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)

BoSacks readers Speak Out

BoSacks readers Speak Out:
http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=tzk7uocab.0.rkwpa6bab.cuf4zubab.1&ts=S0350&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bosacks.com%2F

RE: BoSacks Speaks Out: Who Should We Put On The Cover?
My only advice as you await the return of thoughtful, subtle, clever, insightful covers lines is this: Don't hold your breath. We do not live in a thoughtful, subtle, clever, insightful culture. We live in an amoral, irrational, anti-intellectual, emotion driven, Six O'clock New "If it bleeds it leads" culture. Cover lines are merely one minor symptom of the general decline of Western Civilization in general and American culture in particular. We have created a society where life is disposable, the sanctity of the bedroom has become a spectator sport, the care of the soul is replaced by an obsession with the body, and the insights of maturity scrapped in favor of our worship of the follies of youth. Cover lines on the newsstand merely confirm what we should already know: that the road ahead follows the same, steep, downward slope. As the World's Foremost Authority - Professor Irwin Corey - aptly summed it up, "If we don't change direction soon, we'll end up where we're going."(Submitted by a Printer and life-long friend of BoSacks)

RE: BoSacks Speaks Out: Who Should We Put On The Cover?
I think the dumbing down comes from the editorial side - that is, many editors are bringing less intelligence to the job and assuming that they are talking to people who know even less than they, when that may not be so. How many times have you seen editors set off on a topic or story angle that assumed the worst of their readers, or that wanted to prove a theory of theirs, no matter how much evidence suggested that they were wrong? Maybe if we want better copy that will really attract readers, the industry needs to stop low-balling salaries of everyone other than the EIC so they don't have to focus so much on the next jump of their career, because they aren't having to live out in NJ on $28,000 with 4 roommates. Perhaps magazines could attract some people who not only love the work, but are smart and willing to consider things from the readers' vantage. And maybe have more of those editors actually talk with a lot more readers. What a concept, talking to your customers.(Submitted by a Writer)

RE: Internet Is Making Us Dumb, Author Says
A couple of observations on this odd article: 1. Witness the voter registration statistics for the DNC and now the Obama campaign. The under 30 crowd is storming into politics and thus current events. 2. ". . . . the intellectual wherewithal to create advertising that is more than a collection of juvenile punch lines?" Some of us might argue that the ad business has always been about juvenile punch lines. What's the ultimate goal of any ad campaign but to provide a memorable punch line that connects a consumer with a product? He acts like once upon a time advertisers were intellectuals :) So for fun, here's a few tag lines from ads placed in a wonderful book from 1950 called The Iron Gate of Jack Charles "21", as in the 21 Club. Got this treasure as a hand-me-down from my father, an old time PR guy. (The associated pictures and art work of course are priceless)> Martins Scotch. A two headed bartender is talking to himself. "Did he say Scotch?" the first head asks. The 2nd head says "No, he said Martin's VVO Scotch". > Lucky Strike cigarettes. A cowgirl with a cigarette in one hand and a hammer in another putting up a poster which the punch line "Be happy, Go Lucky". > Pontiac Cars "Dollar for Dollar, you can't beat a Pontiac" > Watches. "America runs on Bulova Time" > Marlboro cigarettes. This one is incredible. A picture of a sad faced Baby with a party hat on in front of a pack of Marlboros with a headline saying "Before you scold me, Mom... maybe you'd better light up a Marlboro". My point is that advertising is often goofy, sometimes clever, but always about the punch line. His other odd statement is "First, the ad industry is obsessed with the Internet." The fact that there is yet again another new generation socializing in new ways is as old as consumerism itself. Ad agencies are always obsessed with the newest trends. The examples above were print ads, but could've been web banner ads. And what happened in the 1950's with the under 30 crowd that horrified the older generation? TV and talking non-stop on the phone. TV was the demise of our generation yet I am happy to report I still read books, magazines and newspapers, as do most of my non-industry friends. Ad agencies jumped on TV like a . . . . pick a metaphor . . . . ? It's only a matter of time before micro-messaging from services like Twitter start preceding communications with one word ad slogans because the user message itself is only one sentence long. 100 years from now we won't be able to read a Webster's Dictionary do to changes in the language. I often find myself being nostalgic for things from my past or even before my time but the fact is that change is life, and new generations create new methods of communication and entertainment. This is how it has always been and how it will always be for as long as we live in a democracy. So the writer needs to lighten up and figure out the new audience, not try to stop the clock.(Submitted by a Publisher)

