BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – A new magazine promising to be a social, fashion and lifestyle guide for affluent singles is due out this spring.

Segue is scheduled to debut in April with 100,000 copies on newsstands and in bookstores such as Barnes & Noble across the country.

“From my own dating woes, I realized there’s no resource out there for people over 30,” said publisher Kimberly Toms, a divorced 34-year-old who is launching the magazine from western New York. “It was an idea that wouldn’t go away.”

Segue will target readers between 30 and 55 who on average earn $75,000 a year. The magazine will feature articles on fashion, furnishings and food, as well as cigars, music, sports, cars and electronic gadgets.

“It was very important to us that it has some testosterone in it,” Toms said.

Federico Castelluccio, who plays Mafia thug Furio Giunta on “The Sopranos,” is on the cover of the first issue.

An interview with boxer Baby Joe Mesi of Buffalo will run inside.

In its first year, Segue expects to spend $3.5 million.

, mostly from advertisers, and hire about 70 people. Private investors have contributed an initial investment of at least $100,000, Toms said.

John Harrington, author of the industry newsletter the New Single Copy, said there are about 5,000 magazines – about the same number as five years ago – but the number of copies being sold has dropped 20 percent during that same time.

Of the 750 to 1,000 new magazines launched each year, only about one in 10 succeeds. However, the odds rise to a 50-50 chance if a magazine has money for marketing and promotions, he said.

Full-page ads in Segue cost $10,000 and most of the companies buying space sell liquor, cars and home furnishings.

AP-ES-01-05-04 1537EST

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