Plenty of Shimmer for Nxtbook Customers at Eddie & Ozzie Awards

This post was written by Eric Gervase, a Sales Director at Nxtbook Media. Eric attended the Folio: Eddie & Ozzie Awards Gala along with Nxtbook President Spencer Ewald.

 I kid you not… it was snowing up, not down, yesterday at the Eddie & Ozzie Award due to the sheer force of the winds. And despite being pushed back a couple weeks because of similar weather, "the show must go on," and it did. Happily, and not surprisingly, Nxtbook customers came away with quite a bit of hardware (or glassware as it was) at yesterday’s event. Here is a quick (ok, maybe not so quick, they were blessed) rundown of our customers who won awards.

1. AICPA
2. Professional Media Group
3. Questex
4. Booz & Co.
5. The Nielsen Company
6. McGraw-Hill
7. Turnstile Publishing
8. Energy Central
9. EE Times
10. Scholastic
11. Advanstar
12. Kalmbach Publishing
13. American Society of Cinematographers
14. Cypress Magazines
15. Crain Communications
16. Taunton Press
17. EatingWell
18. MSP Communications
19. Yoga International
20. Suffolk University
21. Information Today
22. NewBay Media
23. Morningstar Advisor
    UPDATE: The problem with sitting with Nxtbook customers is that they tend to be so captivating that we missed another Nxtbook customer on our list. Sincere apologies and congratulations to Dino Publishing for picking up a Gold Ozzie! mg

I personally had the pleasure of sitting with Sherri Miles (formerly of Suffolk University, very recently of University of Miami) as she took home 5 Eddie awards. I also sat very close to another customer, Booz & Co’s Strategy + Business team, as they took home 4 awards. Congrats to Alan Shapiro, Charity Delich, Jonathan Gage and the whole team at Strategy + Business.

All in all, it was a great event. Seeing some of the wonderful design and thought provoking content coming out of the magazine industry is really inspiring. Can’t wait to see what everyone has in store for this coming year.

The following video was played at the Eddie & Ozzie Awards Gala as Eric and Spencer prepared to take the stage:

Case Study in Brief: Grab New Readers with Native Apps!

Apps, apps, apps – we can’t get away from them at the moment. The publishing trade press is awash with stories about how the iPad will transform the publishing industry, increase circulation and revenue and everyone from Hugh Hefner to the small, independent publisher is getting in on the action. Most publishers though just want to know if creating and buying an app is a worthy investment for their magazine brand. We tell the story of one publisher who found it was:

Elcot Publications launched the digital only version of their regional business magazine back in September. For any new magazine circulation and readership is a key concern; but, for a digital only title it’s essential to ensure your content is across the web and tablet devices to take full advantage of potential new readers. We worked closely with the team at Elcot to create a branded, customised app for them, featuring a digital catalogue of their magazine and archived issues.

No one was happier than I was when the client came back to me and questioned the reader and visitors number after receiving their weekly tracking report: what was with the sudden increase in page views and visits (up by just over 34%)? Looking in this we were pleasantly surprised to find a large number of readers had chosen to download the new native app to their iPad/iPhone. Not only did this fact show their readers to be technologically savvy, but also that their iPad app was actively encouraging new readers into their content.

So can creating an iPad/iPhone app increase circulation for a magazine? Yes but we’re not suggesting just signing up for an app alone will have an impact on your reader figures. The clients who are having success in this area are using their iPad apps as part of a much wider digital publishing strategy. They are designing and optimising content for the web, they are actively marketing their content across a variety of devices and tablets and sending out targeted e-mail campaigns. Like anything an app is only as successful as the marketing behind it. Elcot has actively promoted the launch and development of their app over the last few months, and their readers are well aware of the options available to them. Working closely with you the team at Nxtbook will help you do all of this. At Nxtbook we are able to offer both browser based and native/branded apps that your readers can download from the iTunes store. You can talk to your Account Manager about finding the right solution for you.

The Business Magazine:Digital can be downloaded free from the Apple store, please find link below:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-business-magazine/id400449725?mt=8

 

 

Interesting and Yet – A Bit Suspect

A very interesting study was posted by a company called Knotice. The study looked at what percentage of emails were being opened on mobile devices. It’s a study worth checking out because emails are one of the major ways that digital editions are promoted.