RE: Internet Is Making Us Dumb, Author Says
Are today's young people as we were or are they dumb? Yes. In a lot of ways, we were pretty smart at that age but we were still dumb. It is the innate condition of youth and that will never change. As my Grandma used to say, "You can't put an old head on young shoulders." There are some key differences, however. When we were young and dumb no one much cared about our opinions. We lived in an adult culture. Today's culture worships youth, listens to youth, and actually thinks youth has something to contribute to the life of the mind beyond energy and enthusiasm. Big mistake! The other key cultural difference is the general dumbing down that has occurred. Unbounded tolerance and unfounded self esteem have replaced education, and feelings have trumped reason. But don't blame the dumb kids for that. And don't blame the Internet. Each of us should look in the mirror and blame the person who looks back. We made this world. The dumb kids will inherit it.(Submitted by a printer) RE: Internet Is Making Us Dumb, Author SaysMaybe he should talk to some older people. I'm not convinced they know howto reason either. Look at presidents elected, companies that tanked, warsstarted, and the many other examples of human irrationality.(Submitted by a Writer)

RE: BoSacks Speaks Out: Is It Goodbye Printed Page?
No Not Yet!Bob, Everyone seems to agree that the preferred format for a book is the printed thing with the covers the world has known for 500 years. Everyone also seems to agree that format is unsustainable. As long as there's a demand for the printed version, it will survive, but probably at a much higher cost to the consumer. It makes me wonder if this would be a good time to start hoarding used books, which can be bought for cents on the dollar. Ten years from now, when new hardcover books go for $75, for how much could I sell the copy of The Great Gatsby my son just received as a graduation present?(Submitted by a Multi-title Publisher)

RE: Striving for Zero Returns on the Newsstand Re:Future of paper:
I've been predicting to paper producers for some time that paper would cease to be a disposable commodity. With oil at $130 a barrel, and the cost of producing paper (remember - paper is all about energy and water removal) skyrocketing, will people buy People, read it in 15 minutes, and throw it away? I've tried to articulate that I feel coated paper will become something of more permanence and value. The article below does it better than I ever could. Re: Magazine "If it seems too good to be true" Scam: Everyone asks "How do they supply 12, perfect bound, glossy, high quality issues for just $12?!" I now know how they do it - they don't. After buying Vanity Fair on the newsstand every month for years, I decided to get 12 issues for $12 through a subscription service. I got my 12 issues - 8 were back issues that I had already read (print over runs or newsstand returns that I'm sure they keep in reserve). My husband used the same service at the same time to subscribe to a small, niche technology title - and he's gotten 12 current issues. So, I have to wonder if it's a Conde' Nast policy to rip off' subscribers. Either way, I will NOT renew, and this tactic has caused me to reassess my feelings about the magazine and the publisher in general. Re: New Magazine Launches: One relationship that I think would be interesting to study would be the cost of paper (specifically sheet fed offset or web offset - the grades that most new launches are printed on) versus new PRINT title launches, as well as DIGITAL launches (or conversions from print to digital). If I wasn't so consumed with raising my prices, I'd do the work myself . . . (Submitted by a Publisher)

Re: Bits, Bands and BooksHi,
Bob: I thought of you while reading this Krugman Op-Ed piece the other day. So, the question is: We now know you read Krugman, but does Krugman read Sacks; or is it mutual?(Submitted by a Publisher)

BoSacks Readers Speak Out: On Brands, Trends, and Truth

BoSacks Readers Speak Out: On Brands, Trends, and Truth
www.bosacks.com

Re: "The New Next: Brands That Bond"
Bob, I can't imagine being able to describe my magazine outside of the context of its brand image.

I would expect my magazine to be leading or at least facilitating as many important conversations as possible in the particular niche we cover. In fact, because we are not offering a product to our readers that is, similar to that of our advertisers and other industry suppliers, it is even more central to brand identity for a magazine to be out in front of people, talking and listening and prodding everyone involved or interested in the niche to do the same. Doing this also dredges up tons of fodder for future articles we can present to the entire readership, not just the in-person crowd you get.

