If it seems like you’ve been hearing an awful lot about upcoming magazine lately, there’s a good reason for that.
   Suddenly it seems like everyone who has been talking about launching a magazine has put aside words in favor of action.
   Whether it’s because they anticipate an imminent economic recovery or because they’ve given up waiting for one, big-time publishers and entrepreneurs alike are racing to get their new magazines onto the newsstand.
   “I’ve never seen as much activity,” says Samir Husni, a professor of magazine journalism at the University of Mississippi who tracks launches. “It’s not only talk and buzz, but actual launches. I am picking up 10, 15, 20 new magazines every week. It’s unbelievable.”
   Husni logged more than 400 launches in the first six months of 2003, about 100 more than took place in the first half of 2002. And the pace is still accelerating, he says.
   “Everybody was waiting until the economy got better, and then they realized that the economy is not getting any better,” he says. “New titles hope that by the time they establish themselves, the economy will fix itself.”
   In some cases, start-up concepts that have been idling for months or even years have abruptly shifted into high gear.
Helen O’Donnell has postponed the premiere date for her new political magazine twice already. Now called the New Frontier, it’s scheduled to be on newsstands in December.
   “It’s like a candidate saying they’re going to run for office and never announcing,” says O’Donnell. “We’ve got to stop talking about it and get out there.”
   The New Frontier is modeled on George, the now-defunct title founded by John F. Kennedy Jr.
   “It took John three and a half years to finally get George ready to launch, so I feel fairly comfortable about our timeframe,” says O’Donnell.
    Another long-in-the-making launch is MTV magazine, which debuts Oct. 21 with a rate base of 300,000. After mulling the idea for at least a decade and talking to several prospective partners, Viacom finally decided to publish MTV itself, through its Nickelodeon magazine group.
   Tracks magazine, another music title, arrives Nov. 18. Editor in chief Alan Light quit his job at Spin to launch Tracks, a 100,000-circulation magazine for older music fans, in February of last year.
   Besides music, another active area for launches is gambling. Avery Cardoza’s Player, an “upscale gambling lifestyle” title aimed at men age 25-45, hits newsstands Oct. 21. Cardoza, a former professional blackjack player and author of numerous books on the topic, says gambling has been steadily gaining in popularity for at least 15 years.
   “Whether you like it or not, people love to gamble because it’s a microcosm of what life itself is about,” he says. AC Player will concentrate its ad sales efforts on alcohol and tobacco marketers and casinos.
   Along similar lines is JAQK, a men’s magazines for aficionados of the “risk-taking lifestyle.” JAQK, which plans to start out with a circulation of 300,000, was supposed to arrive this month but has pushed its debut back until March while founder Brett Garfinkle attempts to secure funding.
   “A lot of magazines take the approach of, ‘Hey, let’s get the first couple issues out and then raise capital,’” says Garfinkle. “We didn’t want to do that. I never thought that was a good business practice.”
    On top of all these new independents are launches from the major publishing houses, almost every one of which has one or two titles in development.
   Conde Nast and its sister company, Fairchild, will both introduce new men’s shopping magazines in the spring. Conde Nast’s Cargo will debut as a bimonthly with a circulation of 300,000, while Fairchild’s Vitals, a Details spinoff, will have a circulation of 100,000 and a monthly frequency. Both titles arrive in March.
   Hearst is thought to be developing a women’s shopping magazine, possibly modeled on Shop!, which is published by its U.K. division. Former Mademoiselle editor Mandi Norwood is in charge of the project.
    Time Inc. has been juggling a variety of different start-up concepts. One, revealed in a story by the New York Post's Keith J. Kelly this summer, is a mass market women's title that Time apparently has discussed with Wal-Mart to make sure it would meet the monolithic store's taste standards..
    Cottage Living, a shelter magazine about second homes, and Love, a magazine about dating and romance, are also Time projects. Neither has a launch date attached.
    Also at Time Inc., former Maxim editor Mark Golin is said to be developing a men’s shopping magazine that will focus less on fashion and more on gadgetry than the Conde Nast and Fairchild projects. And Essence Communications, which is 49 percent owned by Time Inc., is developing a high-end fashion spinoff under the working title That.