Most folks don’t think about the custom publishing business, per se; they may receive a magazine from Four Seasons Hotels or WebMD or AT&T, but don’t really notice that these publications were created by Pace, TMG and Time Inc., respectively).  Media people think about it, though, and have helped make it $55 billion business in the US, with 38.7 billion publications being distributed in 2008 alone.

This is one of the many reasons that Wal-Mart is smart to partner with Hearst on the store chain’s first custom publishing endeavor, 30 Days of Home.  The retailer is using the publication to promote its new line of home furnishings and distributed it with June issues of Good Housekeeping, Country Living, House Beautiful, two Oprah mags and Redbook (all Heart pubs).

A custom pub, created in partnership with mainstream publishers is typically welcomed into and kept in the home at much higher rates than a product-focused catalog.  30 Days offers editorial, useful photography and captions and video content that help the recipient see herself in a home featuring Wal-Mart furnishings:  the mag becomes something that is about her (the buyer), not the retailer (the seller).

It’s a good idea.