Tag: digital edition

When you think of the top magazine companies, you probably imagine Time, Cosmopolitan, or Better Homes & Gardens. If you publish a magazine, try to instead think of the magazine media companies in your niche. Comparing a niche magazine to a general-interest publication will leave you empty-handed in the idea department.

In 2017, all major publishers and most independents have a website portal. What 95% don’t have is a web magazine. But those who do are flourishing.

In today’s Strategy Spotlight, Don Nicholas, Chairman & CEO of Mequoda explains why he thinks the web edition is the best edition.

Premium newsletters and advisory services represent the pinnacle of subscription marketing, often commanding annual membership or subscription fees that are much higher than magazines.

It’s amazing to look back to just a year or so ago, when digital magazines were still something of a novelty. Today, it’s a given that print publishers will soon create a digital version of their product if they haven’t already.

If you’re making plans for your own digital publication, it behooves you to also plan how to make money from it with strategic digital magazine marketing.

After all, buying a list and mailing a big direct mail package, in hopes of getting a bunch of people to subscribe as we all did in the old print days, is rather like trying to sell 21st-century tablets themselves at an old-fashioned general store where hardware, ladies’ hats and pickles all shared the same space, and the proprietor fetched everything on your list, then wrapped up your purchases in brown paper and twine.

Digital magazine publishing software is important; which option are you using?

Publishers have been trying digital magazine publishing software during the last few years in hopes of creating the best digital products for their audiences. And like everything else in digital magazine land, digital magazine software has evolved at light speed since we made our initial recommendations in January.

Here’s our latest (opinionated) look at the magazine software landscape.

How often do you read something digitally? If you’re reading this, then you’ve done it at least once today. I’m going to go out on a limb and say this isn’t your first time.

Magazines are designed to be read from front to back. They have covers and a table of contents. Magazines are arranged in a series of articles. Portals are not meant to be read from front to back, and are in no way linear. Users may begin on an article they found through search and hyperlink their way across the site in a matter of seconds. There is no true table of contents, although there is arrangement in the form of categories, topic pages and related articles.

So what is a digital magazine? It’s a bit of a hybrid.

If your goal is to generate advertising and sponsorship revenue from a free newsletter or advisory service with a robust subscription and advertising website, the Mequoda Haven CXMS can do it, and has done it for many other publishers like you.

Mequoda Systems empowers multiplatform publishers to grow audience, revenue, and profits by integrating web, email, and fulfillment systems into a seamless Customer Experience Management System (CXMS). Mequoda clients routinely double, even triple, their profits in five years or less by using our proprietary software platform, Haven CXMS™—the only customer experience management system created by publishers

If your goal is generate paid subscriptions and revenue for a premium magazine business with a robust subscription website, keep following along.

In today’s Strategy Spotlight, Don Nicholas, Chairman & CEO of Mequoda explains how other publishers have used Haven CXMS to do just that.

If your goal is to generate advertising and sponsorship revenue from a free newsletter or advisory service with a robust subscription and advertising website, the Mequoda Haven CXMS can do it, and has done it for many other publishers like you.

Now that so many publishers are issuing digital editions, it’s time to take a look around and quantify some best practices that we’ve noted in researching apps and digital magazines.

First, let’s do some definitions. Terminology is changing daily, as it always does with new technology and new products, but for now we should at least attempt to clarify a few things. Some of these definitions come from outside Mequoda, but others are our own preferred definitions that serve to clarify some of the confusion in the industry right now. Your mileage may vary!

If your goal is to generate subscriptions and advertiser and sponsorship revenue from a free or controlled-circulation magazine with a robust subscription and advertising website, the Mequoda Haven CXMS can do it, and has done it for many other publishers like you.

I have complete confidence in saying this: “your web magazine design is not very good.”

And why does this roll off the tongue so easily as such a blanket statement? Because we’re in the midst of a massive research study on the state of web magazines, and out of 300 of the top B2B and B2C magazines, only 13 had what we consider to be a best-practice web magazine. We were sure the study would encompass at least 100, but we’re currently on the hunt to fill that number out to at least 25 and are finding hope in—surprise—niche magazines.

How would you like to increase your subscription revenues by almost 60%?

It can be done, and it’s not magic. All you need are a paid subscription website, a couple of other great products to sell and one secret: Decoy pricing.

More and more publishers are discovering this secret. And it’s not a new concept. You might know of it as the “contrast effect.”

Maybe you’ve heard that Amethyst is good for protection if you wear it, or that Aventurine will help with confidence if you hold it while public speaking. Perhaps you’ve read that if you put Jade in the four corners of your office, it will attract abundance, or that carrying Malachite with you will improve your leadership abilities.

Whether you believe in the metaphysical properties of gemstones and minerals, or just keep them at your desk for good looks, there’s one thing that most people in these circles can agree on. It’s that whatever you’re hoping to get from carrying, wearing or holding one of these items is all about intention. You want to feel more confident getting up on stage to present, so you carry Aventurine to set the intention that you will become more confident. You decorate your office in Jade not because you expect the money to roll in magically in one day, but because seeing it reminds you of your intentions to generate more income, and take steps to make that happen.

