Some Stability in Magazine Industry

 (Getty Images via @daylife)

Neither celebration nor hand-wringing is called for, as MediaFinder.com, the largest online database of U.S. and Canadian periodicals, reported the first three quarters of 2012 saw 155 magazines debut, a slight uptick from 151 new titles a year earlier, while only 55 magazines tanked, fewer than a third of the 119 publications that folded in the comparable period of 2011, according to an article by Crain'snewyorkbusiness.com.

Fueled by Fairchild Publications' M and Mississippi-based Mud & Magnolias, lifestyle periodicals helped to stop the hemorrhaging caused by declining ad space and shrinking circulation. The Crain's article cited MediaFinder statistics that 26 digital-only magazines launched during Q3 2012, including business journal Quartz, compared to six online titles that vaporized.