Posts Tagged ‘Magazine Publishing’

One of the more interseting moves in publishing of late is a startup called Printcasting.

It is a free service that lets you create custom newsletter-styled magazines with your own blog content, and content others have contributed to the service. The magazine you create is constantly updated with your chosen content, and you can download and print as many copies as you want to distribute.

Your magazine will feature paid ads, the revenue from which is shared with you.

I can think of more than a few ways to use this service, from packaging your blog’s ‘magazine’ with a job application, to promoting your site by dropping off copies at trade shows, or even your local doctor’s office or local library if your blog has a broad appeal or a local focus.

Popular blogs might find this an interesting revenue generation tool as well, since advertisers tend to spend more money for print ads than their online equivalent.

Swedish body modification magazine Tare Lugnt has found a curious way to increase readership—they’ve released their third issue via a permanent tattoo all over someone’s body.

Postage is gonna kill them.

Seth Godin’s blog post, “The High Road and the Low Road,” is particularly relevant to book and magazine publishers.

If you’re starting up a new magazine, or a new book publishing company, and your only motive is profit, you’re almost certainly going to fail.

Yes, you’ll need to make money, but what you REALLY need to do to make money is enthrall both your readers and your advertisers with your product. And that goal has to be at the core of your business.

A good example of this would be Michael Brooke’s four line business plan:

One rider at a time
One reader at a time
One subscriber at a time
A magazine so good you’ll want to put it in your will

You need to be passionate about the topic you’re publishing. You need to care about the quality of the information you’re sending out. You want to put your reputation on the line with every issue. A bad product is a personal affront to you.

Because, as Seth Godin so accurately writes:

The reason manipulative media doesn’t work as well as you might expect is that people have a choice. Sure, on a per thousand basis, the manipulative tricks you might decide to use seem to work, but people don’t have to show up in the first place. Generally, the people who do show up for these low road attempts at manipulation aren’t the right people to begin with.

In this month’s Publishing Executive, Samir “Mr. Magazine” Husni offers his take on the “print is dead” predictions of doom that are spreading throughout the magazine industry.

Husni doesn’t blame the Internet, or TV, or lack of literacy for the state the magazine publishing industry finds itself in, but rather the business model.

In America, we followed a system that depended on circulation revenues until World War II. After we won that war, we gained a sense of entitlement. We became the world’s leaders, and our industries exploded and were looking for outlets to promote their products. A new publishing model was created. Advertisers picked up the bill for the magazine, and readers-turned-into-numbers paid very little for the content (not even the price of its printing).

According to Husni, publishers need to go back to a business model that relies primarily on circulation revenues in order to survive, and points to Consumer Reports, Highlights for Children, and Cook’s Illustrated as magazines without advertising that survive and thrive with circulation numbers over 1 million.

Will readers have to learn to pay more for their content. Yeah. Most likely.

But magazines still offer a huge benefit to advertisers. Maybe not the massive general interest magazines, but the independent magazine publishers who are giving voice to their passions and connect with their readers will still be able to draw the advertisers they need.

As long as people stop yelling about print being dead.

A final nugget of wisdom from Mr. Magazine:

So when you hear that we live in interesting times, be aware that although we may not know what the future may hold, we should take solace that we are not the first generation—nor the last—to live in interesting times. It is not the times that matter; it is what you do with that time.

New on the Independent Magazine Publishing site, Michael Brooke asks why YOU want to publish a magazine, of all things.

After all…

Magazines can be a ghastly business – most don’t make it past the first issue. The truth is that we have TOO much information right now and I think it’s a fair assessment to say that the newsstands don’t look particularly lean, despite the number of magazine failures. So, do yourself a favor and turn back now.

But, if you’re still hanging on to the dream, he’s got some great advice.

Read more here.

PS Michael’s explanation of the beach ball vs ball bearing can be seen at Seth Godin’s blog here.