While the 13.35% overall mobile open rate "feels" right to me, I was surprised that they reported that only a little more than 3% of BtoB emails are being opened on mobile devices. Of course, this result is hugely dependent on how the various companies were categorized, but I suspect that number to be a tad low.

Considering that we’re seeing 3% of digital edition readership on tablets and mobile and a large number of our clients are BtoB, I find it hard to believe that we’re truly that far behind in this area. If you’re a publisher doing a lot of email, tell us what you think? Are only 3% of your reader consuming your email on mobile devices?

Smith’s Comic Idea

In an article last week, Steve Smith from MIN pointed out iPad navigation ideas that he felt publishers should attempt to mimic. I’ll never be accused of being a Steve Smith fan – when he mentions Nxtbook, which is rare, he usually butchers the name, but in general I feel his ideas are often wrong and rarely applicable to most BtoB publishers.

In the latest example, Smith encouraged publishers to copy a navigation style used in comic apps. While clever, it’s one of those ideas that only makes sense until you consider it for more than ten seconds. While I did submit the following comment on the MIN article, I’ve come to learn that the chance of them printing my comments is about on par with the likelihood Smith will give us any press at all, so I’m reprinting it here:

Yet another example of how the writer is swayed by the sizzle, rather than the steak. While the Guided Zoom concept is intriguing, it’s far more suited to the comic realm where the readers’ path is chosen for them. Two of the core qualities of magazines are multiple forms of navigation (page flip, TOC, jumps, etc.) and levels of built-in distraction – both of which hold little water in a navigation scenario with only one path.

How do we know this? Because we beta tested it with a dozen publishers and that’s what they told us.

Marcus Grimm
Marketing Director
Nxtbook Media

Embedded Editions: We’ll Show You How

Some publishers drive readers from their website to their digital editions by posting a flipping icon on their homepage. Others prefer using a widget. Some stick with stationary images. All of these are good options. 

A number of publishers decide to embed the entire digital edition directly on their website page. Nxtbook Media developers have simplified the embedding process to make it that much easier to turn website readers into digital edition readers. By adding a little extra HTML code, the entire issue will appear on the web page. What’s more, Omniture will continue to track visitor behavior in the embedded Nxtbook through use of third-party cookies.

Click here to see an example of an embedded nxtbook, and contact your account manager if you’d like to try it out.

 

Mobile Usage: It’s In The Numbers

Last week, Marcus gave you valuable information about how many readers are accessing Nxtbook digital editions via different mobile and tablet platforms. These statistics let our clients know how readers choose to open their digital editions.

As another way to look at it – taking in a broader view of general Internet access – we have been providing monthly updates on the use of mobile devices for accessing Omniture tracked websites. Read below to see January’s usage stats by device:

Apple iPhone: 40.5% 
Apple iPad: 16.9%  
Apple iPod Touch: 8.4% 
HTC Nexus One: 7.5%  
Nokia 5800: 4.1%  
HTC Evo: 2.7%  
Nokia N8-00: 2.4%
Nokia 5230: 2.3% 
Blackberry 8530/Curve: 1.8% 
HTC Droid Incredible: 1.6%  
RIM Blackberry 9700/Onyx: 1.5% 
Nokia X6: 1.4%
Nokia E71: 1.4% 
Nokia E63: 1.4%  
Nokia 5233: 1.3%
Blackberry 8330: 1.3%
Nokia 5530: 1.2%
Nokia E72: 1.1% 
RIM Blackberry Tour 9630: 1.1% 

Of those who use mobile devices to access tracked websites, the greatest majority of them use the iPhone to do it. The total use of iOS devices holds at 51.6%. Symbian, Android, and RIM are 20.6%, 17.1% and 8.8% respectively.

Apple Working to Control More of Digital Magazine Sales?

So the New York Times is reporting that Apple may be moving toward preventing publishers from offering paid content on the iPad and iPhone unless it goes through the iTunes store. The implications for this – if it comes to pass – are not insignificant:

1.) Publishers would have to pay Apple the 30% of sales. Current apps that bypass the Apple store would be no more.
2.) Publishers would have to be content to not get the data which is their lifeblood. Understand, they’d get money from Apple, but not data.

