The Last Magazine?

Is the magazine industry facing death, mayhem, or a timely revitalization?

By Bo Sacks – March 23, 2007

There is a new book on the market called The Last Magazine, by my friend David Renard. It makes the volatile declaration that, "Magazines, as we know them, are dying." A provocative statement for sure, but the magazine business is not exactly dying. It just uses an ancient and atrophied business model, and we need a new model to breathe life into its ink-clogged corpuscles. I think there is still great hope for the industry, and perhaps even a new golden age of publishing, but not without severe introspection and great vision. There is absolutely no hope with the status quo. As Laurence Peter once said, "Bureaucracy defends the status quo, long past the time when the quo has lost its status." I would say that it is time for radical changes, but that is happening without my instruction. OK, that's not entirely true, because I have been tutoring the industry since what feels like Gutenberg's age, so perhaps they are just finally starting listening to me. The newsstand business formula is completely jaundiced, and one of the most inefficient manufacturing procedures I have heard of. And, I'm pretty sure that Renard, who runs Mu/Inc, the largest distributor of independent magazines nationally, agrees. Do you know that the magazine industry on average prints 10 magazines and sells three? What do you think happens to the remaining seven magazines? Does "landfill" have a stinging and ringing statement of truth for you? That means that the print industry throws one billion dollars into the garbage every year. Does that sound like a vibrant business plan with plenty of sustainability in the 21st century? By contrast, how much do you think wasted electrons on the Web cost? Meanwhile, postage is going nowhere but up, as demonstrated by the recent rate case. And the price of paper, I believe, is also preparing to take a protracted leap in to the sky. This price growth will come from the shutting down of less productive mills, perhaps causing a paper shortage where none existed before. The only saving grace might be the equivalent closure of magazines and newspapers to offset the decline in paper production. Publishing and publishers need to have their most creative and visionary seers at the forefront to look over the castle wall and see what is coming. So what does this all mean? Death, mayhem, or perhaps, a timely revitalization? The magazine industry is at the mercy of the public, facing ever more media choices. As the options continue to multiply, the task of capturing the attention of those readers will be tougher than ever. New information delivery methods, combined with the potential for complete customization, promise to shake up the playing field for the industry's established players, as well as the young entrepreneur starting out in information distribution, formally known as publishing. There is a revolution underway, and the entire concept of what publishing is has shifted from a one-dimensional analog approach, to a three-dimensional multi-pathed methodology. Results of this shift put publishers at mercy of the public will, a public with more choices than ever before, for its time and their money. This will no doubt include further declines in newsstand sales, as impulse readers increasingly make the Web their first stop. And why not, with the ease of access getting easier and cheaper on a daily basis? But really clever publishers will see gains in other areas if they position themselves for the future. Oh yes, did you know that Web advertising has already surpassed magazine print advertising and is on a meteoric rise, while the dead tree business is, at best, flat and striving for accountability? Most publishers I know of recognize that we are at an historic fork in the road. What we need is a new sustainable business model for the publishing industry. The barbarians are at the gate. Advertising is reassessing its reliance on mass media and instead seeks a one-on-one relationship with its clients. Not only seeking it, but getting it. Although not perfect, the Internet has accountability that magazine publishers can only dream of. Internet click through and pay-per-click actually account for each and every charged advertising participant. No longer do advertisers have to buy into the 10 reader per magazine pass-along mythology. The public is in search of, and getting, personalized information in dozens of new and creative ways that didn't exist a dozen years ago: the Internet, cell phones, PDAs, blogs, e-books, and TIVO. And, the biggest industry disrupter of them all is right around the corner: e-paper. Publishing and publishers need to have their most creative and visionary seers at the forefront to look over the castle wall and see what is coming. The next event, if, in fact, it is not already here, is what I call "me media." Publishers need to drill down to the unique needs and requests of their readership, and deliver accurate, timely, and personalized information, at any time, to any place on the globe. Nothing less will be acceptable as a successful new business model or to the reading public. In short, the emphasis of publishing magazines is going to be the business of selling specialized content, regardless of the delivery method. Remember this and remember it well: It's never going to be the way it was. In fact, it's not going to be the way it is. Bo Sacks' Precision Media Groupdoes private consulting and publishes "Heard on the Web: Media Intelligence," a daily e-newsletter that delivers pertinent industry news to a diverse, worldwide, publishing community of over 11,750 media industry leaders. It is the longest running e-newsletter in the world.