Memory Makers closing, but other mags plan to stay the course

May 21, 12:01 AMSalt Lake City Scrapbooking ExaminerNicole Snow

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After hearing the news about Memory Makers magazine's plans to stop publication, many online readers had the same question: which scrapbook mag will close next?

I spoke with Lin Sorenson, editorial director at CK Media, and David Ross, director of sales for Northridge Media, about how the closure would affect their plans for the future. Both of them said that their publications will not change.

CK Media, publisher of Creating Keepsakes and Paper Crafts, recently closed Simple Scrapbooks after publishing it for eight years, as well as Digital Scrapbooking after only a few issues. But Lin Sorenson said that they don't plan to adjust their approach.

"We have actually just allowed the focus to stay on the two remaining magazines," she told me, "so we haven't made any major changes and we don't plan to."

David Ross's tone was upbeat as he described Northridge Media's Scrapbook Trends, Cards, and Simply Handmade. "We currently are on track to just keep doing what we do," he said. "We don't follow the same business plan as most magazines. Very, very little of our revenue is based on advertising."

While Scrapbook Trends was recently made available for purchase and download online, sparking speculation that the magazine would cease print production, Ross said that the move was not an indication of flagging interest in the print version. The online version will not cannibalize print magazine sales, he said, because it reaches a different demographic.

The print and the online reader are "actually two very different people," he said. "We're firm believers that people are one or the other." In addition, downloadable content will allow international subscribers to download their magazines instantly instead of relying on an often flawed international postal system.

The editorial staff of Scrapbooks Etc. was not available for comment for this story. Watch for future updates.