DISQUS

"Certainly there is a lot of bogus information on the web - but there is also a lot of bogus information in print - at least the web has built in tools that effectively help the reader separate the wheat from the chaff."

That's an awesome quote. As someone working on the "fringes," I can tell you that we've been reviewed correctly AND incorrectly both online and in print, but at least things can get edited online. At the end of the day, the online format is more forgiving, but whether or not you need that forgiveness is solely based on the time and effort of the person writing the article in the first place.

M

Cool stuff... would really love to know the costs, though, like Esquire disclosed. Not to be negative - but simply to see how close to feasible it is for a magazine. This stuff's been out for a while, though - I considered doing some flyers in it years ago. I'm sure the cost has moved down.

I agree - and think usage will only grow in this arena. Any thoughts on how publishers can best monetize it? (Impressed you can handle 577 --- once I get behind 300, it gets kind of ugly.)

Cody,

Thanks for posting the Inc. 500 blog article. We were almost as thrilled to see that article as we were to be named to the Inc. 500. Definitely a highlight of our week!

M

Well, I was mildly critical of another PubExec article and wasn't approved, so I wouldn't get your hopes up. (However, I was told it was merely a "glitch" that kept my comments from getting posted. Maybe you'll make it through.)

I'll be watching that one, too - need to get our money's worth of viewing pleasure for the Phils' new 10million dollar man.

Great point about the recent "play" we've seen in the media. I'll give you several reasons for this:

Here's 1 that's just a reality:
Increased players in the marketplace results in way more publishers experimenting.

Here's 1 that's true, though not justified:
Increased media spend among the vendors... We started this trend and others are following it.

Here's 1 that's just silly:
Trying to attach digital magazines (in their existing format) to the iPhone hype... what's next, stenciled keyholes to help us read print?

And here's 1 that's truly deserved:
Success of the industry among the vendors who've been refining our products for some time. Our readership is up and our revenues are up.

You're smart enough to be aware of all four of those realities, though 1 is only truly important to publishers.

And yes - we all need to burn our comfort zones. :)

M

Michael-

Couldn't agree more that a "a behavior driven, person oriented approach" is exactly what's required in the coming age. That being said, I think that one of the things we've learned is that there is no holy grail behavior that everyone will flock to... some readers (like me) gobble content on their RSS readers, some (like you) gobble it on their phones and some (a million or more per month in our case) read digital magazines.

I tend to think that a behavior driven, person oriented approach will look like "publish once, syndicate many times," and the publishers that can seamlessly integrate all of the syndication technologies their readers want will come out ahead.

You say it yourself - "If you... fail to comprehend the ways..." There is no one way, and I agree whole-heartedly that digital magazines are hardly THE way, but they are A way, and one that's shown strong growth in recent years.

You're also correct that "the current publishing model based on copious display advertising revenue has more than a few holes in it," but the Times Reader with re-scalable ads has already shown us one way around this and I have faith we'll see many more in the coming months. Look how few firms are doing an effective job of monetizing RSS feeds currently -- same concept. It will take time for the business models to be refined, but they'll get there.

Great insights, btw - I'm glad you take the time to share them.

M

Robert,

I like all of these and would listen to each... probably the one that interests me in the least is the "week later" thing - It's typically a few weeks until I've found what I really don't like about new offerings.

Another thought: outside of the Valley, a lot of us work at getting traditional businesses to embrace new technology - I'd like to see content developed about technology reaching traditionally non-technical industries.