i've been in consumer magazine publishing for over 10 years. i'm a designer so i'm not super knowledgable about all the business challenges, but i have done a lot of research about starting my own mag too. and i've concluded it's a bad idea.
in general magazines are in decline just like other print media, the only magazines that are doing well or growing are the celebrity mags that are at the checkout line, like people, us, etc ... other magazines are losing circulation and revenue for the most part, as far as i know.
even a lot of established magazines are actually getting cut from newsstands (newsstand space is shrinking), so it's tough for a new magazine to get in.
now if you are thinking of hitting an industry niche, like "veterinarian quarterly" or "meat packer news" or something, that may be easier. direct mail to a preselected list, that has more chance of success IMO (supported by ads of course). but of course it's not as glamorous.
hope that helps a little. i know it's not too encouraging though.
look at a magazine like Radar, how much it's struggled to keep putting issues out even though a lot of magazine aficionados love it. it takes liek a year off between issues, and each issue seems to be funded by a different sucker, er investor.
