An experienced marketing expert depicts the last few years in magazine publishing as "turbulent waves surging forward, one after the other," and quite a few publishing entrepreneurs have in fact been bashed by heavy surf. But there are survivors, and excellent ones at that, in an industry marked by rising standards.
Many professionals familiar with the magazine business in Taiwan consider the publication of Commonwealth, which began in June 1981, as a watershed in local magazine publishing history. The monthly magazine not only was the first to specialize in economics and business reporting in depth, it also set high standards in graphics, layout, and printing. Its professional format and marketing strategy, which packaged it as a cultural commodity, gave it early dominance in the publishing market.
Today, specialty magazines like Commonwealth saturate the newsstands, covering such fields as science, politics, literature, religion, finance and economics, women's affairs, sports, health, and entertainment. While their contents are accessible only to readers of Chinese, their well-designed covers and high-quality photography can compete favorably with publications worldwide.
Descriptions of the rapid social progress sweeping Taiwan in recent years may be used specifically to trace the development of magazines. Internationalization, pluralism, professionalism, and commercialization—these overall transformations throughout the island are found as well in the domestic magazine field. The race for readers is matched with increasing sophistication, whether in the planning, presentation, and packaging of major topics, or the upgrading of services to subscribers and advertisers. Although a large percentage of magazines is still groping for identities as refined as Commonwealth, their current development is as dynamic as the cutthroat competition for readership.
Unitas, one of the early entries into the local magazine field, helped reinforce the general trend toward excellence begun by Commonwealth. A literary monthly published by the United Daily News Group since November 1984, it has won considerable acclaim for its efforts to popularize refined literature. Unlike most traditional literary magazines, usually established by elite groups of intellectuals seeking to disseminate their ideals and literary convictions to a wider audience, Unitas takes quite a different approach.
Publisher Chang Pao-ching, in the first issue of the magazine, raised a concern that still motivates the staff: she said that "the rapid development of science, technology, and the economy has had negative influences on modern society," and "literature is the most effective channel" to overcome these worrisome trends. Thus, Unitas was founded on the conviction that literature should not be a luxury confined to a minority of the populace, but be a readily available necessity for people in all walks of life. The editors have tried to integrate literary flair with the social movements permeating society.
Unitas covers Chinese classical and contemporary literature, activities in the international literary arena, significant local literary trends, latest literary developments on the Chinese mainland, as well as selective reports relating to artistic connoisseurship, cultural development, and social participation. Its awards for fiction are considered a major encouragement for writers that might otherwise remain frustrated unknowns.
The second annual contest ended last November, and an overseas Chinese and a mainland student, both currently living in the U.S., won top awards in the short story and medium-length story categories. Their entries into the event indicate how successful Unitas has been in arousing the attention of Chinese writers abroad as well as those in Taiwan.
In contrast with traditional literary magazines, which were usually oblivious to packaging, Unitas is fastidious about quality. Its layout design, selection of pictures and illustrations, and grade of paper, binding, and printing reflect careful attention to detail and appearance. Furthermore, in a major departure from literary magazines of earlier times, it carries advertisements. Even though making profits is not its primary concern, Unitas has enough of an entrepreneurial spirit to guarantee its financial success in the face of stiff competition from less literarily inclined publications.
The China Times Weekly, one of Taiwan's highest circulation weeklies, targets a broader audience than Unitas. A magazine heavy on pictures, including at least one section that focuses on a scantily-clad movie or singing star, first hit the stands in March 1978. Survey results in both 1987 and 1988 showed that the Weekly topped the preferred periodical reading lists of students in journalism and mass media departments, followed by the Chinese edition of Reader's Digest and Commonwealth.
The China Times Weekly appears every Wednesday, and rarely fails to appeal visually and in content to local readers. Beyond the occasionally controversial photo spreads, the magazine also draws negative criticism about fluffy journalism from critics. But readership continues to grow, with newsstand circulation double that of subscriptions.
Publisher Chien Chih-hsin is not complacent about his magazine's success, pointing out that following the lifting of the ban on new newspapers on January 1, 1988, magazines now face "strong pressures" from more varied competition. In response, Chien says, the editors are always seeking unique ways for survival "by adopting non-traditional approaches to report significant incidents." During last July's heated election campaigns by candidates for Central Committee membership in the Kuomintang's 13th National Congress, the Weekly concentrated its efforts on reporting behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing of the most controversial candidates. Most other media stuck to more conventional reporting of the campaign and subsequent meetings.
