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A Magazine by Men, for Men
Date of Review: Oct 21, 2004
The Bottom Line: This is a fairly good men's magazine with some good reading, even if the intellectual element is sometimes lacking.
Men's Journal is a monthly magazine dedicated to all things male. This publication presents a combination of topics that are usually associated with male interests, like cars, travel, sports, electronics, and a small amount of fashion tossed in to round out the mix.
Features of This Magazine:
Men's Journal is between 130 and 160 pages in length and contains the following regular features:
Adventure- This section includes travel excursions, reviews of books about travel, sports, and other topics.
Peak Performance- Health is the emphasis in this section, with articles about disease prevention, exercise, nutrition, and advice about daily living to achieve maximum health benefits.
Style- This section is usually short, with some brief samples of clothing, shoes, and other garments along with prices and contact information to make a purchase.
Gear Guide- A relatively new addition to Men's Journal, Gear Guide talks about electronics, sporting goods, cars, etc.
Misc.- Found at the end of each issue, there is a one- page article about "something" interesting. It can cover practically anything, from a well- known celebrity's snafus to a story about a local family's struggles. Reader mail and a list of contributors to each issue are also thrown in under the Misc. section.
The remaining pages of Men's Journal cover a cornucopia of topics, like politics, automobiles, professional sports, career advice and workplace survival, entertainment, and other subjects that interest men.
Cost to Subscribe:
The base subscription price of this magazine is $11.97 for 12 monthly issues or $16.97 for 24 monthly issues (2 years). The yearly rate works out to $1.00 per copy, which represents a savings of 75 percent off the cover price of $3.95. The two- year rate works out to only 71 cents per issue, a savings of 84 percent off the cover price.
Looking through the internet, I was able to find this magazine for less than $10 per year, and there was even one site that was selling it for just over $4 per year! With a price this low, Men's Journal is difficult to pass up.
Customer Service:
Questions about Men's Journal and subscription inquiries can be directed to the company's web site, mensjournal.com. Or, customers can call the customer support line, 800-677-6367. The web site also contains previews of the current issue (with limited information, so you will buy the magazine) and excerpts from past issues.
Final Thoughts:
Men's Journal is a publication designed by men, for men. This publication is a little different from other men's magazines, mainly because of the fact that it doesn't contain pages and pages of scantily- clad females. Instead of relying on the female sex factor to sell more copies, Men's Journal utilizes other areas of interest to create and market each issue. It combines elements from many goods and services areas, making it seem like a combination of Esquire, Men's Health, Car and Driver, and Outside magazines.
With Men's Journal, men are treated to a magazine that contains nothing but topics that (most) men find interesting. You can read all about the latest makes of cars, places to travel, what to wear on your next job interview, how to save more for retirement, how to lose that extra weight you gained over the holidays, what to look for when you shop for a stereo system, and so on. The magazine tries to present these different topics in proportions that are more or less equal to actual interest. For example, style is covered in Men's Journal, but it doesn't receive that much attention with only a handful of pages dedicated to clothing. The reason Men's Journal does this, I believe, is because most men do not consider style nearly as important or enjoyable to read about as, say, travel, booze, and cars. This magazine tries to find a balance among its varied topics and it tries to include a little bit of everything to satisfy everyone. But it tries to keep things in proportion to what men really prefer to read about. And there are plenty of pictures to keep your attention. An article about cars, for example, will often allocate more space to actual pictures of cars than to the commentary about each one.
Lists seem to be very popular with readers, and Men's Journal takes advantage of this fact in most every issue. It's common to see, for example, articles with titles like "50 High Growth Jobs for the New Millennium", "30 Great U.S. Beaches", or "20 Methods to Improve Longevity". Since lists like these are so popular, Men's Journal usually displays an ad for them on the cover of each issue, to entice potential readers/buyers. I admit that I am often drawn to a particular issue when I see one of these highlighted lists on the cover. Often, they present some interesting facts or new ideas about the related topic and they make for some enjoyable reading.
The departments area of Men's Journal changes over time, and I wouldn't be surprised if it undergoes another makeover in the near future. The department titled "Gear Guide", for example, is relatively new. Past issues of Men's Journal talked about electronics gadgets, but they were scattered around the magazine, in different areas. Now, they have their own department. On the flip side, departments that were once regular features in past years have been replaced. Men's Journal likes to keep things fresh, new, and trendy, so don't be surprised if you open an issue in the near future and discover that some of these departments are missing. This magazine and its management staff believe that change is good, and they will make alterations to the lineup when the mood hits them.
Advertisements in this magazine cover about fifty- five percent of the pages of each issue and they concentrate on things that men like to buy, such as cars, wine, liquor, shaving and grooming accessories, electronics, beer, cigarettes, cologne, and other male things. The end of each issue is saturated with classified ads, with a catalog of misc. goods and a section dedicated to travel.
Men's Journal is a little different from other men's publications. It doesn't narrow down its articles to a specific area of interest, like most other men's magazines. Instead, it presents a wide array of topics to appeal to the widest possible range of readers. The articles are usually well- written and some are actually pretty engaging, although I admit that others are rather shallow and often present obvious answers to questions that most anyone would already know. Still, this is a pretty good magazine for men to read. You may not like every section of this magazine, but there is something here for anyone. Add to that a low subscription price and you have a magazine publication that deserves a look.
