Southern Living (1-year)

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

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Who Reads Southern Living?
Southern Living is written for any woman who feels a strong connection to the South--geographic or otherwise--and who wants to live the lifestyle she associates with the region and the magazine. Specifically, she wants a warm, casual, inviting home; great recipes she can count on for friends and family; terrific travel ideas for family vacations; a garden that not only beautifies her home but extends family living/entertaining space into the outdoors; and a sense of pride and respect for the South.

What You Can Expect in Each Issue:

• Weekend Guide for 5 different regions: What to do close to home right now: city day trips; new shopping and dining experiences; hiking and other outdoor activities; romantic getaways and quick vacations.
• So Southern: Creative, seasonal, inspiring ideas.
• Travel: Destinations primarily within the South; insider information from editors who have been there and tried each hotel, restaurant, attraction, etc.; beautiful sense-of-place features that inspire pride in the South; budget travel and splurges; trips packaged for families with young children, couples, girlfriends, etc.
• Homes: Casual, comfortable homes that reflect the homeowners' lifestyle and their Southernness; creative decorating ideas; features that teach readers the basics of good design and offer advice from design professionals.
• Gardens: Beautiful homeowner gardens to inspire; great indoor-outdoor living ideas; expert planting and growing advice specific to the South and tailored to all the regions of the South (coastal, Southwest, etc.).
• Foods: Outstanding kitchen-tested recipes that readers have come to trust and treasure; Southern classics as a well as fresh twists and updated recipes using traditional Southern ingredients.
• Feature Articles: Feature articles reflect the primary sections of the magazine, in terms of content. Recent issues have featured: Azaleas Say Welcome, A Farm-Fresh Easter, Kentucky's Wild Wonder (Red River Gorge), Food-for-You Grilling, The Allure of Natchez, No Fuss Allowed (casual lunch for friends), Creating Character (new Lowcountry home taking cues from Old regional architecture), and Legacy of Wildflowers (Winterthur estate).

Magazine Layout:
Southern Living is a visual magazine but still believes in storytelling. Its photographers have continually worked to raise the visual bar because readers want to see the all the beauty and seasonal color of the South. They also want to access useful information quickly and easily, so Southern Living focuses on clean design and readability. But also makes room in the book for great writing and storytelling. .

Click on any image below to see select pages from Southern Living:



Contributors:
Southern Living is unique in that it is almost entirely staff-produced. Its staff editors were chosen for their expertise in their particular fields. For example, the Garden staff includes landscape architects and horticulturists. The Foods section is produced by former chefs, culinary school grads, and registered dietitians.

Past Issues:


Comparisons to Other Magazines:
We really can't name another magazine that is (1) completely devoted to the South and (2) committed to combining great lifestyle and service with regional pride and sense of place. In short, Southern Living delivers both service and soul, with a strong Southern accent.

Advertisers:
The top four advertising categories are food, travel, Pharmaceutical, and Homes goods. The advertising to editorial ratio is roughly 50/50.

Product Description

Home improvement, decorating, entertaining, cooking, and travel -- and of course, our signature recipes!

See all Product Description

Who Reads Southern Living?
Southern Living is written for any woman who feels a strong connection to the South--geographic or otherwise--and who wants to live the lifestyle she associates with the region and the magazine. Specifically, she wants a warm, casual, inviting home; great recipes she can count on for friends and family; terrific travel ideas for family vacations; a garden that not only beautifies her home but extends family living/entertaining space into the outdoors; and a sense of pride and respect for the South.

What You Can Expect in Each Issue:

• Weekend Guide for 5 different regions: What to do close to home right now: city day trips; new shopping and dining experiences; hiking and other outdoor activities; romantic getaways and quick vacations.
• So Southern: Creative, seasonal, inspiring ideas.
• Travel: Destinations primarily within the South; insider information from editors who have been there and tried each hotel, restaurant, attraction, etc.; beautiful sense-of-place features that inspire pride in the South; budget travel and splurges; trips packaged for families with young children, couples, girlfriends, etc.
• Homes: Casual, comfortable homes that reflect the homeowners' lifestyle and their Southernness; creative decorating ideas; features that teach readers the basics of good design and offer advice from design professionals.
• Gardens: Beautiful homeowner gardens to inspire; great indoor-outdoor living ideas; expert planting and growing advice specific to the South and tailored to all the regions of the South (coastal, Southwest, etc.).
• Foods: Outstanding kitchen-tested recipes that readers have come to trust and treasure; Southern classics as a well as fresh twists and updated recipes using traditional Southern ingredients.
• Feature Articles: Feature articles reflect the primary sections of the magazine, in terms of content. Recent issues have featured: Azaleas Say Welcome, A Farm-Fresh Easter, Kentucky's Wild Wonder (Red River Gorge), Food-for-You Grilling, The Allure of Natchez, No Fuss Allowed (casual lunch for friends), Creating Character (new Lowcountry home taking cues from Old regional architecture), and Legacy of Wildflowers (Winterthur estate).

Magazine Layout:
Southern Living is a visual magazine but still believes in storytelling. Its photographers have continually worked to raise the visual bar because readers want to see the all the beauty and seasonal color of the South. They also want to access useful information quickly and easily, so Southern Living focuses on clean design and readability. But also makes room in the book for great writing and storytelling. .

Click on any image below to see select pages from Southern Living:



Contributors:
Southern Living is unique in that it is almost entirely staff-produced. Its staff editors were chosen for their expertise in their particular fields. For example, the Garden staff includes landscape architects and horticulturists. The Foods section is produced by former chefs, culinary school grads, and registered dietitians.

