ABSTRACT
This chapter examines research conducted on consumer magazines and considers trade publications through a readjusted focus of an active audience seeking to obtain specific things from their reading habits. It offers an overarching theoretical perspective that may shed light on the intricate and distinctive needs of individuals who read magazines. Wayne M. Towers noted that individuals sought and obtained different types of gratifications from news and general circulation magazines. The magazines that offer information on a topic that is repetitive can be doing so to reach new and secondary audiences to satisfy their needs for knowledge gain. As John Battelle noted, magazines allow for the creation of communities based on a set of norms and values germane to that community. The studies of gay and lesbian publications showed that the magazines meshed with the social identities of the readers.
