Barnes and Noble has subscriptions to 500 titles listed (here) in partnership with the Zineo reader, which somewhat crappily reproduces the magazine reading experience on your screen. Well, at least they’re digital. The more interesting thing is the single copies for sale (here) kinda like a virtual newsstand sans creepy dude thumbing through all the skin mags in the corner.
Finally some progress.

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7 Comments

  1. “Finally some progress.”

    You’re being ironic right? That’s the thing with digital publishing (just as with mp3, etcetc), who’s willing to pay for a creepy virtual thing that no one can thumb through??

    I love thumbing, thank you. :)

  2. This’ll be an interesting exercise for the subscription base of these magazines. Or any magazine folks who can track the success or un-success of digital magazines.

    Now, of course I’m biased, but I’d only compare the digital sub price to the actual print version sub price (overall, the prices don’t look too much different) instead of comparing to the cover price (like the site is doing) and for the money, I’d want the print version so I’d be able to create a library of my chosen titles. Which I do.

    Does anyone else feel that way, too? I guess it just comes down to who’s willing to put their money where their keyboard is…

  3. Zinio? No! I have yet to see an application which does this magazine in the internet thing well. Maybe they should just drop that approach. I still prefer a PDF magazine to anything that is out there although that is really dated too.
    Had once a Zinio subscriprion of a mag for half a year. Didnt read one issue of it. The only way I am going to touch that again is if they give it to me for free.

  4. WOW..

    How will they ever sell Lattes now and where will that crowd go to sop up all that free library reading over it?

    Never mind what will the ad space fit in and cost and how will it affect editorial fees?

    matthew pace

  5. This has huge potential for small international publications (ie: I see they have NO and Black, for instance).

    @1: Lots of people pay for the “creepy” virutal thing. Ever heard of the iTunes store?

    @4: I hear Starbucks is working on a system to deliver caffeine over the internet. LOL. Re: editorial fees, this is why photographers should support the idea of a union or other advocacy groups like ASMP. The WGA went through the same thing with that little strike thing they held over internet rights. This cuts out the #1 cost for distributing magazine content.

  6. The other half (more than half, actually) of the puzzle is the ability to create and place ads specific to the individual reader.

    See, the bigger problem with print readership isn’t that it’s declining. The problem is that the value of the ads to the advertiser, for the most part, is nowhere near the price they seek from the advertiser.

    As a photographer – and a small business owner – I don’t care if 1,000 or 100,000 people see my ad every day. I (like so many other businesses) am not selling a service to everyone. I’m selling a service to people who I think will be likely to buy my product.

    Macy’s can do shotgun advertising effectively. Everyone needs socks and underwear.

    I can’t do shotgun advertising, because a statistically insignificant percentage of the general population has any real likelihood of purchasing my work.

    For me, targeted advertising is the only, even if marginally so, effective means of getting my name in front of people.

    For example: I would rather send 10 editors likely to take interest in me a $200 bottle of single malt and have a high degree of ‘impression’ (read: a greater chance at getting me/my work noticed) than take out a $2,000 1/8th page ad in Editor & Publisher (assuming an ad can even be had that inexpensively therein).

    BUT, if I was told that E&P has 6,000 electronic subscribers and that 30 of them (albeit anonymously) met verified qualifications (the mag verifies that the subscriber claiming to be MPE at Newsweek is, in fact, the MPE at Newsweek), I’d pay market rate to have an ad in those 30 people’s electronic edition of E&P.

    I’d be even happier about paying market rate if there were some verifiable way of E&P telling me how many of those 30 people ‘clicked’ my ad.

    Gosh, E&P might be able to RAISE ad rates for providing such service, while ultimately being able to give away free downloads of the magazine and print ‘n’ ship-only rates on the print version

    Any capital investors want to make a go at this? We could probably make some real coin developing the practice and software to make this a turnkey solution for magazines and newspapers.

    After all, people expect the content for free these days. It’s the service they’ll pay for.

    Any reference to E&P is simply for hypothetical and illustrative purposes. I’m neither a subscriber nor a financial beneficiary of said publication.

    Thanks for another great post!

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