazine hopes to overcome this is through reader involvement, something the founders say separates the magazine from a book filled with factoids and photography. Says Ano, "Unlike other magazines that tell you what to buy, what to wear, what to think, we challenge with more interactive information. We want others to think with us."

The Web site asks readers to send in their own lists. Readers are encouraged to complete a poll in which they rate various celebs on whether or not they belong at the top or bottom of the list.

While Ano says advertisers were hard to persuade going on faith, List is scattered with ads--19 pages total--including Armani Exchange and an Absolut Vodka ad on the back cover. Lisa Eisner of Grey Bull Press, a book publishing company that ran an ad in List, says it is in touch with readers: "I look at other magazines and think, 'Who cares? Do these people live in a tunnel?' With List you can sit down and be entertained; it makes you want to read and look at it."

Although List has no apparent competitors, Eisner says the magazines Index and Nest are comparable. But Jesse Pearson, an editor at Index, says List is not a competitor. "We have similar outlooks, are from the same town. They're a good magazine, and there is always room for good magazines." This symbiotic relationship is seen in List, as both Index and Artforum advertise in its first issue.

While today's society may enjoy lists, Ellen Oppenheim, senior vice president and media director of FCB New York, says the magazine will struggle if there isn't a personal connection: "The pros are that it is easy to read and fun. The cons are that it doesn't affect anything you do day-to-day. If several issues don't have lists that touch you, you'll loose interest, and the risk ratio is raised when entering such an untested market."

Eisner also says List falls into the general-interest category and will have to bank on the buzz factor to survive. "It's a talk piece. The question is, will they sustain it?"

Susan Posnock is editor of Industry Watch.

A List of Lists from List

* Top Ghetto Drinks

* NY Dishwasher Salaries

* Biggest IPO's of the Year

* Talk's Launch Party Guest List

* Executed Death-Row Inmates' Last Suppers

* Phobias from A to Z

* World's Top Gay Bachelor Pads

* Top-50 Magazine Advertisers

* Dead Porn Stars

* DJ Playlists at Fashion Shows