And besides offering copies of recent issues for people who do not subscribe to or purchase it, we can also hand out items or products from partnering firms--products that help the readers do whatever it is they do that prods them to read the magazine. We can put our logo in a subtle spot as well.
(Submitted by a Publisher)

Re: Youth Speaks: If u dk what this is, gl
This would be more impactful if the writer knew that "LOL" meant "laugh out loud" and not "lots of laughs". I just uttered the same groan not used since my dad said "hep cat" in front of my friends many years ago.
(Submitted by an Industry Provider)

RE: 5 Key Future Magazine Trends and 8 Ways to Prepare for Them
Bob, You are RIGHT ON!
There is a bright light at the end of the tunnel, I can see it.
(Submitted by a Director of Mfg and Dst)

RE: 5 Key Future Magazine Trends and 8 Ways to Prepare for Them
FYI, your editorial "Printed Magazines Will Follow the Path of the Plastic Record" is hanging on my home office wall. Some guys have girlie calendars, I have Bo Sacks.
(Submitted by a Publisher)

Re: BoSacks Speaks Out: What is Happening in our Industry?
What inspiring words Bob, especially after reading the doom and gloom stories of another QuebecorWorld plant closing/layoffs and other industry layoffs. I still love what I do and I am still kept busy with my client's print and digital needs. I've reinvented myself to some extent, but it is still ink on paper or bytes on a cd and getting it into readers hands on time. Thanks for the great words Bob.
(Submitted By a senior Publishing Consultant)

Re: BoSacks Speaks Out: What is Happening in our Industry?
Bo that was amazing. Really uplifting stuff. The best part of your newsletter is the unexpected. You have always told it like it is. That would be the good news, the bad news and technology we need to know of to stay employed. You are my hero. I've been reading you since my first job in the industry . . . some fifteen years ago. The job seemed less stressful and easier then. Thanks.
(Submitted by a Production Manager)

RE: Retouching
Hey Bo, I know this is a little late but . . .
As you know covers of EVERY mag are retouched . . . aside from making models look perfect, in the "Home" category we also add sky to images retouch out cords, electrical sockets, make winter shots into summer by removing snow and adding bushes, landscaping etc . . . All shots of a the same room are made to look the same no matter what time of day the various shots was taken.
When I used to do allot of work for the Conde Nast mags thru AGT (remember them), the covers were worked for hours to get rid of lines, wrinkles, facial hair etc. We did a spread on Linda Evans that was shot very soft to help with her wrinkles, then we had to take them down even more . . . I can't imagine a room full of "Art Directors" that would ever agree to giving up retouching and letting the images stand on their own . . .
(Submitted by a printer)

Re: Hanley Wood Moving Toward Becoming a 'Web-First Company'
A sad day for us all! Soon there will be one mill, one printer and one magazine. And tons of crap on the web that can never find an audience that it knows or really understands.
(Submitted by a Paper Person)

Re: BoSacks Speaks Out: The Important Truth Behind the IDG Story
The truth is rarely pure and never simple.
Oscar Wilde
Wrong on both counts. The first because truth is pure by definition. The second because of the common tendency to confuse something simple with something easy. Because something is simple does not mean it is easy. Truth is simple. It is rarely easy.
(Submitted by a Printer)

BoSacks Readers Speak Out: On Mag Subs, Circ and other Publishing Lore

BoSacks Readers Speak Out: On Mag Subs, Circ and other Publishing Lore
www.bosacks.com

RE: Want to read those magazines? Read the fine print first
"Newsub Magazine Services, a Salt Lake City firm" . . . is a subsidiary of Synapse Group, located in Stamford, CT . . . which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of (drumroll)
TIME, Inc.

Once upon a time, long-long ago, in the la-la-land galaxy known as SW Connecticut . . . . there was an idealistic young Jedi newly enlisted into the SynapseArmy. She was swayed, mesmerized, enthralled by the pronouncements and musings of the Fearless Leader.

Fearless told his assembled throng "Together we will change the world, starting by changing the way magazines are marketed and sold. Behind my curtain lies a patented consumer-friendly subscription model. EVERYBODY WINS! Yaaay for us! But especially for me 'cause I'm gonna get rich!"

Soon the recruits learned what was really behind the curtain at Synapse. Every month the offers became a little less lucrative, and a little more misleading. 'Disclosure' was painstakingly worded to fake-out more consumers yet pass muster with the beleaguered staff attorney. All this was served up with a free lunch to make it go down easier.

Seems the Ivy Leaguers and Ivy-wannabees in charge had succumbed to the same disease that afflicts their classmates on Wall Street . . . GREED! The bank 'marketers' and publisher 'partners'? All cheering them on!