Forbes contributor Benjy Boxer recently warned, “The combination of free publishing, social distribution, and the commoditization of advertising will eventually wipe out almost all of the advantages of a large media company.”

Further, he advised that “scarcity” is the only advantage left to media companies, and they’ll have to create that with their unique content or unique services to advertisers. Luckily for the niche subscription website publishers we advise, scarcity comes right along with being “niche,” unlike larger publishers competing with Yahoo and CNN for cost-per-click (CPC) dollars.

Multiplatform publishers can generate revenue from users, from sponsors, or both. Consumer-focused portals that are sponsorship-based ask users to pay – not with money, but with time and information. They spend time viewing web pages and signing up for email feeds, thus creating advertising inventory that can be used to sell the publisher’s products (internal advertising) and/or sold to third-party sponsors (external advertising) on a CPM, CPC, CPA, or SEA basis.

If you’re a publishing professional, don’t wait a minute longer before downloading our best practice handbooks. They were carefully curated into what we think are the most comprehensive handbooks on the four most important digital publishing topics:

When you think of a magazine platform, you probably think print and digital. They seem like black and white, but there’s actually a whole lot of grey on the digital side of things. A digital magazine, as defined by the Alliance for Audited Media (formerly ABC) defines a digital edition as distribution of a magazine’s content via electronic means. The digital edition must maintain the same identity of the host publication by maintaining the same brand characteristics.
 Mequoda agrees with this definition.

Varying experiences from publishers that made the switch to digital-only magazines and portals (and came back to tell the tale)
Digital-only magazines have had their ups, downs, and (in some cases) its “in-betweens.” While some digital magazines have remained powerful and influential after going digital, others have since been discontinued. And some of them end up seeing

Take this information to the bank … 2016 Mequoda American Magazine Reader Study & Handbook & Handbook polled 3,241 U.S. adults with internet access and found that nearly 42% of them are reading digital magazines, up 13.8% from 2015.

At a recent networking event amongst publishers, the owner of a publication for teen health asked a Mequoda team member if it was worth launching a print magazine to go with her ad-driven online presence. She already had other print publications, but this niche, teen health, geared towards a younger generation—would it be too passe’?

The short answer is that we’ve seen it work, but testing is worth the investment. One of our clients launched a new print magazine from their popular online portal last year and is now generating thousands of new subscribers every month.

There’s very little consistency when it comes to pricing magazines on the internet, and even less when it comes to bundling magazine subscription offers. We’re all familiar with the $12 print subscription, offering a printed piece of art, signed sealed and delivered for $1 per month. Some may say that pricing scheme is devaluing magazines across the board, but buy does it work.

So how far have we come since the $12/year print offer? In some cases, not very far. But in others, you’ll find niche consumer magazines bringing in $30 or more per subscription.

The one advantage magazines have over the majority of information on the internet is legitimacy due to credentials and facts. Let us not forget that nobody trusts what they read on the internet, especially not in the current blight of “fake news,” but they do more often trust established publications like magazines.

The MPA releases its Magazine Media Factbook 2017/18, sharing multiplatform publishing data you can use
You may be surprised by some of the data we have to share about multiplatform publishing. But we’re not as surprised because we’re so ingrained in the industry and we constantly see the ongoing growth for multiplatform publishers.

Today we’re looking at research from

The questions you need to ask and the answers you should have before launching a new digital magazine
Publishers are embracing digital magazines because users are. And it’s true for B2C and B2B, as well as pure paid subscription, controlled circulation, or both. These publishers are taking advantage of digital editions to provide the features users want

A replica-plus is a replica with some extra bells and whistles added. And normally you’d think that adding things such as video, audio, HTML links and other technology-rich features would be an improvement to the simple replica. We’re not so sure that it’s a good enough upgrade, and here’s why.

The problem with adding bells and whistles to a simple replica to create a replica-plus lies in one of the disadvantages of the replica that we’ve discussed before. But first, let’s look at the pros and cons of the replica plus.

Zink digital magazine relaunches; National Geographic launches digital network; Amazon looking at offering subscriptions to publishers
Not all the digital magazine content we report on involves launches. Sometimes we have relaunches to share about, too.

We begin today with the relaunch of Zink Magazine, in both digital and print. WWD reports, “Zink Magazine, the indie fashion magazine founded

Before launching a digital magazine, read through these ten resources.
When it comes to launching a digital magazine, there’s no one FAQ online that can answer all your questions. What edition should you build? How should you price it? Which software is best, and can you get away with a simple PDF edition? We tried to

Digital magazines continue their development while some print publications go out of fashion. Today we’re reporting on some new cases of print magazines being shuttered for more emphasis on digital magazines.

We begin with T Magazine, published by NYT, and it’s recent change. MediaPost reports, “T magazine, The New York Times’ style magazine, has reduced its publishing frequency — from 13 to 11 issues a year.”

