Memo Pad: Sales Preview... Simon Fuller's Style...

SALES PREVIEW: As if any more bad news were needed, an early look at newsstand figures for women’s fashion magazines shows another six months of contraction during the first half of the year. That’s according to figures provided to the Audit Bureau of Circulations’ Rapid Report, which reveals sales figures six to eight weeks after a magazine’s sale date. In Style registered a 20 percent decline in single copy sales, to 629,333 issues sold a month on average. Meanwhile, Vogue, which saw a slight boost in sales for the March issue with First Lady Michelle Obama on the cover, outperformed the group. The Condé Nast title reported a 2 percent decline compared with the same period a year ago, to 378,167 copies monthly. Elle is facing a 12 percent drop in single copy sales, to an average of 291,578; Harper’s Bazaar reported a 12.5 percent decline, to 146,379, and Vanity Fair saw an 11 percent decline to 334,288 despite its extensive coverage of the fall of fraudster Bernie Madoff over the first half of the year.

Glamour, whose cover stars in the first half ranged from Miley Cyrus to Jennifer Connelly, reported a 12 percent dip in single copy sales, to 603,833 issues, and Marie Claire also saw a 12 percent decrease, to 254,863. Shopping title Lucky is facing a 18 percent decline, with 196,072 copies sold monthly, and Self saw a 9 percent drop in sales to 300,833 copies. Official, audited figures will be released from ABC on Aug. 31. — Stephanie D. Smith