E-Magazines Won’t Have Links Just As Soon As Your Mortgage Company Stops Accepting Those Pesky Payments…

So Josh Quittner’s post we blogged about last week was the form of reference for Erick Shonfeld’s rebuttal over on TechCrunch, all of which is a long way of saying that it’s almost silly to suggest that digital magazines will exist without links. Simply put, while there are many thoughts about click-throughs, the reality is that clicks are the commerce of the Web, and any argument that fails to acknowledge this is one with little regard for how business is conducted online.

The idea that so many voices wouldn’t acknowledge this simple truth is fairly disconcerting until taken in the context of this Seth Godin quote:

"…the products and services that win (if win means you can make a good living and make positive change) are rarely the products and services that are beloved without reservation by the true believers."

For every person who doesn’t like zooming in on a digital magazine, there’s a publisher who figured out that a critical mass of their readership doesn’t mind.

For every person who thinks that links disrupt a "lean back" reading experience, there’s a publisher who uses the links (and the clicks) they create to make a living.

Unless your business model is based on a trust fund, don’t even wonder if your digital magazine should have links. Just put them in.