The consumer? Screwed.

After a failed IPO, a sellout by Fearless to the Evil Empire was the only thing left to do. They got Time guys running the joint now, but the website still drips with mental superiority. Yeeeccch.

As Steve Miller once said "go on, take the money and
run". And that's what they did.
(Submitted as requested by a Publishing "Nobody")

Re: Want to read those magazines? Read the fine print first
We have a simple rule: we don't use agencies, agents, or allow our magazines to be used as promotional kickers. In fact, we don't even do "buy 1 get 1" holiday gifts anymore, the people who responded to the cheapie offers turned out to be more trouble than they were worth. The sort of garbage discussed in the article debases the entire industry.
(Submitted by a Multi-Title Publisher)

Re: Newsweeklies Under Constant Pressure
Oh please, this again?
Haven't we been talking about the demise of the newsweeklies since the '80's?
Also interesting that the article does not talk about The Economist. I believe that their last ABC report showed single copy sales up around 10%. And their sales are double what they were in 1999.

Could it be that Time, Newsweek and US News are having trouble because they aren't relevant? Could the relativity issue be more to the fact that those three magazines aren't well designed for today's market? Could it be that Time and Newsweek can't make up their minds if they are celebrity rags or news mags and US News can't reach a page count where the purchase of the magazine at the newsstand would justify the expense?

Could it be that The Economist is doing well because it is well written, has thoughtful articles, has a bite, an edge, a point of view, and is thick enought to justify the cash you have to lay out to buy it?

Isn't Rule #1 of magazine publishing would be to create something that your readers want?
(Submitted by an Unknown Professional)


Re: Are Always-Connected Consumers Really Virtual Crackheads?
I don't mean to sound like one of those homeless people who go around muttering all the time, but the source of your history trivia seems to be a little off-base.

People of all classes, not just the upper classes, read American magazines throughout the 19th century. In the second half of the century, magazines targeting the modestly-educated had much larger circulations than magazines targeting the better-educated. And as for "looking toward Europe," many of the country's best magazines, like The Atlantic Monthly, The Dial, and the North American Review were dedicated to promoting American literature.

Press capacity was never much of a limiting factor in 19th-century magazine publishing. In 1849, Hoe introduced a press capable of 20,000 single-sided impressions per hour. By 1879 Bullock was selling a perfecting press yielding 28,000 folded 8-page signatures per hour. Well before 1880, some magazine publishers were producing press runs in the hundreds of thousands every week. . . . and some newspapers produced larger runs every day.

The Postal Act of 19879 was definitely a landmark event, but the Post Office had been carrying magazines unlimited distances at declining rates for decades prior. The evolution of 2nd class mail began long before 1879, and besides, single copy sales represented a significant portion of total magazine distribution in the 19th century.

The revolutionary price decreases of McClure's and Munsey's came in 1893, not 1883, and credit should also go to J. B. Walker, who priced Cosmopolitan at 12.5 cents. What made the decreases significant was that advertising sales made up for losses in production and circulation. This business model has been copied by other media so many times since that it's become commonplace. But the model wouldn't have succeeded if it weren't for the growing need of newly-emerging brand advertisers to reach a large national audience. The emergence of national brands (made possible by advances in mass production) and of middle-class magazines with large circulations (driven by the price decreases) coincided to mutual benefit. You can date the rise of brand-oriented American popular culture to 1893.

Finally, I'm no expert on Horatio Alger, but I'm pretty sure that Street and Smith, not Munsey, published the vast majority of his stories.

Because I'm a full-blown crank and not some garden-variety amateur, I'll be happy to send the full details on this stuff if you like. The factors that enabled the growth of magazine publishing in the 19th century are fascinating, and (naturally) hold lessons for publishers today. I'll also stop chewing your ear on all this if you tell me to shut up.

PS. The obituary that William Allen White wrote for Munsey is too good not to repeat:

"Frank Munsey contributed to the journalism of his day the talent of a meat packer, the morals of a money-changer and the manners of an undertaker. He and his kind have about succeeded in transforming a once-noble profession into an 8 per cent security. May he rest in trust."
(Submitted by a Publisher and official BoSacks Cub Reporter)

BoSacks Readers Speak Out: Printing as a Premium Format

BoSacks Readers Speak Out: Printing as a Premium Format
www.bosacks.com


Re: It's Web 3.0, and Someone Else's Content Is King
Um, Bo, pardon me if I am getting this wrong, but it sounds very much like a dog chasing its own tail. Who is actually going to be writing the stories everyone is aggregating?

