This is good news for magazine publishers who are contemplating digital editions: According to a study by Smarter Media Sales, Nxtbook Media, and VIVmag (published by Zinio), readers/users find digital magazines more engaging than Web sites with similar content.
Readers rated digital magazines as substantially more authoritative, trustworthy, easy to read, better organized, and visually appealing. And, most important for that nagging bottom-line question, readers said digital mag ads are more credible and less intrusive than ads on Web sites.
One of the regular departments we created for Afar magazine is “Spin the
Globe.” The idea is literally to spin a globe to pick a destination at
random and send a writer there unprepared. It’s all about the joy and spontaneity of traveling without an itinerary.
Well, as you can imagine,
you can’t predict what will happen with an approach like that, and, of
course, that’s part of the fun. In Afar‘s March/April
issue, the Spin department took writer-actor Andrew McCarthy to Ethiopia where he
explored the amazing underground churches of Lalibela. And promptly got
arrested.
Check out the video, then read how People.com hyped the mishap. And you can buy the issue, on sale
Feb 9.
Here's a scary juxtaposition of articles about the upheaval in the publishing industry–or maybe it's a useful warning sign.
In today's New York Times, just beneath the coverage of National Geographic's decision to end regular publication of Adventure magazine (the latest victim of the pandemic of dwindling advertising) is a story about a bizarre management change at the Dallas Morning News. The News has decided that some of its editors should report to advertising sales executives.
Media ethicist professor Loren Ghiglione (my first boss in journalism) told the Times that while the need to sell ads has always helped shape news coverage to some extent, "this does
seem to me to take it to a slightly different level."
Slightly?
Assuming that the ad folks aren't actually dictating editorial coverage (we can hope, can't we?), there is still the critical issue of perception, as Ghiglione points out. No matter what the details of this new structure really are, it just looks like a sell-out. Editors are being managed by the people who sell advertising. How could that not undercut the perceived independence, credibility, and value of the newspaper's articles among its readers?
As newspapers and magazines go through the agonizing process of reinvention, we are all scrambling to survive. But let's not shoot ourselves in the foot, people. Anyway you look at it, this is a bad idea.
Despite all the leaked reports about 25 percent across-the-board budget cuts and dire times ahead, it’s still a shock. Condé Nast yesterday announced the closing of Gourmet magazine, that 68-year-old institution of food and luxury lifestyle, along with three other titles: parenting magazine Cookie and the wedding books Elegant Bride and Modern Bride.
According to today’s New York Times’ appreciation, the move signals a dominance of middle-class appetites over those of the elite. Translation: Mass-market food advertising is not hurting as badly as the deluxe category. (Chief executive Charles Townsend explained the company’s thinking in more detail to the Times’ Media Decoder blog.)
This is a dramatic confirmation of the reality we can’t escape. At least in this economy, publications that emphasize practical, servicey coverage will have a better survival rate than the inspirational, aspirational, good-read magazines.
Think Every Day With Rachel Ray, a quick-cooking guide. And Condé’s own recipe-heavy Bon Appétit–which survived this latest round of grim reaping.
Tim O'Reilly runs a successful and innovative company that covers technology through many platforms: books in print, books online, Web sites, Webcasts, and real-world conferences. He also thinks of Twitter as a form of publishing, but not in the way that most conventional publishers might.
Rather than spewing headlines or self-promoting, O'Reilly suggests that publishers use Twitter and other social media for "curating and amplifying" the voices of the communities that they serve.
Sure, it's about aggregating and distributing content, but according to O'Reilly the driving motivation should be, as they like to say around his company, to "create more value than you capture." O'Reilly outlined his philosophy—or is it a clever business strategy?—at the recent 140 Characters Conference.
Here's the video of his 15-minute talk. (You might want to duck out for a cup of coffee during the 1 minute and 50 seconds of intro.) The O'Reilly Radar blog also has a written transcript.
Magazine writers and book authors: Wouldn’t you like to spend two days this summer honing your craft, learning some business tips, and getting smart about digital tools that can help you become more visible online? How about hanging out on a gorgeous university campus here in Northern California?
If that sounds tempting, please join me at the very first Writers Workshop presented by the Stanford Publishing Courses. I’ll be teaching some of the magazine writing and new media sessions, and the book sections will be led by two real stars in the field. Alan Rinzler, executive editor at Jossey-Bass, the West coast imprint of John Wiley & Sons, will be covering books for adults, both non-fiction and fiction. Deborah Brodie, who spent 22 years at Viking and cofounded Roaring Brook Press, will spearhead the program on books for children and young adults.
Alan, Deborah, and I will be joined by an impressive roster of additional speakers and panelists–accomplished authors, editors, publishers, and agents. We will cover everything from pitching to writing to video to blogging and, yes, Twittering.
Friday & Saturday, July 31 & August 1, 2009, at Stanford University
I had a great time chewing over various aspects of Web publishing with all the smart, friendly folks at the MagsU magazine conference in Toronto on Monday. Thanks to everyone who took part in the sessions.
As promised, I’ve posted a download-able copy of my presentation about how to conduct a successful Web site redesign. (My slides on social media strategy are in yesterday’s post.)
Despite all the leaked reports about 25 percent across-the-board budget cuts and dire times ahead, it’s still a shock. Condé Nast yesterday announced the closing of 
Magazine writers and book authors: Wouldn’t you like to spend two days this summer honing your craft, learning some business tips, and getting smart about digital tools that can help you become more visible online? How about hanging out on a gorgeous university campus here in Northern California?
If that sounds tempting, please join me at the very first 
