Full disclosure to start: I print every one of these links out and read them on paper as I prepare a blog post. I just don’t like reading on the screen. The screen is for work; paper is for reading. As we continue in the inexorable march toward e-readers rather than print, I will be like those people in airports looking for a pay phone.
However, some of the new digital mash ups that they say will be the future of magazine publishing are very exciting. Sports Illustrated obviously used a very talented print designer, a content strategist and a fantastic user experience expert to come up with its ideas of what the future digital edition will look like.
Wired, naturally, also has some way cool ideas of the future of magazine design and interactivity.
What publishers want from e-readers is control of their relationship with readers and advertisers and the revenue streams that they have traditionally enjoyed. They want to go back to getting paid for what they do rather than giving it away online for nothing. Device makers like Apple and Amazon want to go the iPod route, where they broker the deal with publishers for content and sell it themselves.
What readers want is what they want. I subscribe to the Economist and the New York Times. I don’t want to have to buy two devices to get what I want. There will be the inevitable fall-out that always happens with new hardware but the initial messy battle for position makes consumers want to scream “You’re not the boss of me.”
First huge problem for device makers and publishers: I can get what you’re going to try to sell me for nothing on your website or someone else’s. Unless Sports Illustrated takes down a lot of the content on its own website and everyone else’s, why would I pay for it? You can’t boss me around. If I want the Kentucky-Louisville basketball score (Go, Big Blue!) I will find it the day of the game a lot of places.
Second huge problem: I don’t want another hunk of plastic to lug around. There will be mobile applications, of course, but that’s another rant for another day. The market for these things doesn’t exist and between the Kindle and the QUE and whatever else they’re hawking at the Consumer Electronics Show this week, I’m willing to wait till the dust settles before I cough up several hundred dollars.
Maybe it won’t come to a battle of devices. Hearst is working with Skiff ( formerly FirstPaper) to create a digital newsstand where you will be able to get whatever you want on the device of your choice. Time Inc. is working with Hulu to do much the same.
This sounds promising but it will take a long time for the millions of people who subscribe and buy print publications to fall in love with and buy another hunk of plastic.
Associations Left Behind?
Where does this leave associations? Unless you’re the AARP which has 225 staffers on its communications team, you will probably default to your website. You stop publishing your print periodical and put it all on your site.
First huge problem for associations: Same as for for-profit publishers: you lose the revenue streams. Digital ad dollars are tiny and won’t pay for the analog work that goes into creating the high quality content your members expect. You will have to password-protect all the content so you can still charge your members a subscription as part of the membership fee. This deprives you of the SEO benefits of all that good content and puts a barrier up in front of it that many members just won’t want to deal with.
Second huge problem: You’re not staffed for this. Even if you’re publishing a fantastic print magazine, your staff’s skills are not transferable. You’ll still need to create content but you’ll also need the user experience person and the content strategist and a whole lot of other people that you just don’t have.
Third really huge problem: If your industry trade publication is already a major competitive force, they will become even stronger and you will be less able to compete. If they can afford to do this and you can’t, you really will be left in the dust.
One sort of opportunity: Digimags are posting pretty good numbers and are recognized by BPA as legitimate circulation. Problem is and always has been that they appeal most successfully to people with a preference for electronic sources. They have not been able to convert print lovers into screen lovers. Essentially, it’s the print magazine online which does not make the best use of either medium. They save trees but they have not reinvented the print industry as e-readers may do.
One really big opportunity: Association publishers need to get in on the Time-Hulu action or something like it. Does there need to be a digital newsstand just for association publications? Should ASAE or SNAP do it?
Help from, You Guessed It, Associations
There is some guidance out there from the major publishing associations.
- The Magazine Publishers Associations is turning its annual Magazines 24/7 into a themed event about the e-reading revolution.
- The Newspaper Association of America offers a library of digital media resources which includes a “planbook” for reinventing print newspapers for digital platforms.
- American Business Media restructured its Business Information Network to include data about B2B digital spending.
Isn’t reinvention fun?
As a new Kindle owner, I have to say I love it – and I look forward to using it in new ways – however, already I am only using it for books that I will keep and want to have on hand – my library in my purse! Your thoughts on the problems and opportunities is truly an eye opener and one that every association should be thinking of! Post like this one is why I subscribe and read, your blog. Thank you.