Mailbox Anchor

According to the Columbia Journalism Review (12/27/12), the US Postal Service is entertaining the idea of selling hard copy magazine subscriptions.  Although magazines make up only a small percentage of mailed items, CJR says that internally the Postal Service calls magazines "the anchor in the mailbox."  The idea is that customers value magazines and, while checking the mail for them, may also take notice of junk mail in the box.  Without magazines, the logic goes, customers may not even check their mailboxes.
http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/usps_may_start_selling_mag_sub.php?page=all

Surviving Dark Days

A recent David Carr column in The New York Times reveals how Esquire held onto its "narrative horsemen," and brought itself into the iPad era while not compromising its literary heritage (much).

Editor in chief David Granger kept the faith with the long form, but innovatively used the magazine's iPad app to keep the publication from being "just another magazine under glass" as Mashable—the social media news blog— put it. The result is a revived magazine with increased ad pages and page views. According to Carr "Advertiser like to see a legacy brand show muscle in a new realm."

Niche Necessary

Freelance writer Yael Grauer on her blog Yael Writes, reports on a panel discussion  "The Future of the Magazine" in which participants described how they believed long-form journalism will work on various platforms.
According to Grauer, Utne Reader editor David Schimke "recommended new writers brand themselves as niche market writers [and] need to be blogging, tweeting, working with authors, speaking, putting video and podcasts on their website, promoting their won work and writing SEO-optimized copy."
For a report on what Schimke and other panelists had to say, see Grauer's blog entry. Here's also a link to the event which was held in early October in Minneapolis and promises to post video.

Innovations in Magazines 2010

As you might guess from its title, the Innovations in Magazines 2010 World Report summarizes many new directions magazines took last year as they continued spreading among platforms.

The report, assembled by The Innovation International Media Consulting Group  for the Federation of the Periodical Press lists some of the following innovations:

• "Mobizines":  Magazine apps for cell phones
• Embedded video:  Insertion of an ultra-thin monitor and speaker directly into the pages of a magazine.
• Development of "interactive digital narratives...combining a fusion of text, photos, infographics, video and audio."

Fine Old Cannibal

What was the key to the 153-year-old magazine, The Atlantic, making a successful transition to a multiplatform presence? According to its president “In essence, we brainstormed the question, ‘What would we do if the goal was to aggressively cannibalize ourselves?’ ” See this New York Times piece which details how the magazine--still graced by long-form pieces--prospered by starting to think of itself as more than just a printed product.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/13/business/media/13atlantic.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Silo Busting

The Times reports that next year will be the first time in fifteen that the four largest magazine companies in America are scheduled to have new top execs. The event is seen by at least one industry leader as "the changing of the guard from an older school to a newer school." One of the newcomers promises bringing "ever-more complex print and digital packages to their clients," breaking down silos that may still exist between the two means of delivery.
See the complete story at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/business/media/29mag.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1