This topic doesn't really fit any of our sections, so I'm putting it here.
I received the following notice from Freshwater and Marine Aquarium magazine (FAMA):
The June 2010 issue will be the final issue of Freshwater and Marine Aquarium (FAMA) as a standalone magazine. Thank you for supporting FAMA over the past 33 years. Although FAMA magazine will no longer be available, our goal is to keep FAMA alive, both online and within the pages of its companion aquarium magazine, Aquarium Fish International (AFI). Look for some of your favorite FAMA columns and authors in the pages of AFI in the future.
Yes, it was a good one. All the magazines are a bit different. Tropical Fish Hobbyist (TFH) has more breeding and collecting articles. Aquarium Fish International (AFI) has more beginner-oriented articles, and Freshwater and Marine Aquarium (FAMA) had more marine and do-it-yourself articles-- and was known for having more ads.
I write a column for AFI, so I dropped the editor a note asking how this will affect AFI in the future. (The same company owns FAMA.) I haven't heard back yet, but I'll post something when I hear. I know that the magazines have all been suffering a bit. Subscription numbers are still good, but ad revenues have been down. Presumably, the Internet has stolen a lot of advertising dollars that were previuosly spent on magazine ads. In the past decade, two large conglomerates have bought up most of the major pet product manufacturers, and Petco and Petsmart have taken over a large share of the retail business. I imagine this consolidation has also had an effect. Manufacturer ad dollars are probably being spent to market directly to Petco and Petsmart instead of to the independents.
