The Ultimate Digital Magazine

FPO Magazine came to us with a crazy idea several months ago – the idea to critically evaluate several digital magazine companies at the same time.

Truth be told, we were hesitant at first, as we weren’t certain this could be done objectively and done well. But when we found out the task was being handed to Andrew Losowsky, we relaxed. Simply put, Andrew’s one of the finer writers in the space.

The results of the smack-down can be found here. Here’s the summary of Nxtbook, with my own commentary in blue:

NXTBOOK

www.nxtbook.com

Browser Requirements: Flash/Offline reader uses Adobe AIR *MG – Also a PDF option

Link to Articles from Contents Page? Yes

Link to External Webpages? Yes

Viewable Offline? Yes, including option to select only certain pages

Ease of Use (out of 10): 8

Pros:

• Intuitive, clear interface
• Highly customizable
• Animations are smooth and unintrusive
• Lots of options and support available

Cons:

• Search doesn’t show you where on the page the word you want is *MG – Actually, we do have this. That being said, this issue of FPO was one of the first Nxtbook 3.0 magazines built several months ago, when our product was actually pre-beta. We can’t promise this was working then. But it does now and is a standard feature.
• Links open in the same window, meaning you lose your place in the magazine *MG – Ditto, above. However, how links open is also a function of the settings on your browser.
• Relatively expensive

Cost for Sample 96-page Quarterly: $1,850 for the platinum package (other packages are available) *MG – Our platinum package includes animation and lead generation tools included with the sample, as well as circulation and sales training for our publishers. For fewer features, we charge less. For more features, we charge more.

Bottomline: Cost aside, the best offering of the enhanced service options. It’s clear interface is user-friendly and unintrusive. *MG – Well said. Realizing our product doesn’t actually have the negatives listed above, we become the only interface tested with none. Moreover, higher levels of customer service dictate higher prices in any industry.

View FPO’s MAGZ Issue as done by Nxtbook

MG – More important – to us – was how Andrew did a very good job in his article to outline the difference of full service and self service vendors. Asking yourselves which camp you should be talking to can do wonders to trim down the evaluation time.

How to Write a Post About Digital Magazines

1.) The first thing you should do is to link to an article that says Print is Dead. That’s not very hard to do, mind you, because everyone says it. Heck, you might even want to link to the 71,000 Google results for "Print is Dead."

 2.) You should always tells people that using digital magazines saves money because a. it’s true and b. in a recession, saving money is considered to be a good thing, unless you’re one of those people who thinks that spending money stimulates the economy and ends the recession sooner.

 3.) A digital magazine post should talk about the Kindle. It’s also good to mention that nobody knows how many Kindles have been sold, but say some say it’s a lot, and you agree since a guy on your train has one. It’s also important to complain about the interface on the Kindle but say that you expect it to get better.

 4.) This is a good place to link to something Bo Sacks has written.

 5.) Depending on the post, you may be able to link to an article at Folio, because they usually get what the industry’s doing, except when they put out their annual revenue generation survey and neglect to include digital magazines in the survey.

 6.) There’s little point in linking to Steve Smith unless you’ve got something to say about the iPhone. On the upside, you could probably write an article about using your iPhone for a paperweight and Steve Smith would probably cover it and tell publishers they’re missing out.

 7.) If your audience is comprised of deep thinking optimists, include links to Rex Hammock and Dan Blank. If they’re deep-thinking contrarians, link to Michael Turro. If they’re optimistic, but mostly big picture, just give them another Bo Sacks link.

 8.) It’s not a bad idea to link to articles about killing trees and segue into e-paper, but be prepared to tell people that color e-paper is a while away.

 9.) Give them links to cool samples, including one with a lot of rich media, and one from a big brand.

 10.) In the end, tell them that digital magazines aren’t the answer, but they are an answer.

Will Nxtbooks Run on the Apple Tablet (Uh, If Apple Has a Tablet)

Received this question via e-mail this week:

How are you planning on addressing this exciting development, should it actually come true? The idea of our issues being available on a tablet format is very enticing. 

Our answer:

The Apple tablet is – at this point – pure conjecture, so it’s impossible to say for sure what would be required if and when this product comes to fruition.

For instance, this article speculates that the content would run on Adobe Air. As the offline Nxtbook is already built in Adobe Air, we could be good to go right out of the box.

That being said, what we do believe – with 100% certainty – is that our publishers’ audiences are being fractured into many pieces. Some of their readers will buy tablet devices, while others will access content via the BlackBerry, iPhone, computer, Kindle, etc.

We believe our place in the future is to ensure that we can deliver content – seamlessly – to all of these devices. Our customers should be able to give us their PDF and know – confidently – that readers can find their content, regardless of their device.

Who Do You Compare Yourself To?

