he commonest concern for magazines today is sampling by the right audience and then converting them into readers. But getting potential readers to sample an offering is getting harder all the time. Magazine stalls no longer have the reach that they once did because people are often on wheels, either their own or of the public transport kind. They don�t pass by a magazine stall. Worse, the number of magazine stands seem to be reducing thanks to the local authorities. Visibility for all magazines has become a big issue.

Living Media India (LMI), publisher of India Today, is trying to link up a revival in the magazine business � a fresh slew of foreign titles is entering India - with the boom in organised retailing. Vivek Gaur, LMI�s executive director, sales, sees his task as getting magazines as a category inside these huge, new stores. ... more