Past Issues:


Comparisons to Other Magazines:
We really can't name another magazine that is (1) completely devoted to the South and (2) committed to combining great lifestyle and service with regional pride and sense of place. In short, Southern Living delivers both service and soul, with a strong Southern accent.

Advertisers:
The top four advertising categories are food, travel, Pharmaceutical, and Homes goods. The advertising to editorial ratio is roughly 50/50.

Product Details

• Format: Magazine
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• Publisher: Southern Progress
• ASIN: B001ZZI5RY
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (205 customer reviews)
This magazine subscription is provided by Synapse

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Please bring back the old Southern Living! May 20, 2011

By irc162

Subscription Term Name:1 year auto-renewal

Like others, even though I don't live in the South. I have been a subscriber for over 30 years. What they have done to this magazine is a travesty. The things that made Southern Living special (and why so many of us saved old issues) are all gone. The articles are interchangable with the articles in any of a dozen other magazines. For all I know, the articles are written by a bunch of folks in NYC who have never set foot south of the Mason-Dixon line!

57 of 64 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Great in the 1970s, Garbage Today June 30, 2010

By Matt

Subscription Term Name:1 year

Having grown up in the heart of Dixie, I've read this magazine all my life, and I preceded its birth by over 10 years. Still have the entire 1974 year down in the ol' homestead (an ultramodern 1970s brick house) in an old cardboard slipcase. It was a wonderful magazine in the 1970s and even into the early 1980s. Today, it is pure garbage. Do not waste your money on a subscription. If you buy one issue, you'll have all the advertising you need, but you'll actually get better advertising of Southern lifestyles by picking up free flyers at various interstate welcome stations. In fact, Southern Living now resembles a magazine comprising interstate brochure writing sandwiched between so many advertisements you cannot make sense of the editorial. I know what I'm talking about. Since it was purchased more than a decade ago by Time-Life, Southern Living has gone steadily downhill. If you want a gardening magazing for the south, choose Garden Gate or Fine Gardening. Or buy books. It's cheaper. If you need travel information, use the internet. If you want home design, forget it. In the 1970s you had houseplans, beautiful landscape designs and decorating ideas. Today, you can get better ideas from a standard like Good Housekeeping or by watching home and garden shows on television. It's really sad how pathetic Southern Living is. If I were employed there as a writer -- and it is not my niche by any means, professional corporate writing is -- I would be a lifeless card-punching automaton regurgitating segment marketing pap. Pulp. Garbage. You can't even wrap a decent mullet with this piece of garbage, they've shrunk the page size.

41 of 46 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars No Improvement Needed October 26, 2009

By L. Vernon

Subscription Term Name:2 years

Having been a subscriber for 14 years I can only say that the new changes are not for the better. New subscribers will never know what they have missed.....but us old timers have lost faith. Who said Southern Living needed to be changed? Shame on those who took a delightful magazine from wonderful to wanting. You should have asked the readers.........we would have shared our positive thoughts with you before you took this "improved?" approach.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Getting better! September 28, 2011

By Abswb

Subscription Term Name:1 year auto-renewal|Amazon Verified Purchase

I've been a SL subscriber for years. Every Southern woman has to have it. It took a dip in quality in the past five years, but with a new editor the content is becoming more abundant. I look forward to it each month! Purchasing magazines through Amazon are often a lot cheaper than the offers you will get directly from the company. I even tried to renew one year asking SL to match the price that Amazon was offering, but they wouldn't do it.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Sad to see what has happened to Southern Living May 2, 2010

By Suzanne664

Subscription Term Name:1 year

I'm assuming the changes in Southern Living happened because of the state of the magazine industry, but it's such a shame. SL use to be one of the best. I don't live in the South, but really enjoyed the great articles, travel stories, unique recipes, decorating ideas and beautiful photos. Also liked the fact that the magazine carried its share of ads, but I didn't feel like I was paying for a book of advertising with few articles, the way I do with many magazines.

Now, all that is gone. I don't really even recognize the magazine anymore. Ridiculously short articles with little content, recipes that I've seen a zillion times, nothing really inventive or even fresh, just recycled, watered-down content. The cover photos are the only thing that is as lovely as ever. SL now looks like every other magazine on the stand, even worse than many. Why in the world? Is this what it takes to get readers and advertisers? I can't imagine. I'm hoping that SL doesn't go under, but cannot imagine that this change will help it stay afloat. Sad that it already seems to be gone. Very unfortunate.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not your Mom's SL July 21, 2010

By Nova chic

Subscription Term Name:1 year

I have been reading Southern Living for over 30 years. My mother was a loyal subscriber, so I've seen this magazine monthly since about 1977 and have all of Mom's annual cookbooks in addition to all the ones I've purchased over the years. All that said, the publication has changed markedly over the past couple of years. All of the recipes used to be from readers, now they are mostly from the publisher. Also, instead of projecting a "warm and fuzzy" neighborly feeling, most of the articles, features and ads are upscale and impersonal. Really a shame, it was such a great publication. "Southern Lady" is reminiscent of the old Southern Living.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars agee with the others August 23, 2009

By Nadia Garas

Subscription Term Name:1 year

Although we live in the midwest, we spent alot of time in the Chesapeake Bay area and it was always wonderful to find articles and recipes from that region. Now, the format has changed and not for the better, if it wasn't for the$5 price tag, I too would not renew.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Isn't what it used to be August 23, 2011

By CSW

Subscription Term Name:1 year|Amazon Verified Purchase

I still subscribe to Southern Living because it does still contain some good articles and recipes. The magazine has degraded through the years and is now lots of advertisements and less useful information.