7 Sensational Magazines Revealed

In a seminar exclusively for the Folio: show earlier this month, Marcus Grimm revealed 7 of the most sensational digital editions from 2011. He talked about what each magazine (or publisher) did well, either from a content and design standpoint, or in revenue generation. Due to the response we’ve received, we decided to break it down for everyone’s benefit. You can receive each of the 7 digital editions, as well as a dissection of what makes them sensational. To get your hands on this free offering, simply click here. 

Want a preview? Here are a couple snippets from the seminar:

I’m Glad Matt Kinsman is Leaving FOLIO

That headline is link bait; Matt Kinsman, nearly formerly of FOLIO, is off to develop content for ABM. Despite the fact that Kinsman has taken extreme care to understand the digital edition marketplace over the past several years, I think those of us in the space stand to come out ahead:

1.) FOLIO is a top-notch publication and while Kinsman was probably the sharpest crayon in that box, truth is there are several bright colors. While it remains to be seen if they can reach Matt’s calibre, I’m optimistic they can. Bill Mickey, in particular, has come to understand the digital edition space nearly as well as Matt, and can be counted on to contribute to the public understanding of our industry.

2.) ABM on the other hand, needs help on the content side, and badly. Look how rarely we link to their stuff. Pretty much never; not because we don’t want to but because they either don’t represent what our publishers tell us they care about OR the things they do say are so far afield from reality as we know it. As my kids would say, ABM’s content is all jacked up, and if anyone can right that ship, Kinsman is probably the guy.

So in the end, this could work out well for all of us. FOLIO will be strong enough to stay strong and ABM has the potential to become relevant to those of us in the digital edition space. 

Digital Magazine Success is Not the Exception but the Trend

It isn’t often I recommend articles, but I found "Andrew Rashbass: ‘The biggest reason we’re successful is that we are lucky’" to be well worth my time. Chief Executive Andrew Rashbass of the Economist group gave his first interview in quite some time, detailing the journey of the Economist magazine and website.

While the article provides a pretty comprehensive look at the Economist’s story, it naturally focuses on the magazine’s success. While Rashbass attributes much of that to luck, there are a couple of other factors to note:

1. Rashbass did his research, and therefore knows his audience. For example, in understanding the impact of tablets and eReaders on consuming his content, he polled subscribers to ask how they read the Economist now, and how they expect to read it in the future. (The number of subscribers expecting to read print in two years dropped 35%.)

2. He has an understanding of how readers consume content differently depending on the platform, and he builds content to fit that understanding.

3. He is relaxed about his print sales, recognizing that print sales is not the big picture. The big picture view includes the digital scope.

Lastly, something the article points out which I think is worth noting is that Rashbass doesn’t see the Economist as an exception, but "a manifestation of broader trends.’" It’s tempting to say that 100,000 digital subscribers is not a big deal because it’s a well known title. Instead, it’s better to see it as a case study for the future of digital magazines.

Of course, much more was covered in the article, so  click here to read it.

We Couldn’t Have Said It Better Ourselves

Likely because, well, we said it.

Click here for a nice review of last week’s webinar on the State of the Digital Edition Industry. It’s a great recap of how our customers are feeling about digital edition circulation, revenue generation and optimization.

Old Media Excels on New Platforms

So if you’re concerned that you can’t "get" new media because you’re an old media guy (or girl), get over yourself. As this article points out, what’s working now isn’t different from what was working back in the day:

What’s the fastest growing medium in digital at the moment?
Online video … or basically TV commercials interrupting other content being
sold on a CPM (cost per thousand) basis. That’s essentially the medium we have
been buying since the days when Don Draper was sketching out story boards.

The media, you see, is old. What’s new – and what you need to do – is figure out how to package it. Stick videos in digital magazine ads. Give advertisers more screen real estate. Consider: more than a few publishers say their left-of-cover sponsorship position in their digital edition gets a monster click-through rate. The stuff works now, just as it worked then. 

3 Reasons Why Your Readers Leave You

I’m going to start off with some bad news: there is no specific way to make your readers view every page of your magazine, print (if you have one) or digital. But if you take a look at what you’re doing with your digital magazine, there are some clear catalysts causing readers to jump ship which are easy to avoid. So here are three reasons why your readers leave your content, and what you can do about it.

1. You link out to a video channel or page.
Adding video content is always a good idea. However, linking from your magazine page to an external video site such as YouTube will cost you further page views. YouTube is designed to ensare viewers into watching more and more videos, spiraling them ever farther from your content. Avoid losing your readers to the YouTube Rabbit Hole: embed videos directly onto the page or have the video pop up on the page when a reader clicks on a video icon. You can still stream from YouTube without pushing your reader to YouTube’s site.

2. You link to another website.
Live URLs in your digital edition are not only a great feature, but your readers expect it. One moment they will be reading an article about skateboarding, and the next they’re clicking on an advertiser’s site to buy one. All good things! And if you’re doing a good job at matching advertisers to article content, that is exactly what you want to have happen. But the key is to get that reader back into the article when he or she is done looking at the website. Recapture distracted readers by making live links appear in web windows. This opens the web content in the middle of your magazine so your reader can browse the internet freely. Once finished, your reader closes the web window and is immediately returned to your content.

3. Your content is too hard to read. Literally.
With all the information available on the Web, if readers have to squint to read your material, they’ll simply go to another source for the content. You’ve worked hard to get your words in front of your readers; don’t give them a reason to leave your page. By adopting a few easy optimization techniques, you can make your content easier to view without losing your brand’s look and feel. While font, text size, and images are quick fixes, you should consider optimizing your layout to increase reader engagement. For that, simply contact your Project Manager and ask for our design services.

Now for some good news: by taking care of the easy ways to avoid losing readers, you are well-positioned to enter conversations about gaining fans. Look to your Success Manager for building engagement, or post your ideas here or on our facebook page.

Disney Hopes Kids Will Play With (Gasp) Real Magazines

In response (I’m guessing) to the slew of interactive digital magazines out there, Disney is launching an interactive print magazine. They’re hoping kids will manipulate the paper, cut it up, write in it, etc. You know, like we did in the old days. Clearly the folks at Disney haven’t seen this video.

Adobe Pulls Flash From Mobile Browsers. So What?

Adobe is no longer developing Flash for mobile browsers. This is one of those lines that sounds a bit more ominous than it is. For starters, what Adobe has accomplished thus far for mobile browser animation has hardly been impressive. But more important, most of us whose core product is Flash realized long ago that the mobile experience would require a different treatment, which is why we’re approaching animations on mobile and tablet devices differently. It just took until now for Adobe to figure that out.

Keeping Pace

The Pearl Awards were announced last week and Custom Publisher Pace Communications kicked some digital butt, with 19 awards overall. We’d like to think we did our part to help them out, as two of those awards went to Verizon’s Your Guide and AAA Living, both highly interactive projects powered by Nxtbook Media.

 

There’s Still Time To Win an iPad2

We’re approaching the end of our State of the Digital Industry survey, and the results are very revealing of where publishers stand today on digital issues. Add your perspective; take the 3 minute survey.

As a thank you for your time, we’re offering you a chance to win an iPad2. You are automatically entered in the drawing at the completion of the survey.

Already took the survey? Find out the results in our webinar, hosted by Folio:, on November 18. Register for the webinar here.

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