1) A home decorating magazine is nothing without photographs. It is a common saying that "a picture is worth a thousand words", that's why a home decorating magazine must have color photographs, that are relevant to the text written.
But here is a little secret about these photographs that go in a decorating magazine. All these photos are captured by expert and professional photographers and these experts have been trained to make look these interior spaces good and impressive. If you actually physically visit the places in the photographs, you might get a different impression about the space. So what's the point here. While selecting the home decorating magazine see that you get photographs by experts and also some real life photographs captured by non-experts to show the real thing.
2) Does the magazine focus only on a certain area/niche of decorating such as wallpapers, furniture, color schemes, interior lighting then don't go for it. Such kind of "focused on a niche" magazines is good if you are an expert yourself in that niche. For example if you are an expert in "interior lighting" then it would be nice to look for lighting magazines to improve your knowledge or even as a place to advertise your services.
3) What kind of articles does the magazine publish? Who are the writers? Are there any "how to" articles that help fixing a specific problem?
Of course this is the job of the editor of the magazine, but as a reader it's your job to see what do you get against your investment.
4) Are there different sections reserved for the ads of the merchants that go in the magazines? How many pages have been reserved for the ads. It can't happen that a magazine is 100% without ads and neither should it, but check for the ratio of pages of quality information against number of ads.
5) Check some previous issues of the magazine. When was it first published? Is it consistent in providing quality information from then onwards? Is the publisher consistent and efficient about maintaining the schedule of the publication primarily promised.
6) Finally look for a general look and feel of the publication. You don't have to be an expert in this. A well managed company will always have a wonderfully designed and packaged magazine for their readers.
I hope this was enough to start your own detecting alarm in your mind to look for the right home decorating magazine you are looking for.
