You know the old adage, "It's much less expensive to retain an existing customer than acquire a new one?" Well, it's never been truer than in today's economy. It is critical that publishers establish reader loyalty to retain their subscribers and continue to find ways to increase the profitability of a customer.

Last week was a dramatic one for the print industry. Breathless reports of "bloodbaths," "axing" and other Halloween-appropriate clichés clogged the newswires as falling revenues encouraged some major publishers to slim down staffs and cut back frequencies.

Significant Living, a sister ministry of Total Living International, has acquired Today's Christian magazine for an undisclosed sum. Today's Christian will relaunch as Significant Living's Today's Christian in January 2009. The two magazines will be fully combined as Significant Living by the middle of next year and are expected to reach 140,000 readers.

Newspapers and magazines have taken a huge hit in this economic down­turn as the industry continues to wane with new layoffs.

Condé Nast is cutting the frequency of Men's Vogue to twice a year, and also will reduce Portfolio from monthly to 10 times a year. The publisher joins a round of belt-tightening that has affected frequencies from Elle Accessories to the Christian Science Monitor.

Daily newspaper The Christian Science Monitor will cut its frequency and focus more heavily on its Web products in 2009.By April, print will be limited to a weekly, weekend edition, with longer analytical stories. As part of the paper's new, Web-focused strategy, daily e-newsletters will be available by subscription, and the Web site, CSMonitor.com, will be upgraded and updated more regularly. The new site also will provide more opportunity for interaction between the Monitor and its readers.

Gannett Co., publisher of USA Today, will lay off 10% of its staff by the first week of December.The cuts will affect Gannett's local papers, where each publisher will be in charge of final layoff decisions. Gannett pointed to the economy and its own slumping revenues as reasons for the cutback. Publishing operating revenues for the company were down 14.4% in the third quarter, compared to last year, and third quarter income for the company dropped 32.5%, to $158 million.

Black Health magazine will relaunch as an international publication on November 4. At its launch three years ago, the bimonthly was distributed to newsstands in the southeast and subscribers nationwide, at a rate base of 125,000.

Special events and online efforts spark circulation growth as New York magazine turns 40.

Elle Accessories, a usually-biannual supplement to Elle magazine, is suspending publication until next fall. The fall 2008 edition of the Hachette Filipacchi Media US title has hit newsstands, but the company is not planning a spring 2009 edition.