A Shocking New World

Remember the days when Publisher’s Clearinghouse was more than a jackpot for one lucky winner, when it was an easy way for magazines to turn subs into profit? Well, Ed McMahon may no longer be knocking on the publishing door with a fat check, but industry insiders believe that everything from the Web to taking a more visual outlook to print can still turn a healthy profit. Picture ThisIf a picture is worth a thousand words then Mike Hammer, editor in chief of New York-based Shock, the highly publicized new Hachette-Filipacchi title, is about to save a ton on those pesky $1-a-word freelancers. Heck, the guy might even get the pictures for free, looking to his readership to provide some of the strongest photos in exchange for prizes and photo credits. “We live in a time where a lot of our news is coming from ‘The Daily Show,’ ” he says. “Rather than try to deny television’s takeover, we should join them and gain from the visual trend.” Hammer, whose career includes posts at TV Guide, Maxim and Stuff—other somewhat photo-driven titles—ought to know. “You also have to consider the role readers can have in shaping a magazine visually because of how many people are carrying around digital cameras and camera phones,” he says. “It’s even an opportunity to allow your community to grow by involvement. Think of what a Web site is—it’s all about reader interaction for it to grow. People want to believe they’re a part of something.”Erika Lopez, associate publisher of Emeryville, Calif.-based Mix—a magazine for the professional recording and sound production technology industry, distributed in 94 countries—says she finds many readers on her magazine’s site today who previously never found her via the Web. “Everyone’s talking about how online extras like extended stories and streaming audio and video pull new readers in,” she says. “Newsletter subscriptions and gaining print subscriptions through online also are opening things up. We’re heading in a direction of being much more a part of the Web, and a magazine that doesn’t will just miss out.” Hammer agrees that audio and video have to be high quality, and fill a need for today’s audiences who don’t always want to make the time to read. “There will be a greater need for more staff that can specialize in video and audio, but also have the ability to turn it around quickly,” he says. But that would also mean more training and the budgets to go with it. In fact, several publications are even starting to give journalists video cameras to go out and shoot the news as it happens, and then let the writing follow in narration. Audio podcasts are usually not nearly as time-consuming, but even they require voice-over talent, something not every editor is born with.Lopez says it’s important for more titles to consider digital editions in addition to print to fight back against postal hikes. “The post office is forcing our hand, so there’s no sense in just taking those financial hits,” she says. “The Internet is our way to break through instantly.” According to Lopez, ads still are going to be the driver, and sponsored events can further lend a hand. “With our sister publication Remix, we do a hotel three-day event four times a year, and it’s been great for providing revenue and exposure.” Where The Money IsJoe Chiodo, co-publisher of Sacramento Magazine, says that regional magazines are doing better than keeping their heads above water—they’re actually making waves. “I’ve found that while local newspapers are having trouble, the regional titles are flourishing because of their niche,” he says. “We’re a member of a 100-magazine city association, and almost all of the magazines are doing better in the last five years.” Many regionals who want to avoid feeling desperate are thinking corporate—as in branching into custom publishing. From Dallas-based D magazine putting out technology publications such as Synnovation to Atlanta magazine serving everyone from law firms to cosmetic surgery associations, the result has been a face-lift to the bottom line. Chiodo, whose magazine puts out numerous custom titles, many of which deal in destinations, says the roughly $50 billion custom publishing business is an opportunity that all magazines should explore. “If you can find ways within your community to fill their need and add another piece of revenue, why wouldn’t you?” he says. (For more information on custom publishing, check out the article on page 43.)But there’s another community to consider: blogging. In the same way that many newspapers use daily columnists to put a face to the magazine, a blog can achieve that for a magazine on the Web. Though controversy abounds about whether asking your staffers to do blogging should mean an addition to their paychecks, there’s no question that there’s little to lose for a title by having a daily extension of the brand in cyberspace. Lopez expects blogging to become a part of her magazine’s future and already saw a strong response from blogging at trade shows to keep her select audience in the know. Still, the definition of a blog is still evolving. For some, it’s an update of around eight times a day, driving people back throughout their work day with related links, a strategy to drive page views for online ad sponsors. For others, it’s been a weekly opportunity just to check in with their readers, grab some face time and then let the message boards that follow create the community. “Users don’t just want to interact with the brand, but with each other,” Hammer says. However, no one can read a blog on a site if they never get to the site to begin with—that’s why many magazines are also focusing on search engine optimization. While much of what makes a site register first on an engine like Google or Yahoo is kept under wraps, there are methods that can help. From having important keywords come up often on the site to linking with other popular Web addresses, it’s a company’s constant monitoring of its site that can ultimately decide its fate. Google also has been accepting site maps in the last year, which is a listing of posts and archives that enables a new site to submit itself and get noticed, a strong opportunity for latecomers to the Internet game. Especially when you consider how much the early players are still struggling.The Web-Print MarriageA long time ago, launching a print magazine was seen to hold possibility—now it holds more uncertainty than ever. Today, even the large publishing companies wonder if a new title will survive in a space where established titles such as Teen People are closing their print doors. Portfolio, the hush-hush business magazine that Condé Nast has been rolling out forever, is set to hit the streets with a May 2007 issue. Aimed at executives who consume “every piece of media,” it has taken its time plucking staff from various titles and getting the buzz out. While that may be an old-school approach, Ari Brandt, Portfolio’s general manager of digital media, says this is the age where a Web-print marriage has to be implemented from the get-go or it will be a no-go in terms of success. “Especially in the areas of business, even a weekly has little chance to break news,” he says. “If a story is just three days old, then it’s old in the instant-information age we live in,” Brandt says. “For us, we’re going to let our Web site take care of that. Our print launch is all about telling a story, so you see all the facets involved. Investigating is not something that can be done fully and posted just hours after news has happened. By not even pretending to be about breaking a story, but going after offering the perspective that comes with digging deeper over time, that’s how a magazine can serve their audience uniquely.”Brandt, who came over from Yahoo, where he was director of ad strategy, says a site has to come in as an immediate extension of the magazine you’re launching or you’re really delving into two completely different businesses: “If you’re going to take advantage of the brand, then don’t give your audience something they don’t want to invest their time in.” He also says that many titles make the mistake of launching their site component with too many ads, polarizing their audience. “You won’t see 14 ads on our home page when we launch,” Brandt says. “It’s a good way to get revenue, but also an easy way to turn readers off if you’re not giving them the content they’re looking for. As with any launch, you can’t afford to do anything but expand your audience.”Shock followed the European magazine model and used the newsstand almost exclusively to lure readers to print. Hammer sees that as a further trend for the future of magazine start-ups in the United States. “In Europe, they believe in going off the public’s opinion. If it does well on the newsstand then advertisers will easily climb aboard … It’s not as easy to sway people to just invest with a title right away. You need to prove something to them, that the magazine and site has sustainability.” One thing Hammer has seen, which encouraged him as far as Web site expansion, but made him cautious of print, was the aforementioned closing of Teen People. “They got rid of the print version, but kept the Web site and its staff,” he says. “It goes to show that the Internet is no longer just a complement to print, but the future of the business. Those teenagers were voicing how they like to get their information.”Eric Butterman is a New York-based writer and creator of the seminar “Better Business Writing: From E-mails to Everything That Makes You Money.” He can be contacted at EricButterman@Yahoo.com.

Emerging Technologies

A Shocking New World

Eric Butterman

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Eric Butterman