Who magazine is out tomorrow, three days early on the Eastern Seaboard, with special coverage on the impending divorce form a range of perspectives:

WHO delivers a 15-page special report into the sudden divorce between Hollywood power couple Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise, revealing how the actress secretly plotted her escape after tiring of her superstar husband’s controlling ways and amid growing fears for the future of their daughter, Suri.

We will be promoting this issue in prime position.

I love the display created by the team of one of my newsagencies to promote the latest issue of Harper’s Bazaar.

The display is situated on a column at the front of the newsagency, facing into the shopping mall. It’s being used to attract shoppers to the business.

The design of the display reflects a quality of the title … if that makes sense. I like the way posters have been used to effectively underline, and thereby highlight, the title.

People ask why we do displays like this. The question surprises me. They are a vital part of keeping the business fresh and relevant.

ACP has announced that a special issue of Woman’s Day will be out Wednesday this week for newsagents on the Eastern Seaboard excluding Far North Queensland. This issue will have eight pages of pictures and editorial covering the divorce proceedings plus a new cover. It will have the same barcode as the current issue.

We have three high-profile health titles next to each other in prime positioning in our women’s health section – all working well!

Weight Watchers, Women’s Health and Runners World are all selling well. The have had to order extra stock of the latter two.

Women’s Health is a strong title for us. This issue is doing especially well thanks to the wonderful gifts which come with the title.

Weight Watchers magazine does well here as well as placement with weekly magazines.

Runners World may seem like an odd title in this mix. Well, we placed it here because of the half marathon feature and it’s half marathon time here in Melbourne. We sold out of our initial allocation and thankfully received this much again – we will sell out of that too. We also figured some man candy in the women’s section might attract attention.

We think carefully about title adjacencies, always trying to build a story and to drive shoppers to purchase more than one title.

We are promoting the refreshed Burke’s Backyard magazine at the entrance to our main magazine aisle. The new look for the magazine is an excellent opportunity to bring the title out into the spotlight and this is what we are doing.

Here is some information about the new look from the publisher to help newsagents understand the opportunity of the new look Burke’s Backyard:

The popular lifestyle/gardening magazine Burke’s Backyard has had a makeover.

New Managing Editor Chris Burke and the publication’s design team are responsible for the revamp which spans editorial content and appearance.

From the July 2012 issue, home renovation and style content has been boosted, addressing both indoors and outdoors.

“We are focussing on the latest garden and home fashions with much more to offer young people who have become increasingly aware of the need to ensure maximum value is added to a home when any improvements or renovations are done,” says Don Burke, editor-in-chief.

The changes not only bring a breath of fresh air but take the magazine back in line with the original, award-winning TV show, encompassing the essence of the Australian lifestyle and giving sound, credible advice.

“The mag was overdue for a makeover. It’s now more modern, more stylish and more fun to read,” continued Don.  “As a result, it now features modern renovating to increase the value of both the home and garden for readers.”

Cherie Barber, the Renovating for Profit expert, is now writing for Burke’s Backyard magazine.

Landscape designer Jim Fogarty, who has recently won world-wide garden design competitions, has expanded his contributions to include a more comprehensive look at what can be done with all shapes and sizes of back and front yards.

Dr Chris Brown continues to write in the now expanded pet section, which remains the largest pet editorial offering of any lifestyle magazine.

In case newsagents missed it, the latest issue of Burke’s Backyard provided first look at the gardens for The Block.

Yesterday, like every Saturday we placed Better Homes and Gardens magazine with newspapers and, like each Saturday, this location worked a treat for us. Committing premium space requires premium results and BHG is the best magazine for us in this location on weekends.

We are loving the sales we are achieving with the Official Guide to the Tour de France 2012.  It is selling exceptionally well, especially from high traffic front of store locations. I like that we have been able to get extra stock to help us see this title reach its full potential.

In each of my stores we have the magazine either at the counter or at the front of the business facing into the shopping mall. Yes, we have stock with sports titles but it’s at the front where this title really works.

It’s terrific seeing people come in for a card, some other magazine or a newspaper and add this guide to their basket – nice margin dollars.

We are promoting the latest issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly with this column placement adjacent to the counter – seen by every shopper in-store. We also have a pocket with the title placed with newspapers as well as placement in the usual location for AWW.

In our newsagency activity in the first week of the on-sale is crucial for AWW sales to our success so we go out hard and then pull back after the first week. So far, so good.

We will place copies next to knitting titles in the second week – to tap into the opportunity of the free knitting book which comes with this issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly.