Comments on: What digital magazines can learn from ebook publishers

By: Arshad Mahmood

Arshad Mahmood — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 15:50:50 +0000

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By: Isaiah

Isaiah — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 00:27:35 +0000

There are magazines that are making an impact. Scientific American, VIV, and National Geographic are great examples.

By: Laura Hazard Owen

Laura Hazard Owen — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 21:41:21 +0000

One comment to you below…

By: Laura Hazard Owen

Laura Hazard Owen — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 21:40:14 +0000

@PeskyWeasel and @Angus Swan, have either of you looked at Next Issue Media — which is a joint venture between magazine publishers to provide “all you can eat” magazine subscriptions on iPad and Android for a set monthly price. I think it’s a really interesting model, but I am not sure how much readers value having access to a large number of magazines on tablet for $15 a month.

By: Laura Hazard Owen

Laura Hazard Owen — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 21:35:54 +0000

Those are some good points about platforms and brands, Ben….do you worry about the fragmentation of tablet brands at all? Do you think magazine publishers will spread themselves too thin trying to develop for different platforms, or do you think they should focus on iPad for now?

By: Jamie

Jamie — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 15:13:47 +0000

Remember the introduction of CDs? The ‘novelty’ pricing / premium on ‘new technology’ brought the price of an album from somewhere around $10-12 to $16 – $19. Strangely, that became the new normal as the technology took off and the prices never came down. Until iTunes came along, ‘saved’ them from file sharing & they got a taste of the pricing they should have been giving all along.

By: slateone

slateone — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 11:24:53 +0000

Sorry for the typo …

By: slateone

slateone — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 11:22:45 +0000

“Fast forward to 2013 and enhanced ebooks are widely considered a flop”. the reason is that although ePub 3 file allows you to embed video and audio there not many e-readers which will run the video.

Amazon charge quite a hefty price for their Kindle Fire yet it still cannot read a video in an eBook. Having exchanged many e-mails with Amazon’s tech department they are in no rush to change that.

Only Apple are currently supporting enhanced eBooks, Kobo are looking to do the same.

I agree with Ben that “most arent even giving iBook author a chance because no one wants to be lock-in to selling their ebooks with Apple…..”

I am launching a digital magazine this week. We would have had video and audio but that would have seriously affected the potential reach.

As for magazines charging the more for the same content people are mad if they pay for it. Digital is far easier and cheaper to produce than print. Do’t let them tell you anything else.

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By: Angus Swan

Angus Swan — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 10:33:53 +0000

This article picks up some key insights, specifically the simpler revenue model for books which do not rely on a corresponding sales related ad revenue component. This may make it simpler, but at the same time, traditional publishers have had the problem of a high value item ($10-15) being undercut by self-published writing and aggressive etailer pricing. if you have a magazine at $4, there is not that much lower to go.

Most publishers by now have found that ‘enhanced’ ebooks that are digital versions of highly illustrated/designed books sell really poorly. Partly it may be the rendering experience – lack of a double page spread, but we also think it has to do with gifting – cookery books are a prime example of this. They sell dreadfully in digital format because there primary function is actually to be a physical gift, not a recipe manual!

The big difference between magazines and books is the customer experience model – in magazines you want, at all cost, to create a subscriber, whereas in books you use pricing to entice a reader into a love affair with an author or series and then monetise the back catalogue. The publisher who gets their digital pricing strategy right will gain a competitive advantage over their rivals.

By: peskyweasel

peskyweasel — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 20:31:08 +0000

Also, at least on the Kindle store, eMagazines have a lot more restrictions than eBooks. They can only be downloaded to a single device, and you can only redownload the last six issues, and it quietly deletes your old issues to make space.

So, if you have had a subscription for a year or so, and want to look something up, or read an old article or story (a recipe, perhaps, or the nebula award nominees were just announced and you’re not sure you read one of the stories), you’re out of luck, and the fact that you don’t own what you bought is made very very clear.

I’ve switched from tablet to paper for my magazines because of this.