Adweek is reporting a curious trend: When magazines feature Justin Bieber on their covers, that issue doesn’t sell well.

When People had the teen sensation on its cover last Spring it sold few copies, and now Vanity Fair is getting torched by The Bieber Effect as well, says Lucia Moses. “VF’s February issue, with Bieber on the cover, is selling 40 percent-50 percent below the magazine’s average newsstand sales.”

Moses says that the reason simply might be that Bieber fans wouldn’t be intersted in buying a magazine like Vanity Fair, but we think that’s the wrong way to look at it. Vanity Fair readers  - ahem, older people – sometimes like keeping up with the young world, so putting Bieber on the cover was smart. And Bieber makes complete sense for a magazine like People.

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Reader’s Digest Association (RDA) has launched a new brand platform that focuses on holistic health called Best You. Peggy Northrop will lead the venture, which targets women 35 and over and features a book imprint, a website, a daily e-newsletter, and digital publications. Lucia Moses at AdWeek says Best You is a direct reaction to the struggles of Reader’s Digest:

The brand also represents RDA’s efforts to shift its emphasis away from its flagship, Reader’s Digest, which has struggled to define itself at a time when general interest publications are on the wane. RDA emerged from a prepackaged bankruptcy earlier this year and has cut the frequency and circulation of Reader’s Digest to reduce expenses.

The good news for Reader’s Digest is that the magazine will never die completely, because every old person in the nation owns at least 27 years worth of issues.

Lucia Moses of Mediaweek reports that Time Inc. CEO Jack Griffin has appointed media strategy expert Peter Kreisky as a senior advisor.  Just a few weeks into his tenure as CEO, Griffin has added Kreisky’s veteran presence in an effort to strengthen the company’s digital initiatives for their magazines.

Kreisky is a longtime publishing consultant and has previously worked at McKinsey & Co. as well as The Boston Consulting Group.

You’d never know it from the cuts across the board being made at publishers like Time Inc. and Forbes Media, but some of these companies’ titles are seeing a upswing in their readership. Lucia Moses of MediaWeek reported this week that Fortune, The Economist, Smart Money, The Wall Street Journal, Inc. and Forbes have all seen an increase in readers, ironically because of all the financial terror that has caused their publishers to make cuts in the first place.

So while audiences bemoan Rupert Murdoch‘s pay wall plans, following The Wall Street Journal model, the paper itself has seen an 11.6 percent growth in overall readership from last year. And while Fortune may be cutting as many as 40 staffers over the next several weeks as part of Time Inc.’s reduction plan and Forbes let go 100 employees just last month, the two magazines have grown to 4.1 million (9 percent increase) and 6 million (11.5 percent) in total readers, respectively. And with the current trend seeing unemployment still on the rise among executives, you can bet one place they won’t be cutting back: their subscriptions to business magazines. Maybe next year’s jump in readers will be big enough that these titles can actually hire back some of their emaciated newsroom.

Read More: Report: Business Magazines See Uptick in Readership

Previously: First on FBNY: Time Inc. Shutters Custom Pub Fortune Small Business, Forbes Layoffs Decimate Staff, Time Inc. Closes Door on Buyouts Today, WSJ Looks To Claim Title Of Number One Paper In Circulation