land of odd
Surely no publication has struggled to follow its own advice more than Success, the small-business magazine that has failed repeatedly since it was founded in 1891.
In 2006, after ceasing publication for five years, it was purchased by a group whose publisher, Joseph Guerriero, told the magazine Publishing Executive, “We feel very, very bullish about the long-term success of Success.”
But after printing only five issues, Mr. Guerriero’s bosses cried uncle, and sold the magazine to VideoPlus, a direct-marketing company based in Dallas that is equally confident it will succeed where others, for more than 100 years, have failed.
Darren Hardy, the business magazine’s new publisher, said it would have personal-development focus, echoing its founder, Orison Swett Marden, a progenitor of the self-help movement. (Mr. Marden died in 1924; the magazine closed during the Depression and was resurrected by new owners in 1954.)
In contrast to a Forbes profile on Richard Branson of the Virgin Group that would examine his newest acquisitions, a Success article would “take a look at how Richard Branson sets goals and motivates employees, what’s his morning ritual and what he does to keep himself healthy, fit and vital,” Mr. Hardy said.
VideoPlus produces training materials for the direct-sales industry and publishes several magazines, including Success From Home and Empowering Women. All consist of sponsored content, the print equivalent of infomercials, but editorial content of Success, which has yet to name an editor, will be independent, Mr. Hardy said.
About the prospect of Success’s latest owners faring better than others, Samir Husni, the head of the University of Mississippi’s journalism department, said, “The Chinese have a saying that doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result every time is the definition of insanity.”
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