Understand, this is all speculation at this point and might not come to pass. Assuming it does, however, how should publishers proceed? Here are a few thoughts:

1.) If your content is paid, make sure your business model can afford 30% of sales going to Apple, because more than likely, it will.
2.) If at all possible, concentrate more on sponsorships so that you can give the content away. This will help you overcome the revenue shortfall and will certainly result in more readers.
3.) Become an expert in app promotion. Don’t know how? Ask your Account Manager about the webinar we’re working on for just this subject.
4.) Keep in mind that Android apps – like the one forthcoming from Nxtbook – won’t be subject to these terms. In many ways, that’s kind of cool; publishers will be able to run one strategy through Apple and another through Android, giving you the opportunity to experiment on both platforms.
5.) Don’t believe everything you read. Tony Silber at FOLIO covered this news relatively well, but misleads readers when he writes that app development is "usually in the tens of thousands of dollars." Nxtbook branded apps are – literally – a tiny fraction of that. Quite frankly, if it were that much, I’d tell you not to buy one at this point. It’s all about ROI.

Designing for the iPad

We’ve been working with some publishers of late curious to optimize their page sizes for the iPad. It’s a great question, but the problem is that your optimized page size depends on a few things. Here’s a little guidance I’ve prepared for those asking the question:

Like many design questions, this one has several answers. Publishers first need to decide:

1) Are you developing portrait pages or landscape pages? Because the resolution shifts when the iPad is turned, you can only truly optimize for one.
2) Are you optimizing for a native app or for viewing in the Safari browser? The Nxtbook native app is developed for full
screen, but in the web app, you need to keep in mind the Safari browser bar. (As advice, we would recommend optimizing for the native app, as we feel that’s a better long-term move for you.)

If you are optimizing for the native app:
For viewing in Landscape mode: Each page 512w x 768h pixels to view two pages in spread or 1024w x 768h for single page display.
Portrait mode: Each page would would be 1024h x 768w.

If you are optimizing for the web app:
For optimizing a single page landscape page, go 704h x 1024w.
For optimizing a single page portrait page, go 960h x768w . No portrait spreads are available in the Nxtbook web app.

Those familiar with magazine iPad apps may have noticed products like WIRED. The WIRED scenario actually has two different page sizes developed and calls up the correct size depending on how the iPad is held. While offering readers the most optimized experience, this obviously creates more design work for the publisher.

In the end, the important thing to realize is that it’s impossible to optimize for all scenarios, so your call is to decide how most users would consume the content and go from there. 

3 Things You Need to Know About Nxtbook and DRM

Digital Rights Management (DRM) is important to our clients who want to control access to their content. DRM requires readers to enter information required by the publisher; this could mean a subscription username and password.

To really use DRM, Nxtbook clients should know these 3 things:

1. How DRM is handled is up to the publisher. Want to close down information so only subscribers or members can see it? No problem. Want to show readers a teaser? We can preview as many or as few pages as you’d like.

2. The flipside to gating your content means readers can’t share your digital edition easily. If you’re looking to use your digital edition as a tool to increase circulation or spread awareness, DRM might not be the way to go.

3. DRM protection is available on Nxtbook Media’s iPad app. So whether you want your content computer-limited or iPad mobile, we’ll get your content – and your DRM protection – there.

3% Threshold Passed

So in looking at Nxtbook traffic over the past 30 days, something struck me: more than 3% of readers are now accessing content on tablets and mobile devices. It seems like only 4 months ago, I was reporting that we’d passed 2%. Because, in fact, that’s when we did.

Over the past 30 days, though, 1.12% of all traffic has come from the iPad, 1.11% has come from the iPhone, .77% has come from Android devices and .15% have come from iPods. (And if care, .03% have come from Blackberries) All total, that’s nearly 3.2% of Nxtbook traffic! Looking at it another way, that’s more than 50% from these categories in the past four months alone.

If you haven’t talked to your Account Manager, yet, about getting onto these devices, clearly now is the time.

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