BoSacks Readers Speak Out: Print Survival, Editorial Church-State Line,Digital Media

BoSacks Readers Speak Out: Print Survival, Editorial Church-State Line,Digital Media
www.bosacks.com


Re: Will Print Survive? Find Out at the 3rd Annual Print Buyers Conference in Boston, Sept. 10-12

Yo, Bo, Somehow I think the answer to the subject-line question will be an enthusiastic, unqualified "yes." I find it interesting that a lot of these print-survival and even green initiative conferences and studies are financed or otherwise supported by the paper industry.

A player in the ad-agency recruitment market told me this week that business in that field is steady (for the headhunters) only because money is being poured (read: diverted) into e-marketing; there are more openings than there are qualified production people for that, yet jobs are going down the tubes in more traditional media.

The answer for individuals who want to remain employed is retrain, retrain, retrain. But few will be offered the opportunity within to do that. Evidence: the headhunters, who are getting the listings from the agencies, can't find enough qualified new-media production people to work in the same agencies laying off print production specialists and managers. The agencies apparently feel it's a better bet to pay for layoff packages plus big recruitment fees than to retrain current employees.

Once again, shortsighted executives doing shortsighted things. To those who say it's mostly the workers' fault, I ask which came first, company disloyalty to employees (the chicken) or employee disloyalty to companies (the egg)?
I'm just sayin',
(Submitted by A Nonnimus)


Re: Digital Media Comes of Age
"Business is business and not a place for the sentimental, even those sentimental about old brands."
This was a great article...reminding us all that no matter how a print product resonates for us (readers and print professionals) we have to develop the ability to step back and see how these brands are really performing, and for whom.And admit that the stars (print products) of own own youth are not necessarily geared to be the stars of the digital world --- that hurts!
Probably why it's easier to be creative in a digital startup, with no print umbilical cord, than to be challenged with the idea of taking a print product and reinventing it for the web.
(Submitted by a senior Circulator)


Re: Buyers Putting Heat on Publishers to Cross Church-State Line
BoSacks, Just reading the intro to this piece, I have to say that working in B2Bmagazines, I'm seeing this more (I hope) then most. Our sales girls are included in our editorial meetings and have a direct say on our editorial calendar. We ALWAYS have a advertiser on the cover. If an advertiser with enough clout raises it's vicious head, we write a piece special just about them. Granted, this is a B2B company, so we don't make any revenue from subscriptions, and all income comes from ad sales, but it's still enough to worry me - how much is this occurring on the other side of the publishing line? When will magazines stop being about the reader, and blend with catalogs until the two are one and the same?
(Submitted by a Publisher)

Re: Buyers Putting Heat on Publishers to Cross Church-State Line
This was one of the funniest articles I've read in a long, long time. The idea that there ever has been any kind of church-state integrity at fashion magazines is hilarious. Harper's Bazaar? Life and Style? These pillars of journalistic ethics are under siege? Jeez, I hope the stalwart defenders of editorial independence at Marie Claire can hold out!
(Submitted by a Publisher)

Re: Buyers Putting Heat on Publishers to Cross Church-State Line
It is despicable that advertisers attempt- and do- disguise their pitches as editorial, but then again, in the rest of nature, subterfuge and ambush is often the key to survival of some species. As always, buyer, and reader, beware.
(Submitted by a Senior Publisher)


Re: BoSacks Speaks Out: Resisting Google
Hi, Bob Talk of Deja vu`. I guess it was about a year ago I sent a note your way, expressing similar thoughts about a company with search and compilation tools so powerful, and storage so expansive, that all you write, or search can be sifted by unmanned algorithims (as happens now), and categorized as to content or intent and responded to, (as happens now) that could be (and probably has been) approached by one or more government agencies (as was the case with wiretapping) to determine who is naughty or nice. It continues to be one of the more scary daydream/nightmares I can have.

Last year, when I queried Google about their use of Spyware, the response was sphinx-like. One of my mentors once advised that all private affairs be conducted as though they would be in tomorrow's newspaper front page. That should be include the privacy of one's keyboard.
(Submitted by a Publisher)

Re: Circ
bob, as i've said since 1972, the single copy system is antediluvian and idiotic . . . the sword that will cut the Gordian knot is firm sale . . . why are magazines still sold on consignment?
all the lamentations and tweaks to the "system" are futile . . . .the system is the problem . . . we need revolution, not evolution . . .
(Submitted by a Senior Publisher)


Re: Will Print Die? Not Today PART 2
Liked your response.
Trees will be used to make paper for years to come, just not as many as in the past. For the tree huggers who read your stuff, let them know there are 40% more trees in the USA than there were in 1930.
(Submitted by a paper person)

Re: Will Print Die? Not Today PART 2
Someone might explain to "paper person" the difference between soft wood grown in rows for harvesting and hard wood forests.
(Submitted by a Circ Person)