Assorted Afflatuses
Possibly Brilliant, Unhealthy and Strange
Last night, as I guzzled a bottle of water, I came up with an idea, which is either brilliant, encourages unhealthy behavior or simply weird: "Overachiever Magazine." It would fill the void that exists between superfluous teen magazines like "Teen Vogue" or "Seventeen," on one end, and serious publications (which, unlike Teen Vogue, have some actual value) like "The Economist" or "Foreign Affairs" on the other. After all, what sleep-deprived straight-A student wouldn't want seven suggestions for more soothing slumber? I could consult professional stress-reduction experts and have an "Overachiever of the Month," in the same way that "Teen Vogue" features some up-and-coming anorexic toothpick person in its glossy Photoshopped pages.
It could revolutionize the world of print publications. Or, for that matter, online publishing.
But as lucrative as this venture sounds, I cannot help but think that it would make a somewhat worrying problem even worse. Speaking from experience, I do not need the lure of more activities or scholarly pursuits to fill my time. I barely manage to sleep enough to stay alive — much less manage to lay down for the prescribed eight or nine hours every night &mdash and ten quick activities to help me reader faster and comprehend more would not help. In that sense, "Overachiever Magazine" would be almost as bad as other teen magazines that push people to develop eating disorders because of the unrealistic cosmetic ideals they extol. Of course, it is much harder to die joining another club at school. Induce fatigue, sure. But not death.
It seems like a fairly lucrative idea that would appeal to a growing number of American teenagers. Granted, the concept might have more merit in India or China, where, from what I understand, people are under much more pressure to become overachievers to begin with. Perhaps I should give Time Warner a call.
I like it. It's just the kind of thing that would easy the stress of wading through The Economist when one should be revising a sixteen turned twenty page research paper due the next day.
Of course, just to add my tarnished pennies, I would like to recommend staying away from anything resembling the "Classroom Version" of the Wall Street Journal. Any publication like that would necessarily be relegated to the bottom of the bird cage, or at the very least the second grade classroom.
If you get this off the ground, I'll be your first subscription.
I think it's a decent idea, but I don't think it'll be all that lucrative. The reason things like "Teen Vogue" are successful is that their target audience is willing to pay for useless fluff (well, not necessarily useless to them, but whatever). However, the way you describe "Overachiever Magazine" seems like mostly fluff, compared to more serious publications. And your target audience is the people already willing to get more serious publications. Not quite sure if that's solid logic, but you probably get what I'm saying.
Kibe, I like your idea, but I would have to assume that you have either never cracked a Teen Vogue in your life, or more likely, have not done so for a very long time. In addition to fashion (with models representing all manner of nationalities as well as weight classes), it often discusses issues of local and international importance.