Reader's Digest

Add magazines to the list of things Americans are foregoing due to the rising cost of living. Based on the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) numbers released today, sales of U.S. magazines dipped 6.3 percent according to the Associated Press' Jeremy Herron.

According to a chart presented by Portfolio's Jeff Bercovici, the magazines that faired the best were those aimed at older readers: AARP Bulletin, AARP The Magazine (whose Web site boasts it's the "World's Largest Circulation Magazine"), and Reader's Digest.

AP reports that two magazine's that actually saw increases were Time Inc.'s People, which has a 5.2 percent newsstand increase (thanks a million, Knox and Vivienne) and In Style.

Of course, magazines could be in worse shape: They could be newspapers.

John S. Zinsser, who edited hundreds of classic works of fiction down to their bare essentials starting in the 1960s as an editor at Reader's Digest Condensed Books, died late last month of a heart attack at the age of 84.

The Times has the full obit. Short version: He lived until he died.

After months and months of endless raiding, Reader's Digest finally lost someone! The spruced-up and revamped magazine, under the leadership of ex-Condé Nast exec Mary Berner, has lost vice president and publisher Jeff Wellington only seven months after hiring him. Stephanie Smith at WWD reports that Eva Dillion, his boss, said that "it wasn't the right fit for either of us."  read more »