The fall of soft sell magazines

In a time not too long ago, soft sell magazines had the power to make or break a celebrity.

The pen was indeed mightier than swords back then as the words from a soft sell journalist could swiftly end the career of an actress or a singer. Your stock in the entertainment industry depended on the type of stories that were written about you in soft sell magazines.

The soft sell magazines were about gossip, scandal and society news. More often than not, City People, Encomium, Global Excellence and others focused on the scandalous details of steamy love affairs of the rich and famous.

Every Monday and Tuesday, vendors will sell out their copies of soft sell magazines as people rushed to read the latest about Omotola Jalade Ekeinde, Genevieve Nnaji, Richard Mofe Damijo and Ramsey Nouah.

In the 90s and most of the 2000s, soft sell magazines were the kingpins of Nigerian media. Soft sell journalists were rock stars as celebrities schmoozed with them so as to be in their good books and the upcoming celebs bent over backwards to get good press from them.

If a soft sell magazine didn't write about your personal life or career you were good as dead.

"City people write, city people read" rapped M.I on 'Nobody' of his 2010 album ''. By the time he said this, entertainment websites and blogs had started popping up and threatening the dominance of soft sell magazines.

7 years after and soft sell magazines are relics of the past. Blogs and entertainment websites reign supreme. The roles have been switched. Blogs and sites make or mar celebrities these days. The bloggers are the new rock gods.

The downfall of soft sell magazines can be attributed to publishers failing to join the online wave. Many of the old and experienced publishers and editors saw blogging as a youthful distraction. It was perceived as a fad, a trend that would fade away quickly.

It was a big mistake for the soft sell magazines not to join the digital space. Today more people visit Linda Ikeji daily than people buy a soft sell magazine in a year.

Now soft sell magazines regurgitate what has been consumed over and over again on blogs and social media. Once the kings of the park, soft sell magazines are now fossils.