Sometimes we’re amazed by content offerings we see subscription publishers launch. A recent content initiative from The New York Times applies, and it will be the first news story for the day. The New York Times is officially using Twitter content in their print publication. Nieman Lab reports, “The paper’s newly redesigned pages A2 and A3 will highlight some of that content — and the “huge scope of activity that’s going on in the world of The New York Times on any given day,” said Jake Silverstein, the editor-in-chief of The New York Times Magazine and one of the leaders of the redesign.”

Digital magazine marketing will give you an afterlife

There are times in business when we feel like we’ve created something great, and we don’t understand why it’s not selling.

Back in 1967, a successful New York ballerina by the name of Marta Becket stumbled upon an old social hall in Death Valley Junction, California, population: 6. After

As the mobile publishing revolution has matured, I’ve been blogging about a lot of large, fancy digital magazines. Publications like New York, Forbes and The Atlantic have become leaders in what I consider the second phase of mobile publishing development – the technology is dependable, early jumpers are releasing their all-new versions upgraded from their 2010 efforts, and standards for what consumers are willing to pay for are establishing themselves.

When a print magazine closes, a world of opportunity opens for its portal
A few weeks ago Conde Nast announced that they’d be closing the print arm of Self magazine. And after their single-copy sales dropped from 148,055 to 44,000 over the last two years, who can blame them? If you think about all the strings that

Do you run or contribute to an online magazine?

Most of our readers would consider themselves in the magazine publishing industry, that is true. But do you think you run an online magazine, or a digital magazine, a print magazine or a magazine website? You might have chosen two or three of those, or you might think they mean similar things. However, to us, these all have very different meanings and very different business models.

Multiplatform publishers Condé Nast and Bloomberg are ending some print titles; A popular indie returns to print
The revolution in digital publishing has led to many multiplatform publishers rethinking their content strategies. This had led to a many publishers turning their focus primarily to digital while letting some print titles go the wayside.

The first multiplatform publisher

How to start a magazine and publish it profitably, without requiring a large team to start.
In her book How Not to Start a Magazine, B. Ann Bell says the number one way new magazines fail is through poor budget planning. Poor planning for printing, postage, and marketing are among the top expenses in her book, originally published

In publishing, there’s no room for growth with a solo magazine that stands alone.
One of our favorite stories is that of The American Ceramic Society. The organization turned to the Mequoda Method in 2005 to address the stagnant growth of its two print publications, Ceramics Monthly and Pottery Making Illustrated, whose audience is both ceramics professionals and dedicated amateurs.

The

Multiplatform magazine subscribers are looking for more from you. “Let’s make magazines great again,” shall we?
Last week, after over a year of grueling controversy and debate, the US named Donald Trump as President-elect. While half the country was caught scratching their heads, and the other half applauding, Fortune wrote an article about how good marketing got

Multiplatform consumers give us a glimpse into digital and print magazines as consumption of digital grows year over year
In our annual American Magazine Reader Study & Handbook survey, we set out to understand how the demographics of a multiplatform consumer (one who reported consuming both print and digital magazines) differed from digital only readers and print only readers.

We learned that

What we learned about the average digital magazine reader in this year’s study about magazine consumption
This year, like we have for the last several years, we ran a study to find out how the average American adult magazine reader is consuming and creating new habits with digital magazines. We polled 3,241 U.S. adults with internet access.

This

Since 2014, the MPA has been tracking magazine consumption with its Magazine Media 360° report, and we’ve been tracking those tracks. (After all, we issue our own annual study on magazine readership, the most recent edition of which came out last month.)

Now, those stats and many more have been collected in the MPA’s 2016/17 Magazine Media Factbook – recently released and available for download at Magazine.org – the digital publishing industry’s (as well as print’s) definitive compilation of magazine media research and statistics.

September 1, 2016 – BOSTON — The 2016 Mequoda American Magazine Reader Study & Handbook, conducted in Q2 2016, one year after their 2015 study, polled 3,241 US adults with Internet access. The study found that the number of US adults reading digital magazines has increased 13.8% from 2015, with nearly 42% of US adults reporting having read one or more digital magazine issues in the last 30 days.

Second-time magazine subscribers may turn out to be even more profitable than they were their first time around

Peter Drucker wrote, “The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.”

When you’re talking to someone face to face, there are signs you might notice. Someone who starts fidgeting might be socially anxious, while

Claim your FREE digital copy of our 2016 Mequoda American Magazine Reader Study & Handbook: Multiplatform Magazine Reader Habits and Digital Publishing Best Practices now.

If you’re not there, your competitors will be.
Registration for our upcoming one-day Digital Magazine Publishing Workshop on August 2 closes today. If you miss it, what do you plan to do instead to grow your business?

Download our program guide and register right now, while there’s still time.
Here’s what you’ll learn at the Digital Magazine Publishing Workshop:
What American Magazine Readers Really