Digital publishing news for January 6, 2014
Stipla is a new interactive iPad magazine that tells the stories of people from around the world. Cool Hunting’s Nara Shin writes, “Stipla combines writing with panoramic photographs, video shorts, animations, interactive maps and more digital “extras” to bring the focus of their stories to life—and it’s an immersive reading experience like no other. The name is an acronym for “story, technology, innovation, passion, life and adventure.” It’s good to see how a non-traditional publisher designs a magazine.
Advanstar Uses Mag+ For Ophthalmology Times
Talking New Media is reporting that Advanstar has created a native tablet edition of its Ophthalmology Times using Mag+. They’ve done something unique with this tablet edition. D.B. Hebbard writes, “The publishing team uses the cover as a table of contents – and then some. It’s the “cover” that is used for everything but the stories themselves, something I have not seen before. As a result, the digital edition violates the somewhat standard practice of scrolling within a story and swiping to reach the next story – all the navigation is done through the front cover or the navigation menu. Like many B2Bs, Advanstar has decided to let readers download and access the issues free of charge, and without the need to already be pre-qualified. Ophthalmology Times has a BPA audit of 21,518 of which a bit over 3,400 are on the audit as digital.”
Food & Wine Gets Cozy With Celebrity Chefs
Ad Week is reporting that Food & Wine is doubling down on its ties with celebrity chefs. Lucia Moses writes, “The magazine has tapped six Chefs in Residence to participate in brainstorming sessions and Q&As and report back from their travels. Content featuring the inaugural participants—Grant Achatz, Hugh Acheson, Mario Batali, David Chang, Eric Ripert and Andrew Zimmern—will appear beginning with the redesigned February issue, which goes out to subscribers Jan. 6.” Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain is also on board to be the “Illustrator in Residence” for these new reports.
Uncertain Future for Top Business Magazines 2014
Ad Age has a new report on the uncertain futures top business magazines face in 2014. Here is how the landscape looks now.
Bloomberg Businessweek is currently under review as part of a company wide reassessment. Forbes is for sale, and Fortune will be seeking a new web portal partner when it “divorces” from CNNMoney in May. Michael Sebastian writes, “But the future for these titles arguably depends most on their digital platforms, where competition is fierce and ad rates are under pressure. Business magazines once upon a time reaped print ad pages simply for “showing up,” as one media executive put it, but core advertisers are now buying inventory across a range of websites, from AOL’s Daily Finance to Business Insider, sparking a street fight over advertising dollars.” Only time will tell how attractive these publications can make their digital offerings.
Next Issue Launches Kindle Apps
Talking New Media is reporting that Next Issue has launched new applications for the Kindle Fire HD and Kindle HDX. Next Issue offers a “NetFlix for Magazine” styled service. D.B. Hebbard adds, “The digital newsstand offers per 125 different magazine titles with two subscription plans: Unlimited Basic which offers 115 magazines at $9.99 a month, and Unlimited Premium which offers 127 magazines at $14.99 a month.”