In my market, there's dozens of "free" sites, rife with bad grammar, egregious spelling, and obvious errors of fact. Not to mention copy that would never, EVER grace my titles. Yes, I've seen some ads migrate over there, but, just like paid search, I expect to see them back again as the channels clog with trolls, moles, and wannabe writers that don't know their head from an ampersand. Call me arrogant, or simply follow the money: free content almost always sucks. How many "cute kitty" pictures can we actually stomach?
How long before the masses move on to the next circus?

Me, I'm looking forward to being able to deliver my content electronically via an open-source reader that doesn't greedily demand 85% of the retail price. (Amazon Kindle, anyone?) Until then, I'll stay paid, small-but-profitable, and happy.
(Submitted by a Publisher)


Re: Magazines Face Curbs to Photo Airbrushing
Hey Bo, Maybe it's a little late for a comment on this but- Retouching has been going on for as long as I have been in the business (over 30 years) before it was done in the sink or the darkroom (dot etching for the kids at home), then Cromacom CEPS systems & now we use photoshop. All of the models were (and still are) retouched to smooth wrinkles, blemishes, whiten eyes & teeth, re-style hair, enhance eye color, reduce unsightly bulges, facial hair yada, yada yada. This also goes for interiors (and exteriors) of houses in the " home " mags. Curtains are fixed, outlets removed, walls squared up, houses under construction finished etc.
If the general public thinks that these models actually look anything like their printed counterparts, I've got some swamp land in Florida that they may be interested in . . .
PS Keep up the good work
(Submitted by a printer)

RE: The State of Digital Magazine Delivery, 2008
I'm amazed that so many digital magazine companies are still competing in this market space. With the exception of some double digit paid circ at US News & World Report, Playboy and Seventeen the impact of digital magazine facsimiles on consumers is near zero. While suppliers claim 2,700 digital titles I have yet to have a conversation with a person outside of magazine publishing who has ever subscribed to or even looked at a digital edition. If 2,700 trees fall in the forest and no one hears them fall do they make a sound? I can't speak to B2B success with digital versions (and I know there has been some) but after many tests with digital facsimiles my company primarily sees their value as a tactical tool for sampling or displaying archived content. That isn't to say that the idea of digital magazines is bad one. There are some highly interactive digital magazines designed for the screen that are attracting consumers and advertisers. These editions have merit but so does the web. Perhaps the digital magazine of the future is, in fact, a website.
(Submitted by a Senior Magazine Manager)

RE: The State of Digital Magazine Delivery, 2008
Bo, I see this as a great work in progress. The subscribers to my digital editions are small by percentages but growing everyday. I think in just a few short years, the tide will turn and the bulk of my business will be web/digital editions. The market forces are driving my company that way, and I see no other alternative. Do I expect paper and postage to suddenly go back to the 1990s. No! What I do expect is constant manufacturing and distribution increases. For those of my readership that still want paper and are willing to pay for it, I'm sure I will still have those editions. But for the other readership, there is another more frugal course of action.
(Submitted by a publisher)

Re: Want to read those magazines? Read the fine print first
We have a simple rule: we don't use agencies, agents, or allow our magazines to be used as promotional kickers. In fact, we don't even do "buy 1 get 1" holiday gifts anymore, the people who responded to the cheapie offers turned out to be more trouble than they were worth. The sort of garbage discussed in the article debases the entire industry.
(Submitted by a Publisher)

Finally something for you magazine people out there to think about.
Posted BY Michael Turro
From the BLOG http://mturro.bluepear.org/

While I hate to sound like chicken little - and though the print is dead meme is way overplayed - I had to post this quote from Steve Frye. In a sidebar in the current issue of Publishing Executive titled The State of the Printing Industry Frye drops this bomb:

I think we need to change our philosophy of what a magazine is. We are no longer a cheap means of dispensing information, and that's what we were until the Internet came along. Now we are an inefficient and expensive means of distributing information. . . . We need to reinvent ourselves as a luxury item that people want and are willing to pay for. And until we change our own image of who we are, we're going to find out that our vendors are gong to change it for us. Because, right now, postage is a premium. Paper is a premium. Soon printing will be a premium. How long can we buy at a premium and sell at a discount? We can't.

