Dear Disney Enterprises, Publishers and such of the HSM Magazine,

Can I have a word with you or whoever is really in charge of this so called cult magazine that you’re trying to make look like a success? I can? Thank you. But first, before I go into all the wrongs of this magazine, let me first say that the idea - cult phenomenon all around the world and turn it into a best selling cult magazine like the Grey’s Anatomy, Sci-Fi and even Buffy ones - brilliant! My God, it’s brilliant….but….I have some pointers for you. Being a reader of those magazines all for the fun of them for a long time, I think you could utilize these valid points in your next issue…err….probably the one or two after that since next months is probably already being printed and put together. So listen up and read.

I’m just going to jump right in so you don’t have to read over other crap that I don’t feel like saying.

1. Your Cover. The only thing that caught my attention on here was the fact that the image of Zac Efron was flipped. Never do that. Ever. Readers, all of them, will always be able to tell. I predict if I showed this to my five year old niece, she could even tell. And the headlines - make it bigger, bolder, brighter. Catch my attention. The tiny headlines, and by this I mean the 16 size font in a power-point type scale and presentation - do nothing for this. It actually brings it down.

2. Fun Fact Pages are great for this type of magazine. I liked the spotlight on London - but tiny tip here, make it more than a two page spread. Think, 6. And highlight the past events. The HSM DVD Launch Party was full of gold. Use that.

3.  Never ever ever ever spell one of the principal casts’ name wrong. Ever. You’re Disney. You have fact checkers even though you should not need them to spell the any of the core 6’s name right. Again, you’re Disney, you hired them. You should know how to spell their names.

4. Your interviews…so far, I’m not that impressed. I mean, I love that you chose to do Corbin this time. He is love triple scored! But, why is it only 2 pages long? Well, scratch that, one page. The first page on the spread is a huge picture of him with an intro. Not really part of the interview. Play 20 questions with them. Have them play a mix and match about HSM or Disney. Or…imagine this…have them play word association. Best game out there yet. By doing this, you’ll get more readers and who doesn’t love to see the casts’ reaction to certain things like that? Also, use current pictures. He looks like a baby here.

5. Quizzes and Trivia are good. But the ones in this issue are more um…questionnaires than actual quizzes. I know your demographic is more of the 9-12 year old tween set. But you do have to remember that you have some older fans to. Who do you think bought the merchandise for the 9-12 year olds in the first place?

6. We here at VABN love Popstar! They’re probably our #1 Tween mag and will remain there until Bop or even (shudder) Twist, twists them out. I’m ballparking that’ll be a long while. So, be Popstar! One-Page posters are your first task. Instead of making people rip the magazine apart with those two pagers, have one page posters. And these are great for the tween set with new lockers that are just waiting to be christened. Just an idea.

7. Love the emphasis on the Core 6 Wildcats a lot………………………..but, where are the rest? I’m pretty sure that there are more than 6 Wildcats in the Graduating Class of 2009. And I for one, would love an exclusive with Huff. ;D And don’t forget the crew! This phenomenon would not be anything without them.

8. The Graphic Novel page preview - by far the best teaser of all. No opinion here except for the hopes of a comic story and little cut outs of the characters so I can scan and make icons with ;D

9. On-Set, Backstage Pictures and things, we LOVE those. Give us more. None of this 2 page only stuff. That’s so not enough for us.

10. The Style & Look sections are great….but maybe you can expand it a bit? Like a ‘How to Dress Like (insert character’s name here)’ or even ‘How to Dress Like Vanessa or Ashley or Monique’.  I know of at least one person very well that would like the latter.

11. Again, be Popstar! They’re obviously doing something right, right? Create stories with these pictures! Or, better yet, just give us the goss that went along with these.

12. Facts are great. Again, where are more? You gave us like 3.

13. Next issue previews are great. I love them actually. Gets me all excited and looking forward to something else. But, is it too much to include a thank you page….you know, credits? Just the little thing on the the inside of the cover, is not enough.

And that is it for this month. Watch out in April to see if there are more pointers I can give you.

Sincerely, me.

source: HSM Magazine Scans

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