publishing

Skiff E-Reader

January 14th, 2010 | Posted in Blog, publishing | Comments
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I like the name.  The Slate sounds good too.  But it’s just what all the “book and newsprint” e-readers are missing that has me scratching my head.  Sure, digital magazine editions are a bit hard to curl up with or throw into a day bag but they do present color and multimedia.

Ask any iPhone user and they will tell you that they are now able to easily surf browser versions of web pages with their phone.  Give me a little larger screen and typing on a glass keyboard might actually be a reality.  A virtual drive is about the only other missing link and I’d be connected 24-7.  Now I did try the mini for a while as an at home casual workstation but the small keyboard and limited features pushed me to either the faster iPhone or back to the laptop for getting things done.  And yes, in many ways, the iPhone could be a faster tool for social media management.

Back to the Skiff.  I just don’t know how brands that are set to innovate on a quarterly basis will keep up with Apple or even the tablet competitors which we can expect to come on fast and strong.

The Skiff Reader will try to distinguish itself from the Kindle, nook, Sony eReader, QUE and other e-ink devices with size and portability. The 9 x 11-inch unit will hold an 11.5-inch (measured diagonally) display, which does out-size the large Kindle DX and the Plastic Logic QUE

via Hearst Reveals Skiff E-Reader :: MinOnline.

I welcome the eReader innovations.  Please remember the magazines if you are creating the next news and information reader.  The current readers and 16 shades of gray just don’t support the colorful and dynamic capabilities that are part of the publisher upgrade plan this year.

Digital Magazine Apps, Widgets, and Embeds

November 26th, 2009 | Posted in Blog, publishing | Comments
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Digital magazine apps and editions will evolve rapidly.  We expect new features and sharing capabilities as well as some healthy competition from the digital platforms.  Share is the essence of circulation and viral growth of any brand, and most especially magazines.  If a magazine, book, blog, news site does not have something worth sharing it may also lack content worth bookmarking or saving, or even reading.

Paid content walls and barriers to sharing provide short term revenue and long term brand destruction costs as a strategy for most publishers.  It does take a lesson or two on the value of both viral marketing and cost of traffic to understand that the reader is valuable, especially for the advertising driven publication.  And don’t we want advertisers to fund the magazine?

For both consumer and trade magazines I find the advertising of equal value to the content. Magazine apps can also provide magazine advertiser value in digital formats. We must think beyond traditional web banner ads. We must also consider the magazine apps sharing capabilities that relates in realtime (as a shared tweet) to other people receiving the share that aren’t on mobile application platforms and can link directly to the shared magazine website or digital edition. Of course, this means that publishers must include magazine application social sharing capabilities when developing their magazine apps for the iPhone and Andriod mobile platforms.

Magazine Apps

There are magazines that have strong content value with subscription price points that can maintain must-have-it readers. For these publishers, it is completely understandable that they protect their digital content.

For other publishers, I recommend you find ways to share your content and track the benefits of real people consuming and sharing your content and advertising messages.

I have included some digital magazine embeds below.


In 2010 we will see more magazine apps, digital magazines, magazine widgets, and other unique ways to connect with the visual communication advantages of the magazine brand and it’s ability to carry and advertising message.

Google Wave – Email Publishing

November 10th, 2009 | Posted in Blog, media, publishing, strategy | Comments

I received my Google Wave invite from a new twitter pal (thanks again Alice @aliceinthewater http://twitter.com/Davorado/status/5576326179) and can see that it’s probably going to help bridge people to a new method of communicating.  Not that I think it will eliminate email the way we know it today.  At least not for another 5 years.  But, it strongly supports the social networking models, streams, and posting that we are growing familiar with in most social platforms.

It will be very interesting to see how the Wave is received and what new products (widgets) are created to add more value to the Google platform.  I can already see that I’ll use it for anything internal for my company to eliminate the email mess.  Maybe this process will force in some outside participants to adopt the tool in a similar way that critical mass fueled the adoption of the fax machine.

I hope!

New York Times to Increase Price of Home Newspaper Delivery

May 27th, 2009 | Posted in Blog, publishing | Comments
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It does not surprise me that print media (and even print mail) will increase in price.  We can only hope for enhancements in value and that the high cost print media that reach our porch or mailbok will impove in quality.

The NY Times on my front proch should not contain any section I “never” read.  It should be colorful and have simple icons to show me where to go online for more engagement.

“Dear Home Delivery Subscriber,

“Effective Monday, June 1, there will be an increase in the price of the home delivery of The Times…We regret having to raise rates at this time of financial challenge for so many cross the nation. It is, however, one of a number of steps we must take in order to secure the core qualities that define The Times and make it so highly valued buy the most discerning readers.”

via The NY Times Gambles by Raising Prices | BNET Media Blog | BNET.

 

Times are changing.  We need value change too!