links for 2008-12-23

• Dealernews – December 2008 [Cover1]
  Great example of Subscription offer
  (tags: subscribe)

My Favorite Feel-Good Puff Piece from FOLIO

Dylan Stableford shows us that in a down-time, there were things to look up to. Amid the layoffs, layoffs and layoffs, apparently there was some good news. Who knew?

 

Digital Magazine Revenue to be 10% of Mix By 2012…

A recent FOLIO article talked at length about ITEM Publications, a Nxtbook customer which generates 10% of their revenue from their digital magazines.

In this week’s "TH(ink) NOTE," a by-subscription-only paper written by David Renard, Bo Sacks, et. al. from MediaIDEAS, the authors predict that the 10% figure will be standard for most publishers by 2012 and that the percentage will double by 2016. The writers say the economy will be responsible for the first 10% and the proliferation of affordable e-readers will drive the second wave. (MediaIDEAS puts a 60% probability on the prediction.)

A Man’s Got to Know His Limitations…

So last week the Observer wrote a story about the Web writers at Fortune losing their jobs. Here’s a choice selection:

“I have to tell you, fortune.com is working out brilliantly,” said Mr. Serwer, according to one former staffer.

After his opening remarks, he singled out individual Web writers for all their breaking news. For those exclusive enterprise stories on the Web. Those ticktocks, and those trenchant second-day stories….

Well, less than two months later, the Web team at Fortune has been all but disbanded."

Now I ask you: When was the last time you read Fortune for "breaking news"? I haven’t and I wouldn’t. What most magazines do well is long-format expository writing. One reason most digital magazines have longer engagement times than their sister websites is because the digital magazine is a representation of what the brand does well while their website is about what they think they need to do. And while that’s certainly a generalization, there’s ample proof around.

Why – I wonder – do I often complain about FOLIO’s website, while I think the magazine covers the space far better than their competition? Maybe because FOLIO’s magazine is well thought-out expository writing with points and counterpoints whereas the website seems to be a strange menagerie of dressed up press releases and lay-off notices (in my opinion).

At the end of the day, the challenge may not be so much about figuring out what the audience wants but in figuring out how to be true to what you’ve already figured out they want.

 

Footnotes Don’t Have to Stink…

I hate footnotes. As a rule, they’re the used car commercial of the literature world. There you are – in a groove, enjoying the content – and bam, here comes the footnote, leaving you w/ two choices: leave the point in the page where you are and go to where the editor wants you to go or ignore the footnote, and spend the rest of your reading enjoyment wondering about the context you’re missing out on. Who wants to think that hard?

OR – you could do what Rafael Chodos did and incorporate mouse-over footnotes into his digital edition. It’s a great use of the technology and keeps the reader’s focus in one place. Brilliant!

That’s One Small Tweet for Man….

So we’ve set up a Nxtbook Twitter account. To be clear, we’re not really sure where it fits into the mix. After all, you can follow our CEO, one of our Sales Directors, our Reality Facilitator, our Intrigue Developer, a handful of our developers or even my own personal Twitter account. (Plus, several others I left off this post.) How much Tweeting from us do you really need?

But we’re hoping to use Corp account @Nxtbook as a focused way to let you know of cool samples, company news, etc. If you really care about digital publishing, but aren’t concerned with Eric and I talking trash about a recent 5k, this might help you keep out the noise.  On the other hand, if you like seeing "the human side of Nxtbook," feel free to keep following us that way… We’re pretty passionate about the work, so the best Nxtbook news will show up on most of our personal accounts, but following the corporate one is just a way to make sure you don’t miss anything that could make your digital magazine more successful.

Our Outside Salespeople Rock…

 

While it’s true that our salespeople know a LOT about digital publishing, here’s the thing: they’re really nice guys! In fact, the three we have who work outside of the Nxtbook office all went together and paid to send the MaggieMoo’s wagon to our office today to say thank you to all of us at the ranch. One chocolate ice cream mixed with raspberry sorbet and topped with Oreo’s later and there’s nothing left to do but thank them for all they do. Thank you! If you work with John, Chris or Wayne – be sure to ask them what it takes for them to send a dip your way!

Right Hand, Meet Left Hand…

Last week on FOLIO, Josh Gordon said, "As an ad revenue generator, digital magazines are a flop." Presumably to protect the innocent, he mentioned no names or numbers.

This week on FOLIO, Jason Fell wrote about Item publications and said, "As of late 2008, Item’s revenues from its digital editions were about
$150,000, or approximately 10 percent of overall revenue. In 2009,
Kilshaw said he hopes to build revenues by roughly 10 percent."

Aside from the 180 in perspective, Fell’s column included facts and figures, which is always nice. The truth of the matter is that our industry is still small and it’s entirely possible that some writers aren’t entirely aware of what’s going on. But just because you’re not in the woods doesn’t mean trees aren’t falling.

A Holiday Greeting Like No Other…

What do you get when you have computer programmers composing Christmas carols surrounded by dozens of digital magazine makers dressed in elf suits? Why, you get the 2008 Nxtbook Media Holiday Card. Turn up the speakers and enjoy!

Today’s PSA about Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer is widely known to have many issues.  The one that we at Nxtbook Media usually talk about the most is the fact that it tends to corrupt Flash Player, requiring the user to re-install Flash Player.  Because of these issues, we always recommend that people use any other browser besides Internet Explorer.

But, today comes news of an even greater reason to move away from IE.  Security experts are advising Windows users to not use Internet Explorer at all until Microsoft can fix a very serious security flaw in the browser.  For those of you who don’t have another web browser installed, here are some excellent choices:

Firefox

Chrome

Safari

Opera

Next Page »