The long slippery slope to demise that the print world has been on for the last year or so just got a whole lot steeper and slippier this week. Whoosh! Today's bit of bad news comes from Conde Nast. The Observer is reporting that all the editors and publishers there have been told they have just weeks to cut five percent of their staffs and budgets. Apparently, this is an across the board mandate.

It will affect every title, including the company's most successful: The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Wired, Glamour, and down the line.

One Conde Nast source said that it's likely that the magazine will scale back from publishing 10 issues a year to running only twice a year and it will give up its entire ad sales staff, with Vogue business staff handling the work.

The plan is not just a five percent overall spending reduction but rather two distinct five-percent cuts for each title, guaranteeing that titles cannot meet the goal without cutting staff.

First, each book will have to cut five percent of its payroll. They can do this through laying off staff or eliminating open and unfilled positions or a combination of the two.

Second, each book will have to cut five percent from its non-payroll budget lines: travel and expenses, meals, freelancers, etc.