Magazine Newsstand Sales Going Buy-Bye

The sale of magazines from newsstands is slipping dramatically, according to a new industry survey by circulation guru E. Daniel Capell, who says fewer magazines may be available as a result.

Of the publications contacted by Capell, 40% reported a decline in the potentially lucrative newsstand sales, compared to the same period last year. And the industry’s current average sale--43% of the copies distributed to newsstands--is down from 53% a decade ago.

The 100 leading magazines have seen their average slip from 62% to 48%. However, these publications have suffered only a slight decline in overall circulation because they have been able to convert many single-copy buyers into subscribers.

Nevertheless, Capell says he is hearing rumblings that leading wholesalers may impose new charges to process the return of unsold copies. These charges, he adds, might prove onerous, forcing off the racks those magazines that sell below the industry average.

Go, Jo: What little girl is climbing the best-seller list?

Josefina Montoya, the main character in “Meet Josefina” and “Josefina Learns a Lesson.” The Latina, 9, is growing up on her family’s rancho near Santa Fe, N. M., in 1924.

Written by Valerie Tripp, these first books in the new series of the American Girls Collection have sold briskly since being shipped to stores a month ago. Among all the books on sale across the country, “Meet Josefina” last week ranked No. 32 on USA Today’s national best-seller list. “Josefina Learns a Lesson” was at No. 88.

The third book in the series, “Josefina’s Surprise,” is scheduled to go on sale at the end of this month. The books also come in Spanish editions.

Like the five other American Girls series, the Josefina stories portray a resourceful child in a period setting, drawn with the assistance of an advisory board consisting of historians, educators and other professionals.

How popular are the American Girls books? An estimated 45 million copies have been sold since the collection was launched in 1986. As parents of many young girls know, the storybook characters also are available as 18-inch dolls.

All the products come from the Pleasant Co., based in Middleton, Wis., whose namesake, Pleasant Rowland, founded the firm in 1983 after balking at the idea of buying Cabbage Patch or Barbie dolls for her nieces at Christmas. Though Rowland lacked a business background, she put her life savings into starting a company that would combine her love of history and her belief in the value of educational products.

Rowland is interviewed by Gretchen Morgenson, senior editor of Forbes magazine, in “Forbes Great Minds of Business,” a public-television series of five half-hour profiles that begins airing locally Sunday at 10:30 p.m. on KLCS-TV / Channel 58. The one-on-one dialogues also have been published in a hardcover companion guide of the same name, by John Wiley & Sons.

Enterprising Estefans: Singer Gloria Estefan and her husband, Emilio, fronted a recent issue of Forbes that profiled the couple’s creation of a global entertainment empire. The Cuban-born singer ranked No. 31 in the “Forbes Top 40” list of entertainers, earning an estimated $17 million last year.

Her story is told at book length in “Gloria Estefan: The Pop Superstar From Tragedy to Triumph,” by Anthony M. DeStefano, a Newsday editor and reporter. The paperback is newly published by Signet--with an unusual twist. Held one way, the first 160 pages are in English. Flip it over and the 160-page narrative is in Spanish.

New From New Yorker: The New Yorker and Mercury Records have partnered to produce “The New Yorker Out Loud,” a series of audio books featuring short stories published in the magazine. The first collection is scheduled to go on sale next month.

* Paul D. Colford is a columnist for Newsday. His e-mail address is paul.colford@newsday.com. His column is published Thursdays.