Pick Me Up

Pick Me Up Magazine.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Publication Information.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
`Pick Me Up` is a glossy woman's magazine that is published once a week and available from all good newsagents everywhere. The magazine is available new every Thursday and retails for 60p although, sometimes they do have it on sale for a promotional price, which can be up to half price, and however this is only occasionally. ...
...`Jeremy Kyle`, `Photo Psychic`, `The Pick Me Up Mum's Club`, `Snip and Spend`, `Stars and Last Laughs with Ed`. Below is a brief description of each of the above listed.

True Stories.
============
These features are sent into the magazine by the readers and the public and are all about true life events that have happened in there life. They can vary a great deal and cover many different issues such as Love, Death, Romance, ... more

Pick Me Up Magazine.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Publication Information.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
`Pick Me Up` is a glossy woman's magazine that is published once a week and available from all good newsagents everywhere. The magazine is available new every Thursday and retails for 60p although, sometimes they do have it on sale for a promotional price, which can be up to half price, and however this is only occasionally. `Pick Me Up` magazine is published by I.P.C. Connect, a part of the I.P.C. media group London. You can also access the magazine information from there website http://www.pickmeupmagazine.co.uk where you can get information on the magazine and enter into its features.

The Cover
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Magazine is a glossy magazine with a glossy cover. In the top left hand corner of the cover is the `Pick Me Up` logo and retail price. The cover usually has several pictures of that weeks featured stories and quotes from the stories displayed with the relevant pictures, there are usually about eight of these pictures and quotes. Finally, in the bottom right hand corner of the cover is the barcode of the product.

Contents Review.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On this first inside page of the magazine (page 3) is a list of the week's true-life stories that the issue is publishing, including the ones with pictures and quotes on the magazine cover. You also get a section titled `Regulars`, this section gives you the page numbers of the regular magazine features for that week. Finally you will find more photo's and quotes like the front cover, but smaller versions and you also get a small column from the editor of `Pick Me Up` June Smith-Sheppard about some of this weeks magazine features.

Magazine Features.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The magazine itself is usually between 67 and 71 pages in total and has a table of contents as mentioned above on the first inside page of the magazine, this makes it easier to find particular magazine features easily. The magazine usually gives its readers between 12 and 16 true-life stories, which are then evenly published throughout the magazine. There are then the pages of the magazine dedicated to the weekly regular features. These are usually titles such as `Come On In`, `Tip-Offs`, `Toddlygook`, new `Could You Love Me`, `Him Indoors`, `Health S.O.S.`, `Jeremy Kyle`, `Photo Psychic`, `The Pick Me Up Mum's Club`, `Snip and Spend`, `Stars and Last Laughs with Ed`. Below is a brief description of each of the above listed.

True Stories.
============
These features are sent into the magazine by the readers and the public and are all about true life events that have happened in there life. They can vary a great deal and cover many different issues such as Love, Death, Romance, Murder, Betrayal, Happy Endings, and Heartbreak and much more. Some of the stories are extremely heart rendering but at the same time can give you a very different outlook on life itself. Writers who have had there story published are rewarded by the magazine with a cash reward.

Come on in!
=============
This is usually a two page spread feature of `Pick Me Up`, where the magazine shows funny photo's, poetry and funny and heart-warming stories that have been sent in by the public and it's readers. In return, anything published in this section is rewarded by `Pick Me Up` with a cash prize. Also the `Best Picture` and `Top Photo` are given an extra prize usually.

Tip-offs!
============
This is where the readers send in there hints and tips for household jobs and tasks that can be extremely helpful. `Pick Me Up` then choose the best that are sent in and actually work and publish them in this section. The magazine with a cash prize for having something published then rewards the writers of these tips.

Toddlygook.
============
Firstly, no I have not mis-spelt it! This is the section of the magazine dedicated to all those cute and funny todler Photo's and comments that we all know and love that are sent in by `Pick Me Up` readers.

Could you love me (A New Feature)?
================================
The is a new feature in the regulars section of `Pick Me Up` magazine and this is dedicated to animals that are in need of a good loving home. The animal sancuaries are the advertisers of these animals and list the details of each individual animal and what sanctuary the animal is in. They also list the sanctuary contact details so that if you wish to offer that animal a loving home you can contact the sanctuary for screening.

