Number of active subscriptions: 33Men’s general interest
GQ, Men’s Health, Maxim, Esquire, Details, Men’s Journal
Science and Technology
Wired, Popular Science, PC World, Mac Life, Mac World, Seed
Lifestyle
Prevention, Marie Claire, Elle, Cosmopolitan, Organic Spa, Blender, Town & Country, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle Decor, Tennis, Saveur, The Smithsonian, Interview, Nylon
Others
Art in America, Psychology Today, Ode, American Photo
(Not photographed: Harper's Bazaar, Saveur, Elle Decor, the magazines that have folded, Martha Stewart Living, American Photo, Popular Photography, and Body + Soul—these are all magazines that I haven't received my first issue yet.)
Number of magazine subscriptions that have folded: 3
Plenty, EGM, PC Magazine (although it still will continue as a digital magazine, I consider it a moot effort now)
Number of magazines that aren’t available as subscriptions, but buy on a regular basis: 5
V Man, Vogue Hommes International, Another Man, Fantastic Man, and GQ Style
Favorite coverline ever in a magazine: “Do you have douchebag hair?”, Details November 2008
Of the 6 men’s general interest magazines:
Best style advice: Details
Most memorable articles: Men’s Health
Widest breadth of articles: Men’s Health
Not interested at first but grew on me: Men’s Journal
Of the 5 science and technology magazines:
Best coverage: Wired
Interesting articles: Popular Science
Read the most pieces each issue: Mac Life
Widest breadth of articles: Wired
Not interested at first but grew on me: Wired
Of the lifestyle and non-categorized magazines:
Favorite publication to read: Psychology Today
Best in page layout: Town & Country (very clean, which is really how I like it—despite it being a women’s magazine, and I only get to read a page of it, Style: Men, each issue).
Has the most number of great-looking photographs: Art in America (come on, this one’s a clear winner. Even the ads look awesome.)
Not interest at first but grew on me: The Smithsonian
Title with the best of intentions: Ode (it’s the magazine for intelligent optimists, which is really just saying that we should stop looking at everything that’s bleak in life—there’s still a lot of good to look forward to and to smile about)
Women’s magazine I don’t mind reading: Marie Claire. I like their human interest pieces
Average price of subscription: $0/year. I get lots of free subs because I’m part of the industry.
Earliest magazine to arrive: Hearst publications—Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Town & Country
Magazines with the most prompt customer service: Condé Nast—GQ, Details, Wired, Domino
Magazines that arrive in my mailbox in the best shape: Condé Nast
Magazines that arrive in my mailbox in the worst shape: Hearst
Magazines that have the most number of subscription cards stuck in each issue, even though I’m a subscriber already: Rodale—Men’s health
Magazine I’d like to get a subscription to: Wallpaper*
Next in line: New York Magazine
And third: Best Life—not my market, but I like its fiction and interest stories the same way I like Men’s Health’s.
Section of my magazines I almost always get to read: The Front-of-Book (these are one-page stories that are found in the first few pages of the issue, usually has industry news, vignette-style reporting, or what’s new and what’s hot pieces)
Section of my magazines I almost never read: The celebrity cover stories. I don’t care about what the celebs are up to. And I really don’t like the fact they’ve invaded a lot of my magazines. I can count the number of exceptions with my hand.
Magazine that inspired me to become a magazine journalist: EGM. I thought playing video games for a living is the best job in the world—I still think so, although now it’s all about writing stories that would make a difference in the reader’s lives, whether it’s in giving a bad game a bad review just so they wouldn’t waste their $60 buying it at Gamestop the first day it’s out, or in reporting the latest breakthrough in curing or treating Alzheimer’s.
Best magazine article I’ve read: “Simplify Your Life,” Men’s Health July/August 2005. Full article can be found here.