Damn straight. I've been singing this song for a while now and it's refreshing to finally see these kinds of blunt words in the pages of an old school cheerleader like Publishing Executive (I couldn't find them on the PubExec site that's why there is no link for the quote - had to transcribe it myself).

Hopefully this marks a turning point in the direction of not only Publishing Executive's reporting, but in the reporting of all the media that cover the magazine and printing industry. Hopefully they'll awaken from the coma that has produced little more than a sleepy rhetoric of change management and stir the pot a bit. They need to give publishers a sense of urgency. They need to stop rewriting and regurgitating vendor press releases and start doing some hard, studied thinking.

Ultimately - when you get right down to it - the road ahead is uncharted and there isn't a vendor alive today that has anything close to a solution for the kinds of questions we face. To answer those questions we need journalists, not marketing contacts.

BoSacks Readers Speak Out: Magazine Trends & Industry Consolidation

BoSacks Readers Speak Out: Magazine Trends & Industry Consolidation
www.bosacks.com
Re: 5 Key Future Magazine Trends
Bo, I couldn't agree with you more about digital magazines and delivery of content. It's definitely the future of our business. But we're struggling to find technology to deliver content to niche audiences. I don't like the "page flip" technology that's currently being implemented by some publishers and e-media companies like XXXXXXX. The few customers I've spoken with agree - too bulky. And frankly my company is much too small to blaze a trail to create our own technology platform.
So, if we see the future but don' know how to get there, where does that leave us?
I'm struggling mightily with this, any advice?
(Submitted by a Publisher)

BoSacks Responded to Publisher thusly
Consider it this way. You are an explorer. Your journey is across an uncharted land. You know you will survive because you are alert and savvy. You don't know which technologic river to transverse or which digital desert will bring disaster. All you know is that there is a bounty at the other side. That is what Explorers do. That is what Lewis and Clark did. They made it up as they went along. And just for fun as a sidebar Lewis and Clark lost only one man, and that to a busted appendix, which would have killed the guy no matter where he was on the planet at that time.

Re: 5 Key Future Magazine Trends
Bob, great article. I saw you and your partner deliver this lecture to a packed room last month. Down here in the production trenches it gets harder every day. The pressure is intense and much less rewardng than it once was. I like the excitement of publishing, but the technology changes so fast that it is hard to keep up. And the head count keeps getting smaller. Some days I feel like it is a war zone and that there are snipers in the rafters. Every now and then somebody goes down and there are no new troops on the horizon to take their place. (Submitted by an Ad Manager)

Re: 5 Key Future Magazine Trends
Bob, great article.All the nay sayers are dead wrong. I read two digital editions every day. I read my newspapers on my laptop and I love it. Doesn't matter where I am on the planet they are alwasy there for my education and enjoyment. It is the future and I am living it now. Perhaps because I am a sales guy and travel quite a bit, it was easier for the transition, of that I do not know. My request for you is to continue to keep the industry honest and introspective. Good show!
(Submitted by a VP of Sales)

Re: The Effect of Industry Consolidation
Um, wow, the bookstore wanted me to *give* him copies of my zines for free (only paying for shipping, gee thanks!) so he could get an infinite profit margin on their sales. Well, I guess if any publishers were foolish enough to do that, it would have propped up Magpie a little longer, but it sounds like if that was his business model, he was emulating his mascot a little too well. Everyone knows that magpies *steal* their loot wherever they can get it.

Word to Magpie -- I actually have to make money on my newsstand copies, or I'm out of business, too. Advertising is a good part of my business model, but old-fashioned circulation (including the 2/3 of my copies sold on newsstand) are absolutely essential to my bottom line. I sell direct to stores, at 50% off cover, no returns, no shipping charges.
(Submitted by a Publisher)

Re: If You Have ChaCha , You Have Answers
I just tried Cha Cha. Wow. Very clever!
They make their money from issuing two text messages for every question you ask, and taking as commission from the phone company.
Kudos to the one who figured this out.
(Submitted by a Senior Vice President Marketing)

Re: If You Have ChaCha , You Have Answers
Bob, Your newsletter is like nothing else. ChaCha indeed. Each morning I never know what to expect and you never disappoint. The fact that you managed to link ChaCha to publishing was brilliant. I would never have heard of it if not for your daily interpretation and inspiration. Fun and informative . . It doesn't get any better than that.
(Submitted by a multi-title Publisher)

