Big News From The Home Front

Big news. BIG news.

We have been working nearly around the clock to bring you this brand new version of our website. The site overhaul is directly influenced by our desire to serve visitors – like you – better, and we have made some significant upgrades.

One of the biggest changes is our Solutions section. (Click here to view.)
We created the Solutions section knowing many publishers face the same types of problems, whether it’s growing circulation, generating revenue, decreasing the sale cycle, or navigating mobile options. Rather than giving you a list of features and benefits and expecting you to decide what to do with them, we’re giving you real life examples of how publishers solved these issues. For example, click here to read how Henry Schein got creative with advertising and navigation to push readers deeper into their catalog.

We’ve also made it easier for publishers to find the resources they’re craving. We feature three top downloads on our new homepage, and we have a section dedicated to resources. For instance, click here to be taken to our white papers page in resources where you’ll find 5 white papers ready for FREE download.

So go ahead! Dig in! Dive deep in the website, and let us know what you think.

Predictions and Answers from Mobile Digital Magazine Readers

It doesn’t always take a crystal ball to peer into the minds of your readers. Sometimes all it takes is asking them exactly what you want to know. Your metrics can tell you the hard facts: what kinds of devices your readers are using, which pages draw your readers’ attention, and so on. But for some questions, you just have to ask.

Recently, the Association of Magazine Media (MPA) did just that by surveying over a thousand tablet or e-Reader users regarding their mobile reading habits. The results followed the trends we’ve been seeing, but one question I was glad they asked was how readers found the magazine apps they now enjoy. While there are differing strategies about how to get your app in front of eyeballs, it’s always good to take a moment to check with readers:

 

 

Of course, if crystal-ball-gazing is something you enjoy, I’d recommend "16 predictions for mobile in 2012." An interesting read, even given its strong focus on Microsoft.

Is Your Magazine Ready to be Shared?

In an article by Technology Review, they state that Mark Zuckerberg – Facebook’s founder – predicts, "every year, for the foreseeable future, the amount of information you share on the Web will double."Sure, this prediction comes from someone heavily invested in promoting sharing, but there are countless objective data points indicating the exponential growth of social sharing. In 2011 alone you might recall Google+ release, Facebook’s new timeline feature and app, Twitter’s Brand Pages, and LinkedIn’s allowance for brand status updates.

While defined benchmarks for social sharing of publications remains to be determined, sharing remains an expectation of your readers. It is becoming ever more intuitive. This means not only does your brand need to be shareable, but so does your product.

To that end, digital editions are inherently more shareable across a broad audience, and Nxtbook’s digital editions have always been shareable on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Delicious, etc. Whether your readers are viewing it on a tablet, phone, or computer, it’s quick and easy to post it on a wall. To take it a step further, we also enable shareable bookmarks and notes. Readers can stick a note to an article, and when they email it to a friend, the friend will see the note as well. A quick "Thought you’d like this article!" can go a long way. (Click here to try it out yourself.)

Make it easy for your readers to share as much as they want, as intuitively as they expect. Otherwise, you might end up looking like this guy: (video)

 

Interactive Quiz in Your Digital Edition

If you’ve ever wanted to quiz your readers – see how many are paying attention, see if they’ve learned what you want them to know, to get feedback on your content, or a myriad of other reasons – you might want to go ahead and include an interactive quiz in your digital edition. 

The Nxtbook quiz feature works on computers, tablets, and smartphones. Show readers the number of questions they got right, the questions they got wrong, and their percentage.

Already it has been a natural fit for magazines with continuing education, for training manuals, and higher education magazines such as this one. The feature works cross-platform, so talk to your Project Manager about adding an interactive quiz to your next edition.

From All of Us To All of You

Here at Nxtbook, we always enjoy the opportunity to wish you a very special holiday. Through the years, we’ve delivered open fires and dancing elves inside our digital editions. But this year, we think we’ve reached a new level. Click here to visit our very special holiday greeting!

 

Number One Best Place to Work In Pa is No Surprise to Us

On Thursday, December 1, we had the honor of winning the #1 Best Place to Work in PA out of 65 small- to mid-sized companies (25-250 employees). Make no mistake, it is a big deal to make the list of 65 at all: Pennsylvania is a large state with a lot of businesses. The process for narrowing down the list is rigorous, starting with getting the employee’s perspective, then factoring quantifiable benefits and employer information. 

And though, when they counted down the list and finally named our company as #1 we exploded into cheers and applause, it was more from pride than surprise. Since its inception, Nxtbook Media’s owners have actively and intentionally created the best place to work. As CEO Michael Biggerstaff put it, they try to make Nxtbook, "the place we always wanted to work but could never find." Being one of the top 3 companies to work for the past 4 years is proof this mentality pays off.

Of course the success of this business depends wholly on everyone’s participation in making it great. Winning #1 is simply an external representation of the pride everyone takes in their jobs. When we get to work, it isn’t to drudge through 8 hours and go home. We care about what we do, about serving our clients, creating work we can be proud of, and about caring for each other. Think about how much better it is to work with someone who is glad to be where they are (and have an award to prove it) rather than trying to get through to someone in less optimal conditions. (Think of "Peggy" in those customer service commercials.)

So the next time you call us, you can be proud that you’ve partnered with the best company to work for in the state of Pennsylvania.

No Two Things Are More Indespensable: App and AOPA

"Other than fuel and oil, there are perhaps no two things more indispensable to aviation these days than AOPA Pilot and the iPad. And now, they are together in a new way thanks to the new AOPA Mags app."

That’s AOPA’s opening line introducing their new iPad app, available for download. What did you say to introduce your magazine or app to the world?

AOPA, or the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, is phenomenal in their continuous pursuit of conversation with their readers, and in using that conversation to grow their audience. For instance, take this newscast video released by AOPA: Editor-in-Chief Tom Haines explains in detail some of the new features readers can look forward to in the iPad app, giving it an official and newscast feel. Within the article below the video, they link to a FAQ page and they provide a chart of App Tips for readers who are unsure of the new technology.

Of course, their app is also very newsworthy as AOPA takes advantage of several cool features enabled in the iPad. Across its publications, AOPA has included polls, extra images, and tests which give you the results as soon as you submit your answers. This is beyond the other videos and imagery they typically include.

Consider your app: Have you made it exciting for your audience? Is it broadcast worthy? 

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.

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