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And the Australian that's life! is an excellent magazine, though it doesn't replicate its UK sister's bold use of two-word sentences with striking verbs ("I had slept with my sister's husband. Guilt throbbed." "My son was dead. Grief gnawed.")
It's an odd thing - so much of that magazine is imported from the UK (the staff, largely, up until a while ago) - but some stuff, like that form of headline writing, just doesn't work. Don't know why. I recall some of the launch issues (my family was very involved in the launch/running of the mag) may've had some of that, but it's a very customer-driven kinda thing - if something doesn't work, it's yanked, sharpish. Although come to think of it, I have seen the strong verb/two word thing used as a bold lead which then tapers into a headline in a much smaller font...
I've worked around magazines for years, and my family has worked around them for years, so I've always read them. Anything. Had steady diet of Cosmo, Cleo, Dolly, Girlfriend, Woman's Day, New Idea, whatever you like. They're all enjoyable in certain ways - though it's not 'til you work at them that you realise exactly how targeted they are, how much of an exact science providing what the reader wants is.
After a stint of answering mail for a teen girls' magazine, I can tell you the top two questions that pop up, at least via e-mail:
1) How do I give a blow-job?
2) I recently [describe unsafe sex]. Now, I've missed [insert number] period(s). Could I be pregnant?
Overwhelmingly. And are either of those ever going to be answered?
Not on your fucking life. |
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