Know what's an awesome idea when your magazine's second issue has a noticeable drop in ad pages (which, despite how you may try to spin, is not good news)?

Waste four pages introducing your contributors!

Evidently, Joanne Lipman's team thought it'd be smart – clever? innovative? global? – to introduce their overpaid contributors over the course of a four-page world map (with a half-page's worth of a book ad). While most magazines limit their FOTB contributors page to a single (or, if they're lucky, a double), Portfolio's self-importance advised a larger space to rationalize its budget.

Sure, September's Vogue thinks a decent editorial-to-advertising ratio is 1.3:10. But with 63 fewer ad pages and a whole lot of editorial hype to live up to, perhaps dedicating a few more inches to, say, investigative business journalism might've been a smarter call.