MONOCLE'S THAI COUSIN ?

At first glance Samret, which made its debut on the bookshelves in Thailand in March, could be mistaken for a local language edition of Monocle. It's not, although the design and layout are remarkably similar.

Another distinguishing factor that makes this Thai language magazine unique is the lack of a single advertisement in its debut issue, although I'm not sure whether any of the 'editorial' features were paid-for.

With a cover price of 90 baht it's relying solely on copy sales for its revenue - and that's an extremely difficult thing to do. The challenge is even greater when you understand this is a chunky, perfect-bound 164 pages that would have cost a significant amount to produce.

That said, I believe that if this magazine can survive the crucial first six-to-nine months and start to pick up some advertising then it has a chance of survival.