Is there a future for Print Magazines?

April 2005 issue of Desktop Engineering, 48 pages plus cover, 21 pages of advertising (43%)

March 2005 issue of CADALYST – 66 pages plus cover, 27 pages of advertising (40% )

Is it just my imagination or are the CAD magazine getting smaller still? From the rumblings in the industry, there are more advertising dollars out there than last year, yet the publications – on the print side – seem to be getting squeezed.

And from what I can see, it’s not a lack of advertising revenue, just that advertisers are sharing the dollars out across web sites, and putting less emphasis on print advertising. And publications are responding by making their online offerings better, more organized and easier to access. For example, Desktop Engineering, which used to close all but its table of contents to subscribers on the web site, has now opened much of its online editorial for free. CADALYST has a monolithic website structure that can really make it complex to find a specific article (although the search function is improving.) It also has made digital editiions available by request from subscribers. This is delievered via NXTbook, a delivery mechanism that I love and allows immediate download of the digital edition without having to download pesky readers and so on. MCAD Magazine (cadserver.co.uk) is also moving rapidly in the direction of web-based delivery. Meanwhile, the manufacturing magazines have already made a huge move to PDF-based publishing and re-working its web sites for easier access to editorial.

What does this mean for print?

My immediate attitude is that print magazines are ultimately headed towards the graveyard, in all industries. The majority of publications I receive I read online, or occasionally print out to read elsewhere. Saying that though…I still buy print issues of BusinessWeek and People – which I normally read on the plane - and think nothing of it! Is this just a bad habit? Maybe I could make that more efficient, but, do not want to be bogged down, especially for travel, with retrieving my laptop from the overhead baggage on a flight and then have to fire up the laptop to do my reading. Neither do I want to print out a 120-page publication on my inkjet…essentially Epson ink is too expensive to consider that option!

Dave Cohn, editor of CADCAMNet, that is published electronically (although its sister publication EAReport is also available in print) echoes this.

“Print publications will not die until someone finds a new medium for these magazines that can be taken into the bathroom for reading.” He says. I gather that he does not feel that his laptop is suitable in that environment. (Fair enough!) And that it is too much trouble to print PDF publications especially when they include 4-color print ads that simply suck ink out of the printers. So what will that medium be?

I have a sudden flash of having a laptop screen inside the doors of the office bathrooms…No! No! Make it go away! I need a break from intrusive media at some point!

Maybe there is a new medium coming at us in a way that is tactile yet unobtrusive and easy to operate – no back-lit screens, no expensive ink-jet printing, no electrical devices.

I don’t know what the answer is, but I know that some of my favorite magazines – and often not ones related to my industry – will continue to be read in print form not PDF or online. At least until a better alternative can be found.

Comments

[Adena Schutzberg]

Just to clarify, NXTbooks do require a plug-in: Flash. From the FAQ: "Can NXTbooks be accessed from all browsers?

"The NXTbook FX can be accessed from all platforms and browsers that have Flash Player 6 or above installed. Flash Player is a browser plug-in from Macromedia that is installed on 98% of Internet-enabled computers. It is available for free from Macromedia’s web site."

I personally do not love the format; there is no reason for an online publication to look like a print publication. Do online newspapers look like print ones? No. (Ok, you can see the front page of the NYT...but most people do not read the website that way, I'd offer.) I think we are all still searching for the best way to deliver digital magazines. For now, Wired does a rather nice job. Oh, and no plug in is required; it's all HTML.

[Rachael Dalton-Taggart]

Apologies. Flash is such a part of our world here I forget that it may still need to be downloaded by some. Regardless, I still like the NXTbook format. There is a familiar feel in flipping the pages, even on a screen.
Further, just because the major newspapers do no follow a similar format to their print versions, does that make them right? I am not so sure we should assume they are.

[Jen]

I don't care for the NXTbook format either. The page-flipping is unnecessary, there's no way to bookmark a page to save your place if you have to stop reading, and you can't minimize the reader to make room for other applications (or at least I haven't figured out how to do this).

[John Petersson]

I agree on alot of the critisism, but i think the platform isnt intended for superusers but more regular internet john does.
While nxtbook seems to keep the un-superuser-friendly interface their competitors has overtaken them.
Other platforms as seen for instance at http://www.zmag.dk/showmag.php?mid=wtsgh is a lot more intuitive to me!
Just a thought

[Paulo Dinonte]

I agree with John. There is a place for online publications and new solutions such as the one John refers to, counters much of the nxtbook critisism!