'I deep-fried the dog' ... and other real life stories

LONDON - When a new breed of women's magazine with stories such as "I sold my body to buy Lemsip" and "I was frozen to the loo", appeared 15 years ago, many wondered if they had a future.

Now it is one of the fastest growing sectors in the magazine world, selling millions of copies a week - and some of the biggest names in publishing are belatedly trying to get a slice.

For more than a decade just three titles dominated Britain's real life women's weekly market - Take A Break, Chat and That's Life. Now, with launches by several large publishing firms , the number has doubled.

The very antithesis of the celebrity magazines that recently swamped the market, "true life" titles focus on the sorrows and joys of ordinary people.

Reality TV has apparently spurred women's appetites to read about people whose everyday existence bears some resemblance to their own, rather than far away fantasy figures whose lives they can never emulate.

Recent headlines in market stalwart Chat, give a glimpse of just what stories women like to read: "Being eaten alive ruined my life", "Argh! I deep-fried the dog".

According to research, typical readers are over 40 and working class - a pariah market where advertisers are concerned.

But they are considered political gold dust. At the last general election, the three main parties were in hot pursuit of Take A Break woman.

The best-selling women's magazine in the UK, Take A Break has a circulation of 1.2 million a week and an estimated readership of four million - twice that of its closest rival.

Pick Me Up, launched last year, achieved an initial circulation of 500,000 - the most successful debut for a woman's magazine in a decade.

News International, however, hopes its new title love it! will attract the cash of younger, under-35 readers. The magazine will have a regular feature on extreme plastic surgery and pictures of hunky firemen.

Publisher Augusta Barnes said: "love it! is the first real life weekly to target the younger reader. We're doing that with a glossy, aspirational package that she can relate to."

Typical readers of real life magazines are "working class women who live their lives for their family and friends", according to Pick Me Up editor June Smith-Sheppard.

Chat editor Gilly Sinclair backs that up. "They're witty and gritty, all heart and chutzpah ... the woman out on the street, the salt of the earth, heart of gold character, the woman you want to live next door to."

CHAT CLASSICS

* No tears for brave Mark - killer fungus has eaten his eyes.

* Aargh! I deep-fried the dog!

* Being eaten alive ruined my life.

* My brain exploded during sex!

- INDEPENDENT