This is the 13^th article in a series about surviving as an independent magazine publisher. If you want to start at the beginning, check out the Introduction to The Ball Bearing and the Beach Ball.

"As an industry we took a huge wrong turn. It was a new technology and we didn't quite understand it. We had been told that if we got the eyeballs - in the usual digital dotcom jargon - the money would follow. Well, we got the eyeballs and the money hasn't followed."
-- Spectator publisher Andrew Neil, speaking to the Independent's Ian Burrell.

"You don't charge the search engines to send people to articles on your site, you pay them. If you can't make money from attention, you should do something else for a living. Charging money for attention gets you neither money nor attention."
-- Seth Godin, November 23, 2009

For a ball bearing publisher, it's always about quality of eyeballs, not quantity. An audience of 20 million sports fans is mildly interesting to me - but it's doubtful many of these people care about skateboarding. The truth is that I'd rather have a passionate audience of 20,000 skateboarders. As an independent publisher, you can accomplish more.

But it goes beyond what I want. The mass media are starting to realize that mass market advertisers are not willing to support their efforts the way they used to. You can read about this exact problem in Bob Garfield's excellent book "The Chaos Scenario." The fact is that businesses are realizing that they don't need to go the mass market approach. Sure, the advertising for the Super Bowl still sells out and Vogue magazine still has a pretty fat book. But the truth is that the mass media is declining in revenue. Marketing dollars are shrinking with each passing day. When you combine this with the economic recession and emerging technologies, it makes for a very volatile situation. Yep, that's right: you get the chaos scenario.

The web has brought a laser-like focus to marketing - for those who wish to pick up the ideas that the web creates. Fair warning: this is just the beginning. Many years ago, I recall seeing a sign at Pepsi's headquarters here in the Greater Toronto Area. All it said was: "we sell soda." This is a brilliant summation of their marketing efforts. We can fluff things all we want, but the ONLY reason why advertisers buy advertising is that they want to SELL stuff. If your publication (or media platform) can do this, you might benefit. There is still the question of whether your media outlet can do this economically and with enough "value add."

Of course, there is unlimited ad space inventory on the internet. There are literally hundreds of ways for a company to build a brand online. There are also many ways for companies to sell stuff online. But as you can see in the first quote, just having millions of eyeballs isn't going to really move the needle forward in terms of adequate revenue for publishers (25 cents per thousand, anyone?). This is probably why most publishers find Google so maddening. Google got into the search business and with one brilliant move (monetizing search) turned the publishing world upside down.

So, what do you as a ball bearing publisher? You continue to publish your magazine because you know that YOUR readers respond to your publication. They love it because it deeply resonates with them. They see information presented in a fascinating way. They feel the quality on every page. From cover to cover and issue to issue, they feel the magazine's spirit. Of course, they take action when they see ads in there because the ads are not superfluous. They actually ENHANCE the enjoyment of the magazine. Your readers are so enthralled with the magazine that they spread the message of what the magazine stands for each day. In fact, your readers are part of YOUR army.

At the same time, your publication embraces the web. You cluster with other like-minded websites. You integrate what they do with what you do. You form reciprocal relationships (ie a page in your magazine for space on their website). You play to the web's strengths. The fact that the web can gather a diverse bunch of people and filter them into specific areas is its greatest asset. Sure, you can continue to give away content…IF that helps grow interest in your publication. But the truth is that you are much better off giving away your ads. Yes, you heard me. Keep most of your content, but let readers see all your ads.

I'll go two steps further. Not only should your website include all your current advertisers - but it should also include links AND you should not charge for this service. Yep, as long as people are advertising in your magazine, give them the ads and links for FREE!

But more on that next chapter...

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