Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or so they used to say. These days, beauty is more in the fingers of the team behind your favourite glossy magazine, a point made expertly with this spoof make-up advertisement for the expensive-sounding Fotoshop by Adobé. Read the full story

Things are looking positive for the publisher of the Economist, which has revealed operating profits have increased by six per cent year-on-year as a result of higher ad revenue and 100,000 digital subscribers. Read the full story

Conde Nast has reported a massive 268 per cent upsurge in weekly subscription sales across its digital editions over the past eight weeks, following the launch of Apple’s Newsstand.

The publisher of Glamour, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Wired also said single copy sales were up 142 per cent, reports paidContent.

The Newsstand feature separates magazines from unrelated apps such as games and social media apps, and the move seems to have made an instant difference.

Monica Ray of Conde Nast told paidContent: “Putting all the magazines in one place just makes the most sense, in terms of allowing easy discovery for consumers. Furthermore, the update from iOS 5 is terrific, especially the background loading. We have a lot of features embedded in our titles and they take time to load. Background loading helps ease the wait-factor. But for the most part, before, the App Store represented a wide-ranging bazaar. Now, it has clear aisles to make it simple for consumers to browse.”

(Source: paidContent)

Future Publishing is claiming that 2011 remains a “challenging” year, after it posted a 45 per cent fall in pre-tax profits for the six months leading up to March. Read the full story

US magazine publisher Hearst has signed a €651m (£574m) deal for the international publishing rights to Lagardère’s 102-strong portfolio. Read the full story

Bauer Media has “suspended” the publication of custom car magazine Max Power after 17 years. Read the full story

The magazine industry showed signs of recovery in the first six months of 2010 – in some areas. In others, familiar trends continued. But overall, there was enough to suggest print won’t be surrendering to the digital age just yet.

Bauer Consumer Media

Total average circulation per issue: 2,814,745

January to June 2010: Down 4.7 per cent

Year-on-year: Down 5.8 per cent

Reasons to be cheerful: Kerrang! hit a high note with a seven per cent six-monthly increase, reaching 44,013 issues a week on average. Fashion mag Grazia held steady during a tough year, while Top Sante and Yours showed signs of recovery over the last six months, up 4.2 per cent and 4.5 per cent period on period respectively.

Reasons to be fearful: Another 16.7 per cent of FHM’s readership ebbed away between January and June, and Zoo plunged 21.6 per cent over the same period.

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Stylist editor Lisa Smosarki has called on sections of the UK magazine market to rediscover its need for innovation. Read the full story