Re: Condé Nast Eyes Eye-Tracking
While it has some benefit if you think that online advertising is just about branding - but if advertising is also about engagement with the audience - then the metrics have to be built right into the ad (ad widget) itself. Eye tracking was very interesting a couple of years ago but the direct measurement systems have greatly matured. You can imagine what data will be soon available from DoubleClick + Google Analytics - across ALL digital mediums.
(Submitted by a Publisher)


RE: Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, "Certainly, I can!" Then get busy and find out how to do it. -- Theodore Roosevelt
TR was an interesting and, in some aspects, an inspirational figure. The sickly mama's boy who made himself into a man's man, a man of action is an iconic American adventure of the first water. As U.S. president, he was significantly less admirable; being the very prototype of the modern busybody bully boy chief executive. But he did get off some good sayings. Without having heard it before, at least that I remember, the one above has always been my approach to my work. And the TR quotation I have posted on my bulletin board offers similarly useful advice: "Do what you can where you are with what you've got,"
(Submitted by a Printer)

Re: The New Hampshire working forest is in crisis
Sad story, but the same here in Wisconsin and we have a much bigger stake in the forest industry than New Hampshire. The whole picture across the USA is pretty sad. The Finns and Swedes are also feeling the same pinch.
(Submitted by a paper person)

Re: Now Fashion Mags Make Models 'Fatter'
So now you can have big boobs, fuller thighs, no bones showing . . . and a tiny little waist? My gosh! Why do magazines insist on manipulating women's bodies like this? I am with Susan Ringwood. The industry is missing the point so egregiously that it would be guffawable if it weren't so devastating.

. . . . Or maybe they're not missing the point at all. It seems to me that "fill out their chests" may not be such a laudable move. Could it be that "social awareness" has now become just an excuse to hide behind while you're turning women into hourglass cartoons in the hopes of selling more mags?


Re: Now Fashion Mags Make Models 'Fatter'
Bob, I don't know if I should complain or compliment. I really like the new look to your newsletter and you seem to have more great info than ever before. The snippets at the margins are a terrific new addition.

As to the retouching of magazine models . . . it has been happening since magazines were first produced. The magic is much easier now but no different than when I designed my first advertisement in the late 1960s. Please keep up the outstanding work. Oh Yes, my complaint is that your newsletter is so sticky that I read it all every morning. Coffee, Bosacks and a cheese Danish.
(Submitted by a Retired Publisher)

Re: Newsweeklies Under Constant Pressure
Oh please, this again?
Haven't we been talking about the demise of the newsweeklies since the '80's?

Also interesting that the article does not talk about The Economist. I believe that their last ABC report showed single copy sales up around 10%. And their sales are double what they were in 1999.

Could it be that Time, Newsweek and US News are having trouble because they aren't relevant? Could the relativity issue be more to the fact that those three magazines aren't well designed for today's market? Could it be that Time and Newsweek can't make up their minds if they are celebrity rags or news mags and US News can't reach a page count where the purchase of the magazine at the newsstand would justify the expense?

Could it be that The Economist is doing well because it is well written, has thoughtful articles, has a bite, an edge, a point of view, and is thick enought to justify the cash you have to lay out to buy it?

Isn't Rule #1 of magazine publishing would be to create something that your readers want?
(Submitted by Anonymous)

BoSacks Readers Speak Out: New Language, The Printer, Mag Efficiency

BoSacks Readers Speak Out: New Language, The Printer, Mag Efficiency,
www.bosacks.com

RE: BoSacks Speaks Out: The World's Newest Language
As a seasoned production veteran, experienced with glue pots to laptops, I would like to answer your question. No, I no longer look at my job as a manufacturing job. I see it as a digital creation and output position. We create and design ads and magazine pages that are then output to paper and to digital edition. The work (the job) to me is in the process, not the result.
(Submitted by a Production Director)

RE: BoSacks Speaks Out: The World's Newest Language
Bo, that was a great riff and a great Bo Speaks Out. Yes, things have changed and changed greatly. I am pretty damn sure that my old boss who was in the industry for 40 years could not have kept his job under today's conditions. He taught me so much of the business and left just in time. He was one of the old style mentors. Do we have any of those left? Keep up the great work. You keep me informed and employable.
(Submitted by a Director of MFG and DST)