Chien says there are other threats to survival besides stiff competition. Magazines in Taiwan "are too highly priced," he says, and this has also threatened their survival. Local magazines usually cost from US$2 to US$5, significantly higher than those published in the U.S., Japan, or Hong Kong. The retail price frequently causes buyers second thoughts. "Until now," Chien adds, "no one has ever researched this issue. My guess is that paper and printing costs are indeed too high here."
"Creativity holds the key to success," Chien says, as he draws on a concept in Alvin Toffler's book The Adaptive Corporation: "Rusty ideas are even more dangerous than rusty machines." He adds, "Magazine publication is a process from nothing to a completed product, and creatively-oriented packaging forms the greatest challenge."
With the expansion of all print media in Taiwan, finding qualified manpower has become a problem confronting almost every magazine. "In an era of professionalism, no writer is competent enough to write on every subject," Chien says. "Naturally, we have to rely on and cultivate independent free lance writers to serve as a strong back-up, especially when undertaking special topics." To date, Taiwan does not have stringer fees that are sufficiently generous to support these writers. While Japan has a more flexible payment system designed especially to meet the actual needs of all writers, this has not yet evolved in Taiwan. According to Chien, adjustments are necessary in the industry in order to attract both full-time and free lance writers.
The editors of The Woman magazine have earned a reputation for a consistently informative and readable style. Ever since its establishment by publishing pace-setter Chang Jen-fei in 1968, it has been forced to beat entrenched foreign competition. Japanese and Hong Kong-based companies have long adapted their formats to local audiences with their Non-no, WeWe, and Diana magazines. But these competitors focused primarily on the teenage market, while The Woman appeals to more mature women readers. The magazine even has an outreach program, a monthly luncheon complete with guest speaker and discussion geared to dispense information valuable for the modern Asian woman.
Browsing has never been better—the cramped, jumbled, and dimly-lit book shops of the past are giving way to multi-floored bookstores stressing customer service.
The Woman has successfully countered the criticism of many women's magazines that tend to allocate too much space on fashion, make-up, fortunetelling, and entertainment. This is no small problem, according to Hsu Shen-shu, founder of the Foundation of Homemakers Association: "Women's magazines should strengthen their discussion and research on female and social problems." In addition to information such as how to manage daily household chores and how to deal with divorce problems, Hsu says that there should be a greater proportion of space dedicated to political affairs, economics, education, literature, and international women's activities, which will "broaden the horizons of thinking" for women.
Hsu's viewpoint has support in the academic realm. Hu Tai-li, an associate research fellow at the Institute of Ethnology at Academia Sinica, says women's magazines merely reflect current social demands, but still lag behind in reporting leading trends. "If Taiwan's social structure, local expectations of women, and educational methodologies do not undergo fundamental changes, it will be difficult to expect women to break out of their traditional framework," she says. Because over 2.6 million women are now employed outside the home, the market for women's magazines looks promising indeed. The key remains how best to meet their varied needs.
But do the women's magazines in Taiwan act "to inform, to awaken, to edify, to persuade," as Life editorial writer John K. Jessup phrases it? Liao Jung-li, a professor of Sociology at National Taiwan University, holds a conservative evaluation of the situation. In a recent survey on the structural analysis of women's magazines, he found that 60 percent of the magazine staffs are liberal arts majors, followed by mass media and journalism majors. He argues that the shortage of majors in social science fields (only 4 percent) may well limit the capacities of these magazines to report social changes and their influence on women's issues. Of equal concern, according to another local editor, is "the overall lack of experience, especially in investigative reporting, found among the local pool of reporters—most of whom have been out of college only a couple of years."
Among Taiwan's science magazines, the graphic Newton monthly, based on Japan's Newton format, has proved highly successful. It is co-produced with its Japanese namesake, and has provided a model for other publishers who want to upgrade quality quickly with direct expertise from foreign magazines. This has become a popular trend in recent years.
"This is a science magazine which can be read by people from 6 to 70 years old," says Robert Lin, executive vice president of Formosan Magazine Press, Ltd. Academics agree. Even university professors have testified to the magazine's success in transmitting abstruse scientific knowledge through easy-to-read language. Newton is especially effective in employing highly sophisticated graphics and photography to elaborate basic science theory and technology. This is unprecedented in local publishing. Based on the concept that pictures precede texts, photographs and illustrations occupy two-thirds of the magazine's contents. The editors are particularly interested in elevating the standards of science and technology in Taiwan, a process that extends to primary students as well. The magazine has a sister publication, Little Newton, designed especially for children.
In response to a belated but growing awareness of environmental protection on the island, Nature magazine was founded in 1983. Sponsored by the Society for Wildlife and Nature, the quarterly magazine has since its inception combined the efforts of ecological scientists, researchers, and artists to introduce key concepts in environment protection to the general public. It represents the budding efforts of environmentally conscious backers advocating the maintenance of a clean earth—a process that begins at home. Taiwan's rapidly degrading environment is becoming a major concern both officially and among the populace. As a result, Nature helps fill an important gap in the local magazine market.
