Let me count the ways

How many ways can a printed "magazine" be personalized?

A major, regional supermarket company, is sending out 160,000 coupon books that are each different, personalized to the recipients buying habits.

AARP, the country's largest circulation magazine at 22.5 million, has 350 versions every month.

A national glossy newsmagazine last year asked readers to choose four of six categories of stories and then printed personalized compilation magazines for the 30,000 volunteers, with each participant's name in the ads of the sponsor of the initiative, Lexus. In other words the ads said something like:" __(personalized) name_____, you would like good in a new Lexus SUV" or something like that.

WIRED magazine printed an edition years ago with a picture of the recipient's house on the cover.

There are many other company's preparing sectionalized and personalized versions. And with variable data printing, software is not the limitation. Database understanding of readership and sales bandwidth are the issues.

Obviously, American Express and MasterCard and other billing companies -- the utilities, for instance -- have been printing and mailing personalized statements for 10 years.

It's already happening

Last year, Time Magazine created MINE, a magazine that a reader went online and answered questions and then received a printed magazine tailored to his or her answers, with advertising targeted for him or her, with his or her name embedded. about 30,000 people participated.
This year, Graphic Arts Monthly offered readers six choices of covers and then printed and delivered the choices.
Wired Magazine came with your house on the cover.
In Denver in 2010, the Western Fantasy 60-page "magazine" event program was printed variably so that each attendee at the most expensive sponsored talbles at the event had a letter of thanks personally from the event chair printed on the inside front page of the program on their seat. In the end 30 tables out of 120 had personalized pages in the distributed programs.