RE: BoSacks Speaks Out: The World's Newest Language
Prepress is everything that happens before you bend 'em and send 'em.
(Submitted by a printer)

RE: BoSacks Speaks Out: The World's Newest Language
I prefer Techish to Nerdic. Jonathan
(Submitted by an Unknown)


RE: BoSacks Readers Speak Out: Mag Efficiency, GM Ads, Revenue and Green Pubs
Bob: I just finished reading this RSO and felt compelled to comment on the last exchange - "print 10 and sell 3" - as you noted, this is specific to the newsstand copies. Do you have any data on the total % of copies delivered to an end user via newsstand sale and/or subscription? I once worked for a multi-title publisher (Meredith) that had magazines that ranged in distribution from 100% newsstand to >98% subscription so I am fairly certain that on the whole, 70% of the magazines printed are not tossed. I'm sure that I won't be alone in appreciating a more accurate reflection of the "waste" magazine production.
(Submitted by a paper person)


RE: BoSacks Readers Speak Out: Mag Efficiency, GM Ads, Revenue and Green Pubs
No doubt that the newsstand situation is broken. When in history has 35% efficiency been a laudable goal? The greenies and extremist tree huggers have plenty of dirt on the ink-on-paper set, we don't need to help them fill their shovels by giving them more data to twist to meet their needs. I've been in the industry (printing, then publishing, now paper sales) for 22 years and hope to get at least 20 more out of it. As you know there are a great number of good people working diligently to increase the effectiveness and environmental friendliness of ink on paper while still trying to turn a reasonable profit. Times are tough and will surely get tougher, with a lot of hard work and a little luck, we'll continue to reduce the waste and make the business more "earth friendly".
(Submitted By a Paper Person)

RE: green
Hey Bob, you know I'm sorta an old deadhead/hippie/liberal freak.
But, I just don't give a darn about these "green" initiatives. The only thing I care about is that's green is the paper with dead presidents on it. Let the print/paper/information industry rape the earth. It's gonna happen anyway. Might as well get mine. Besides, we're all gonna die from an attack anyway.
(Submitted by a Senior Director of Manufacturing and Distribution)


RE: Today's Top Contrarian Pick
I like the new look to your blog; you seem to be busier (or more efficient) than ever; the snippets at the margins of your blog are as interesting as the body of text; Keep up the good work. In Paragraphs 9,10,11, the author of this article seems to have taken a page from Sacks. For all those who predict the eradication of print, they're likely wrong . . .
(Submitted by a Publisher)

RE: "Now Amazon wants to Eliminate the Printer."
it is what it is . . . the Darwin model fits for business as well as life.
(Submitted by a Senior Director of Manufacturing and Distribution)

Re: Quebecor World may Lose parent's Printing Business
Would this qualify as the first recorded instance of the ship leaving the sinking rats? I'm just asking.
(Submitted by a Printer)

Re: Quebecor World may Lose parent's Printing Business
Here's a novel thought why not call the Quebecor World spin-off, World Color Press?
(Submitted by a Traffic Director)

Re: Canadian newspapers avoid U.S.-like decline
Ummmm . . . they're not exactly comparable

canada has never had as big an emphasis on sunday circulation, with some having weekend papers

there has always been a bigger emphasis on nondailies in canada. nondailies in the u.s. are doing well here, too.

there are fewer "big metro" dailies in canada of the size of the u.s. "big metro" dailies because there are fewer "big metros". few people realize that toronto is the fourth largest metro area in north america, but there are few canadian cities that can muscle their way into that list.

canada's economy is smaller than california's, with a population spread over a land mass that is larger (ok, most of it is within 100 miles of the u.s. border, lest we forget that toronto is more southern geographically than minneapolis).

its newspaper industry's very nature means that overall it have more going for it demographically and economically than that of the u.s.

as far as western canada goes, that economy is just booming because of the rise of commodity prices. few people know that our biggest source of imported oil is canada. on a trip west last year, the number of help wanted signs was staggering. the economy in the western provinces is far different and "newer" than the older eastern ones, and in the long run, is probably more robust, even if commodity prices pull back. canada newspapers are probably a good place to keep investing, while in the u.s., it's the big metros that are having the problem, and the more "canada-like" small and mid-market segments in the u.s. is kind of an untold good story. when elephants fight, the biggest losers are the ants, as they say. there's lots of good stories out there that are getting trampled.
(Submitted by an Industry Pundit and long time e-pal of BoSacks)