Its roots were small but effective. At first the magazine had only two regular members on its staff, and a part-time art designer. The latter, Lee Nan was an astute choice. One of Taiwan's best free lance art designers, Lee has won awards for Commonwealth, Nature, and other magazines. [He has also been art editor for the Free China Review since 1982.] But Lee is far from satisfied with the local design field: "Magazine art directors, just like the dancers of Cloud Gate Dance Ensemble or artists in other fields, are stuck in a dilemma. They fail to get sufficient inspiration from traditional art treasures, and they also lack formal Western artistic training. They have to learn by themselves. Everybody is waiting for the appearance of a great master who will lead in the creation of a style. "
The statement is clearly both a complaint and a challenge. Moreover, it provides insight into Taiwan's magazine industry. Today's publishing environment is characterized by experimentation with local and international forms and an entrepreneurial willingness to test new ideas in the marketplace. Substantial progress has already been made since Commonwealth appeared on newsstands less than a decade ago, and the recent boom in publications augurs well for publishers and readers alike.
'Worthy of pondering'
The first Chinese-language magazine entitled Chinese Monthly Magazine was published in 1815 in Malacca by Robert Morrison, a missionary from London. A great majority of the early Chinese magazines were published by foreign missionaries with a heavy accent on disseminating religious beliefs.
In the wake of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, Chinese intellectuals became especially conscious of the national crisis and growing threats to the country. They became aware of the importance of newspapers and magazines as effective tools in advocating new concepts and promoting modernizing trends. Thus, the goals of influencing intellectual development, forming public opinion, and urging innovation became high priorities for China's early publishers.
Political magazines and newspapers mushroomed in major cities, especially Shanghai, Peking, Tientsin, Hong Kong, and Macao, and their success led to imitators throughout the country. According to statistics compiled by Ko Kung-chen in The History of Chinese Newspapers, there were 122 magazines being regularly published in 1902. Most emphasized political affairs, with news reporting a secondary consideration.
Dr. Sun Yat-sen once said: "In terms of changing prevailing habits and customs and moving people's hearts, daily newspapers are inferior to magazines, because the former are easily forgotten after a quick looking over, while the latter are worthy of further pondering." In 1905 Dr. Sun put his own observations into practice by starting the influential monthly Min Pao in Tokyo as the official publication of the Tung-meng-hui (Society of Common Cause), the predecessor of the Kuomintang (KMT).
Political magazines continued to prosper after the establishment of the Republic in 1911, and in the wake of the May 4th Movement of 1919, literary magazines sprang up to compete with those that were primarily political. Pulp magazines featuring love, spy, and chivalry stories also became popular at this time.
China's initial experience with popular magazine publishing reached its peak between Japan's attack on Shanghai in 1932 and the ROC's declaration of war against Japan in 1937. A total of 1,200 magazines were available, including many with clear left-wing sympathies.
Following China's victory in the Eight-year War of Resistance Against Japan, magazines entered into golden era—and a period of chaos as well, due to liberalization moves for free speech. But in early 1949, almost all magazines ceased publication for financial reasons, as a drastic depreciation of currency led to a national financial crisis.
After the central government of the ROC moved to Taiwan in 1949, only 40 magazines were publishing on a regular basis, including those that moved their operations from the mainland. Most magazines experienced gloomy days, and even had to depend upon government support by relying on newsprint made available through a quota system.
In the 1960s and 1970s, domestic economic prosperity and universal education brought an expansion in the publishing industry, and the total number of registered magazines reached 2,864. This growth was aided by several factors:
First, other mass media, including TV companies and newspapers, drew upon their abundant manpower and information resources to put out their own magazines. Second, because of the ban on new newspapers, magazines were used as a substitute, especially after the mid-1970s. Third, the market was saturated with a large quantity of Chinese-language magazines based in Hong Kong, in which the Reader's Digest garnered the largest circulation with 140,000 copies. Fourth, periodicals published by schools and by government and private organizations increased enormously. Most of these were not registered, and their maximum individual circulation ranged from 5,000 to a rare high of 18,000. Fifth, community magazines mushroomed as a result of rapid economic development in rural areas and the continuous improvement of educational levels. Finally, literary supplements and special issues of newspapers copied magazine styles; since they spared no efforts in cultivating writers, acquiring stories, and covering a wide variety of topics, they indirectly helped upgrade the quality of magazines. All of these influences can still be seen in the domestic magazine market.