Samir Husni, a dapper Lebanese-born journalism professor, is known as “Mr. Magazine” because he tracks every new magazine published in America. Mr. Husni, who teaches at the University of Mississippi, is an old friend, and we talked the other day about the avalanche of new magazines that were published in 2004. On average, almost 75 magazines were launched each and every month. In October alone there were 132 new titles.

“We have not seen such vitality in years, especially among the big companies. Over 900 new magazines were launched, and the final count may be over 1,000,” Mr. Husni said. “It is the biggest year since 1998.”

Although every one of the major publishers, except the problem-plagued Gruner & Jahr, brought a new title to market, he is especially admiring of Time Inc. and its chief executive, Ann Moore, who oversaw the launch of four new titles, including All You, a women’s monthly that is only available at Wal-Mart .”It is for women in the Red States, for women in Wal-Mart nation,” says Mr. Husni, who lives in Oxford, Miss. “I respect Time Inc. for understanding the market and putting out this publication.” He is also a fan of Cottage Living, published by one of Time Inc.’s subsidiaries, Southern Progress.” Cottage Living is the perfect after 9/11 magazine. It is about staying home, and being safe. It isn’t about cottages, but it is about making your home no matter what its style, cozy and comfortable.” He even has a few kind words for Life, which was relaunched as a newspaper supplement a couple of months ago and appears to be struggling. “I hope they give it time to find advertisers. Making it a supplement was the only way to launch a really mass-circulation weekly magazine.” Today most publishers hope to achieve a circulation base of 500,000. Life, through newspapers, reaches 12 million.

Other launches Mr. Magazine gives the thumbs up? He is full of admiration for Cargo, the men’s magazine published by Conde Nast. “They proved that men may not like to shop but they like to buy – and the magazine gives them advice on buying what they want.” He also likes Justine, a magazine for teenage girls published in Memphis, Tenn. “It has fashion, beauty, and relationship pieces but with a very wholesome attitude. My daughter reads it.”

And he also heaps praise on Bauer, the German publishing company, based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., that barely registers on the Manhattan press’s antenna.” They don’t even want to talk to you about what they are doing, and they do things in their own way. They have been publishing Woman’s World and First for Women for years very successfully. Now they have launched In Touch, a celebrity weekly, and Life and Style, a weekly version of InStyle. They are not looking for advertisers like most New York-based publishers but concentrate on finding readers.”

Although big publishers launched some of the new titles, the majority were published by entrepreneurs, convinced they have a great idea, will be able to find an audience, and then cash in by selling out to a big publishing company. “They come and tell me about their magazines. And their exit strategy is always to sell out and make lots of money. I have to laugh. It takes four years to create value in a magazine. And you need to spend over a million dollars the first year without a penny coming in.”

Still, Mr. Husni says entrepreneurs are rarely discouraged because they are in love with their ideas, and the chance to be an editor and publisher or both. “When I first came to America, one of my professors said Americans love to start a committee and then produce a publication. Now they produce the publication, and then start the committee.”

The entrepreneurial publications that do succeed are often very upscale, like New York’s glossy Gotham or Miami’s Ocean Drive, both published by Jason Binn, whose company is called Niche Media. Other entrepreneurs cater to even more specific niches within niches. “Would you believe there is a magazine called Horses in Art. It is not merely for people interested in art or interested in horses but for horse lovers who are also interested in equine art.”

If this, by any chance, describes you, the magazine address is a post office box in Colorado. Other magazines with a very specific focus that were launched this year were Conceive, for couples trying to do just that; Wreck Diving, for the very adventurous among us, and Luxury Spa Finder, for those for whom only the very best hot stone massages will do.

How did Mr. Husni get so hooked on magazines? “It happened when I was a little boy in Lebanon. My mother bought me a Superman comic book. My friends liked the story. I liked the ink on the paper. I started listening to the radio, rewriting the news, and every day publishing my own newspaper, which I read every night.”

He came to America in 1978 to study at the University of North Texas in Denton. “People asked me about culture shock. Yes, there was culture shock. Denton was dry and you couldn’t get a glass of wine with a meal. And in Beiruit we got the New York Times the next day. It took a week to get it in Texas. It was a big culture shock!’ He received his Ph.D. at the University of Missouri – his dissertation was on the success and failure of new American magazines – and now teaches magazine publishing and magazine design at Ole Miss, as well as editing a yearly guide to new magazines. The 2004 edition will be out in February.

Though a magazine junkie, Mr. Husni also has some critical words about some of last year’s launches. He thinks Hachette’s For Me, another new magazine for women, was “a disaster” and wonders if Suede, a new multicultural fashion and beauty magazine is “too much of a dream book and not really connecting with its audience.” He is also pessimistic about one of 2005’s most anticipated launches, Radar, which is being bankrolled by publisher Mort Zuckerman and edited by Maer Roshan ,the former executive editor of Tina Brown’s Talk. “Well, I certainly hope it is better than its two test issues,” he said.

Mr. Husni thinks that New York-based publishers spend too much time focusing on the Manhattan press culture and too little time on realizing exactly who their potential readers will be. “This is a Red State nation. Do you know what category had the most launches in 2004? Crafts! “

And what category had far less launches than in the past? “Sex,” Mr. Husni said with a chuckle .”Maybe because of the Internet. But for the first time, it wasn’t even in the top 10!”