Him Indoors.
=============
Ok, no prizes for guessing that this is dedicated to the readers nearest and dearest, it allows readers to write in about the men in there lives and tell everyone and them why they are loved so much (awe). Lucky readers who get the feature publish will be rewarded with cash prize in some cases.

Health S.O.S.
===============
This is usually a four page feature of the magazine where the readers write into `Pick Me Up` with there health questions, problems and concerns. The magazine then publishes these and responses from medical experts, who offer help and advice and contact details of other places that, can help for that particular problem or concern.

Jeremy Kyle.
==============
Jeremy Kyle is the `Pick Me Up` agony column specialist to whom reader can write to with all there relationship concerns and problems and ask Jeremy for his help and advice. He will then choose which he is going to publish and with all those published offer his advice and help on that subject.

Photo Psychic.
==============
Sad, I know but it seems to be popular. This is a section where readers send in there strange ad unexplainable photos to the magazine psychic `Mystic Mary`, she tries to then read into the picture and give the readers an in-depth description of what they are "Supposed to" mean. Occasionally the person who sends them in asks strange and weird questions and express what they think there pictures mean and are they right. (I hate this particular feature I have to confess).

The Mum's Club.
================
This is a small half a page feature of the magazine that is totally dedicated to new mums, mums are able to send in helpful advice for other new or soon to be new mums. In addition, readers are given an opportunity to send in there photo's of there newborns.

Snip and Spend.
================
This is a full page of the magazine set out for offers of free give-aways and money off coupons on various different products. These will vary every week.

Stars.
===========
This is the magazines astronomy section, where you can find your weekly prediction for the week of your relevant zodiac sign.

Last Laugh with Ed.
==================
This is where we are subjected to a week in the life of the editor hence `Ed`, she gets to tell us her quirky and in her opinion funny moments of the week and what has been happening in her life over the last week. (Sad again I know but I do not like this section myself.)

Any Other Features?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes the magazine also features weekly puzzles and competitions for reader to enter and try to win the stated prize, there is a good selection of puzzles in the magazine and is usually and eight double page section of the magazine. Another feature of the magazine I should mention is the Classified Listings and adverts, well no magazine would be complete with out them as this is how the company manages to make profits for the revenue that is raised from advertising, and they do have to cover there costs with prizes and cash rewards as well.

Comparison to other magazines.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I feel this magazine compares extremely well and does not contain as much advertising as others. It makes a nice change to have a real life magazine instead of its close competitors who all seem to contain features about stars and there private lives, who they love and why. Also in a lot of glossy cover magazines, you find that over 5% of the magazine pages are dedicated strictly to one extremely large advert per page. This is not the case with this glossy magazine as only the front and back alternate cover actually contained a single advert page.

My Opinion.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I must confess I buy this magazine on a regular weekly basis as I fell it is good value for money and I enjoy it. In my opinion, it is an excellently presented and published magazine that is priced extremely reasonably. I really love the true stories in the magazine as I feel that on occasions some of the stories can be very helpful and comforting to know that other people have the same or similar problems to you and also they make you take a grip on reality and make you realise just how lucky you are, because there are people in the world a lot worse of than you or me. Not every story is like that though and even I have to say I do try to avoid the sort of err I did not want to know that sort of story. You will always find as well with a magazine that they will publish stories with morals that you disagree with but I just do not read those stories either. I love most of the magazines regular features although there are one or two strange one's but hey each to there own opinion and just because I don't like them does not mean you won't. Some of the features can be very funny and amusing as well as interesting and informative which is why I enjoy them so much. I feel that to be fair to the magazine they have done well in keeping there advertising and classification pages to a minimum as they do have to produce revenue to cover costs, but they have managed to keep in well in proportion to the features.

To sum up I really enjoy this magazine on a weekly basis and I think it has plenty of good stories and features for an extremely reasonable price. I therefore give this magazine a 9/10 and recommend it.

Happy reading. 

...less