Any advice on how to write a magazine review (after of course reading a few here and there)?

What do you consider important (even though, of course, every user is different...)?

Thanks

Sheila

I like to know whether a magazine is overloaded with ads and whether or not the ads are on topic or irrelevant. (For example, I get irritated by travel magazines with too many ads for Rolex watches and Kraft macaroni).

I also like to know how deeply things are covered and whether or not there's enough meat to make the thing worth reading. (Are articles choppy and incomplete, as in most mass-market fluff magazines? Or are they fascinating trips into the depths of unexplored topics?)

Just a couple thoughts...

Good luck!
M

Thanks to both of you...

Now I better get down to work to try out this new type (for me) of review!

Sheila

As a former magazine editor, I like to know how well a magazine is edited. Are there lots of typos? Are captions clear and in the right place? Are there any whacky editing or layout problems? Is an ad for a Sony TV facing a glowing review of a Sony TV? These may be things that only an editor would notice, I suppose.

I also like to know the editorial direction. For example, I write for a couple of car magazines and that genre has been slowly taking a youth detour. Many car mags now are clearly aimed a 20-somethings who want to add all sorts of performance and appearance widgets to their cars. I'm more interested in keeping a car running properly, the way the manufacturer intended. Any modifications I do better be cost-effective and offer high value. A three-tiered rear wing for my street car and a 2,000-Watt stereo don't meet that standard. When I read a review of a magazine, I'd like to know who the intended reader is, and to know whether the reviewer feels s/he fits the target audience.

--Bob

a mag that is chock full of ads - in fact, there are few articles in proportion to the ads, because it's an art mag that basically has one feature story and the rest is news about openings around the world. Got H'd by an advisor who probably thinks that I'm lacking info on the articles, but in this case, there few articles to speak of.

For this reason, I focused on the format pretty heavily and talked about my user experience. If anyone else has suggestions for what else to include in situations like these, I'm all ears.

Late to the party here.

Without going back to look at your review, I'd say that as long as you are clear that the magazine is lacking and it's not just your review, you'll be ok.

Amy

A magazine editor told me that any magazine that is more than 75-percent advertising is not considered a magazine by the Postal Service. It then falls into a different mailing category that costs more for postage. This particular editor said that his magazine got perilously close to this dividing line and the publisher had to increase the editorial pages to maintain 25-percent editorial. I think he said that they now shoot for 70/30 ad-to-editorial ratio. The mag must make a LOT of money!

--Bob

bump