Wither magazines? is an excellent blog post by the respected Jeff Jarvis writing at his BuzzMachine blog. Publishers, newsagents and distributors ought to read his its points of advice for magazine publishers.
While it may be seen as stupid to link to a post which contemplates life after print, it is vitally important that we understand trends and opportunities overseas so that we can better plan for our businesses here.
There is an extraordinary difference between magazine publishing, distribution and retail in the US compared to Australia. But that difference plays out only in terms of a time line. As I commented at Jeff’s blog:
As a specialist retailer of magazines in Australia I, sadly, agree with your points. Publishers ought to engage on these for their future.
In Australia, we have 4,000 newsagents, specialist retailers of magazines. Each selling between 1,000 and 2,000 different magazine titles. Our channel was created by publishers in the 1880s and today they continue to exert considerable control.
While the publishers pursue (at varying degrees of speed) their future, newsagents are somewhat contractually stuck in a model which binds them to a print model.
Our asset is our community connection. Our Achilles heel is that we have 4,000 CEOs who cannot agree on working together to find our future in a world where print fades as a delivery mechanism for news and information.
A terrific opportunity for newsagents today is with publishers who engage directly with us and who publish content which is relevant to our communities: geographically local communities, special subject interest communities and economically and socially connected communities.
Newsagents can play a role here. Look at the tremendous success of SA Life, Tasmanian Life and similar local publications. At the high volume end as well as at the low volume end, we can work with proactive publishers for mutual success.