The official announcement was made yesterday that Simple Scrapbooks will cease publication after its May/June 2009 issue.
The announcement sites lack of advertising income to fund multiple magazines (SS is published under the Creating Keepsakes umbrella). Clearly, no one is escaping the effects of our current economy.
Honestly, I have mixed feelings about this.
Obviously, I am sad to see SS go because their content and style has been consistently unique over the years when compared to the other scrapbooking magazines on the market. I have been a long time fan of the magazine and many of its main contributors - Cathy Zielske, Rebecca Cooper, and Elizabeth Dillow just to name a few.
However, according to the announcement, the style of SS will not disappear entirely, but instead be incorporated into the remaining Creating Keepsakes publication and many of the faces of SS will stay on in that endeavour.
As my husband will tell you, I get A LOT of magazines, so in some ways, I think that I may actually like receiving a 'new and improved' combined version of CK each month.
The announcement also stated that 75% of the magazines subscribers subscribe to both magazines, so in that regard, this change makes a lot of sense. Not only will it hopefully help CK to continue to bring us the content we know and love, but also save it's subscribers a little dough by having to subscribe to only one magazine versus two.
So, my take is that although I am certainly sad to see SS go, there may be a silver lining for both the publisher and the subscribers.
My only concern is how CK will incorporate SS's unique style into thier magazine. I hope that they remain true to the promise of maintaining the spirit of SS and don't allow it to fall through the cracks of their existing format.
Only time will tell.
Until then, I'm going to enjoy the final few issues of SS and hope for the best!
READER RESPONSE:
How do you feel about the loss of Simple Scrapbooks? What is your take on the official announcement made by SS?
