Members dragonflies Posted December 7, 2008 Members Share Posted December 7, 2008 http://welovesoaps.blogspot.com/2008/12/so...hey-speaks.html The Dec. 16 issue of Soap Opera Digest features the Best and Worst of 2008. I will comment on some of those choices in another post. For now I want to share some of the answers I received from editorial director Lynn Leahey regarding the frequent Eric Braeden covers as of late and how the cover story is selected in general. I specifically asked Leahey if there was some type of arrangement with Braeden or THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS for him to appear on the cover so often. She told me, "There is no agreement with CBS or Eric Braeden, or any show or any actor." "We get sales figures for each issue, and this year Eric Braeden has sold very well for us, she added. "There have been years other shows have sold well above the average, and they have appeared on more covers. The enthusiasm for shows fluctuates, as I'm sure you know." When asked how the cover is chose, Leahy replied, "If there is a big event coming up, like a big wedding or major character's death, we generally find out weeks in advance and book the cover. Otherwise, the decision is made closer to our press time, based on storylines/news that week." I was curious about why some weeks subscribers received a different cover than newsstands. Leahey said, "Some shows are more popular with Digest subscribers than they are with newsstand readers, so we sometimes put those shows on subscriber covers to serve that need." She went on to add, "...do remember that the cover story is usually just three pages, the rest of the magazine is as balanced among the shows as we can make it. Thank you to Ms. Leahey for answering my questions. I was not expecting an answer so I appreciate the response. I will take you for your word when you say, "While Y&R remains strong, we are seeing a resurgence in popularity for other shows, too, and look forward to showcasing them on future covers as well." I look forward to that too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MarkH Posted December 7, 2008 Members Share Posted December 7, 2008 I mean, folks, this is the reality. This is the same reason Soapnet is airing fewer and fewer soaps. It is irksome. It seems short-sighted. But these folks are doing what it takes to stay economically alive. The Braeden covers (SID-CBS has one this week) are what move in the grocery store. When your average checkout shopper sees Braeden, they are more likely to buy than others. These folks, for the most part, are not on this board. We don't know what this demographic is. You gotta sell what people buy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dragonflies Posted December 7, 2008 Author Members Share Posted December 7, 2008 Hmmm if she says so, SOD has been GH/Days/YR biased for YEARS. SID is GH biased and so on and so forth, and I don't mean just cover wise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cct Posted December 7, 2008 Members Share Posted December 7, 2008 Thank you Zendallfan, for this information. I cannot blame SOD for putting on the cover what sells; I can only blame the public for buying. P.S. Your banner is gold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MarkH Posted December 7, 2008 Members Share Posted December 7, 2008 Beatifully put!!! Every word! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SteveFrame Posted December 7, 2008 Members Share Posted December 7, 2008 I agree with MarkH. Beautifully put. I don't necessarily blame SOD for doing what they have to do to stay afloat. I know why they do it because sadly it is just like the Internet in many places - some fans are just more vocal while others just sit back. People b*tch and moan a lot of times over why certain shows win polls and stuff more often but in the end it boils down to who got up off their ass and voted or campaigned or organized. Some people sit back and gripe while others get up and do something. Same with buying the mags for years now certain fans have bought the magazines more and the magazines have catered to them. I personally used to buy every issue of SOD and SOW but a few years ago I took a stand and cancelled both subscriptions and except for a few issues (3 in the last 5 years) I have not bought another issue. I was a faithful subscriber and wanted more of all soaps. They weren't giving it to me so I cancelled. But even with that I realized that many of the fans of the other shows were not buying the magazines. Even though I have understood this, I have often wished that occassionally SOD or SOW would love the soap opera genre enough to try and promote some of the other shows esp. when a show like GL celebrates 70 years or ATWT celebrates 50 years. I still count that as a travesty that SOD or SOW could not forget sales for one month and at least give those special events a cover. I do only predict things will get worse as the months and days aheads play out. The magazines are not competing with the Internet big time. The news gets on the Internet long before the magazines can get it out there and then they have to compete with folks breaking copyright laws and copying the articles from the magazines and sharing them - thus stopping some from buying the magazine to read the articles. That is the reason you have seen in the last few months many sites being threatened by SOD and SOW for copyright infringement. And I fear that it won't be long before you hear of them filing lawsuits just like the CD companies did with many who were downloading music illegally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members baller Posted December 7, 2008 Members Share Posted December 7, 2008 Yea, it is the reality. Eric sells for SOD--Maurice and GH sells for SID and so on. I've followed the thoughts of this subject on WLS, and while it is a bit much, I get that they are doing what they need to to make the money. I actually think the fact they've done the subscriber covers with people and shows that wouldn't have made the cover cut before is a big step. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dale Posted December 7, 2008 Members Share Posted December 7, 2008 I really think SOD is a joke with all the Eric Braeden covers. It has gotten to the point where they are interchangeable and I can't remember whether I got a certain issue or not because he is on the cover THAT much. SOD named OLTL the Best Show of 2008, yet it didn't rate one cover the entire year??? Not even for the 40th anniversary. Guess who made the cover the week of OLTL's 40th? Yep, Eric Braeden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cct Posted December 7, 2008 Members Share Posted December 7, 2008 I can give you two reasons why I cancelled my subscription to SOD almost two years ago: 1. I wouldn't get the magazine "on time." Sometimes the entire week would go by, and it would show up on the newsstand before it ever hit my door. Also, the occasional week would slip by where I didn't get anything at all, and of course, my account was never credited. 2. I read about things on the Internet before the mag got here. So, that leaves only two reasons to buy the mags: interesting behind-the-scenes stories (rare), analysis of current storylines (rarer), and opinion columns (despite an obviously reprehensible reputation, I did enjoy reading CH's opinion, even if I didn't share. Just as I enjoy reading people's opinions on here). Since CH's column wasn't worth the price for subscription, I cancelled. And I have to say...don't miss it. One day on SON is worth a year's subscription to SOD, and a much more intelligent and respectful one at that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MarkH Posted December 7, 2008 Members Share Posted December 7, 2008 Happens to me all the time! Happens to me all the time! You said it perfectly. You know what is going to happen to my subscription... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Angela Posted December 7, 2008 Members Share Posted December 7, 2008 Can you really fault them for that? It's a business, if they're not selling enough covers through the year it becomes a major problem. Just like with SID, their continuous death crap probably sells them more covers than honesty. The magazines have to worry about sales big time. It must have been that when they were doing covers that weren't GH, DAYS and Y&R that there was a big change in sales, that's why we've basically gotten 90% of their covers for about 3-4 years now being between those 3 shows. Personally, I think EB is buying up a few hundred SOD covers every time he's on the cover, lol. He's no Vanessa Marcil, I don't understand how he's suddenly selling so much covers that SOD is blatantly putting him on almost every single cover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MarkH Posted December 7, 2008 Members Share Posted December 7, 2008 Agreed, though, that it makes the issues hard to tell apart. It will lead to consumer confusion, and hurt them in the long run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Angela Posted December 7, 2008 Members Share Posted December 7, 2008 True, from experience. I've been picking up SOD on Tuesday for the past 2 months (I'm contributing to this EB monopoly, aren't I? lol). So there was this solo EB cover and I'm thinking to myself - wasn't this from a few weeks ago or last week? They usually have the new issues, what happened? Took me a minute to decide to pick it up. I realized the cover from the week before was different so it's probably new. They should at least have him on the cover with diff. people, the solo shots really can become a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Quent Posted December 8, 2008 Members Share Posted December 8, 2008 About a year ago, I contacted SOD about my show (ATWT) never being on the cover. I got a reply saying that they were going to change their policy. Subscriber covers would alternate among all the soaps, while the newstand covers would still feature their Big Three: Y&R, DAYS, and GH. This has been the policy since then, so it's better than nothing. What I don't understand is their Braeden obsession. This guy is what, pushing 70? And every picture is the same! It's not Victor with Nikki, or Victor in action, etc. It's just that same photo of his face over and over. It's ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dragonflies Posted December 8, 2008 Author Members Share Posted December 8, 2008 See this is a big problem with SOD for me. I can't fault them for going with what sells, but way to isolate fans of this show who probably were hoping for something on the cover to commemorate the anniversary of their show. What'd they get? Nada. Even the subscriber cover-Nada Ridiculous Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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