Seth Godin brings up a good point: the top 10 list of Wikipedia isn’t as relevant as the top 10 singles list.

They forget that perhaps, just perhaps, the people buying diapers are different from the people buying hats, and putting diapers and hats into one combo pack isn’t necessarily smart, even if both are bestsellers in their own right.

If we look at the Top 10 list of Nxtbook viewed for the past month, we see an equal number of brochures, visitor guides, catalogs and magazines. See the wide variety yourself on the interactive Nxtbook map.

 

Are You Using Social Media?

Not for your brand, but for YOU? Dan Blank addresses the you in social media and for good reason: the more people connect with you, the more they’ll connect with your brand. Don’t miss his article.

Social Media Rocks

In this post, the blogger gives props to Nxtbook, but gives bigger props (as they should) to the content, offering readers a bevy of free recipes, courtesy of Gold Medal.

Webmasters Jealous of Digital Magazines?

Getting tech guys to admit to envy is tough. Heck, getting them to admit to emotion isn’t easy, but we’ve seen some recent web developments that seem to indicate a little jealousy toward the engagement levels enjoyed by digital magazines.

As we’ve said before, websites always have more visitors than digital magazines. They are the snack cart of the magazine industry, and who doesn’t like a cookie? But most times, once people have seen a page or two, they’re on their way.

Digital magazines, by comparison, are full course meals. People only come when they’re hungry, but when they come, they stay a long time. Over the last 30 days, the average Nxtbook has been viewed nearly seven minutes (6:52 to be exact).

Why? Many reasons, but Occam’s Razor suggests that the simplest reason is usually the right one: in a digital magazine, an editor has assembled a collection in the order it should be read, whereas on a website, you stick the article where it goes. Readers reward the thought that go into a magazine.

We’ve noticed, however, a trend for web master to attempt to add some sort of linear progression on their websites. These scrolling banners have the potential to take the reader on a guided tour of the website. At least, that’s the idea. Whether or not it will work remains to be seen.

The Revolution Has Just Begun

Paul Conley says the revolution is ending. For once, we disagree with Paul Conley.

To be fair, we see his point. The past handful of years have given us a flurry of tools we never had before: YouTube. Twitter. Del.icio.us. Digg. Facebook. Blah, Blah, Blah… It’s easy to look at all of this and say, "Wow. We’ve seen all the media revolution we’re gonna see."

Except, we haven’t.

If we had, readership and engagement levels for publishers would be at higher levels than ever. Moreover, advertisers would be lining up to pay for that engagement. For most publishers, that’s just not the case, yet.

The reality is that on one hand, Paul’s right: the weapons to win the war on the attention have been forged and chances are, you’re going to be hard-pressed to see a better bucket of tools than the ones we’ve invented in the past decade. But tools without craftsmen are just that: tools.

The real revolution (which has barely begun) will be when publishers incorporate all of these tools into their products and reap the benefits they provide.

In addition, Paul’s post fails to acknowledge something else about the revolution: it’s moving. The revolution he’s referring to is taking place on computer monitors, but just look at how many people are now relying on their BlackBerrys, iPhones and even Kindles to get information. This trend will only continue and – like a battle that moves fronts – will require different strategies and excutions.

If you’re a publisher, this means that even if you were great at aerial bombing your content, you better figure out guerrilla warfare: ways to get your information into the pockets where your readers are moving.

Lock ‘em and load ‘em folks: the revolution has merely begun.

I don’t know the future. I didn’t come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it’s going to begin. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible. Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you. – Neo, The Matrix

 

Use What You Have

We caught a tweet from Jenna Spinelle announcing PSU’s latest issue of iConnect in Nxtbook format, which makes good use of video throughout the publication. But what else caught our eye was this page, inviting readers to get their PSU news through Twitter, or Facebook or YouTube.

At first glance, this sounds like a lot of work, getting your content in multiple places. But think about the print circulation game, and how you use school sales, BRC’s, direct mail, etc, etc, to drive circulation. Truth is, you’re used to casting a wide net. Now, the net just happens to be cheaper and more measurable. And that ain’t bad, folks.

About Packaging

Scott Karp wrote a good post about Google’s Fast Flip that includes a quote that can easily be applied to digital magazines:

Fast Flip is, more accurately, an attempt to create a new UI for news — a better way to consume publishers’ content than publishers provide on their own sites.

In many conversation with publishers, the "web guy" frequently wonders about the value in having the same content in the digital magazine that exists in the website. The reality is that this different UI (I hesitate to use the word "better" because I believe the future of content consumption will have many UI’s) gives a certain percentage of your audience a more engaging reading experience, which they demonstrate in higher engagement times and clickthrough rates.

The big picture question? How much is your team thinking about packaging and packaging differently for different subsets of your readers?

 

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