A look at the world of magazine media - Issue #10
Well hey there, August! How's it going?
If you work in the world of magazine media, you know full well that the "Dog Days of August" don't refer to vacations, quiet afternoons caching snacks in the conference room (or more likely the pantry for those of us in the WFH world), or lingering over lunch somewhere other than where you work.
Nope, August is a time to check out the production schedule. The editorial calendar. If you sell space, you're in a sales conference plotting your Fall selling season strategy. If you're tied into events marketing, you're...well, you're hoping things don't go back into lockdown.
So, what are you up to? Got a minute? Let's check out some news...
#1. Magazines sold through e-commerce. Yeah, we're on it!
Publisher’s Roundtable - E-Commerce: Few Things are More Important to our Industry — bosacks.com Publisher’s Roundtable - E-Commerce: Few Things are More Important to our Industry BY Linda Ruth One topic that remains of consuming interest to all of the...
Back in March 2020, a group of us magazine folk got together for weekly "roundtable" discussions. Eventually we invited guests to come and talk with us about their part of the publishing world. In this recap, we spoke with the single copy sales trade group MBR about their efforts to get magazines included in retailer e-commerce platforms.
Magazines & Books at Retail Association — mymbr.org
#2. When that last mile, is only a mile from your home.
Stores may soon use one-third of their space for e-commerce fulfillment: report | Retail Dive — www.retaildive.com Retail industry news, voices and jobs. Optimized for your mobile phone.
So maybe our partners at MBR.org are onto something. Magazines are a unique and square peg in round hole type of product for most retailers, but clearly, if up to one third of a store may eventually be taken up by e-commerce fulfillment, then magazines certainly want to be there.
#3. Welcome back Gawker! Darn, did I ever miss you!
'Gawker' Is Back Almost 5 Years After Shutting Down 07/30/2021 — www.mediapost.com 'Gawker' Is Back Almost 5 Years After Shutting Down - 07/30/2021
For a lot of people, Gawker was a daily on-line check in. Funny, intelligent, , belligerent, Gawker was full of a lot of really great writing.
So welcome back! May you not get sued again.
And may I just gently suggest...how about an SIP for the newsstand of your greatest articles? What would it be like to read some of them on paper? Pretty great, I would like to think.
#4. Media Voices podcast interviews founder and editor of "Freelancer Magazine
Editor and publisher of Freelancer Sophie Cross on the joys of launching an indie mag - Media Voices Podcast — voices.media In this week’s episode we hear from Sophie Cross, the founder and editor of Freelancer magazine. She tells Peter about …
Peter Houston has a great interview with Sophie Cross who pulled off the ultimate freelancer gig by starting up a magazine for freelancers titled, "Freelancer".
You can find out more about Freelancers Magazine by visiting their site:
Freelancer Magazine — www.freelancermagazine.co.uk A business and lifestyle magazine for a freelance life less ordinary. Printed and delivered directly to your doormat.
#5. Not to be a downer, but...Retail Dive digs into what the Delta variant means to retail
What the delta variant already means for retail | Retail Dive — www.retaildive.com Retail industry news, voices and jobs. Optimized for your mobile phone.
In a blog post last month I pointed out that those of us who still work with single copy sales have, for quite some time, been really good at moving copies around to wholesalers and retailers when the market conditions get dicey (ie: store closures, wholesaler bankruptcies, natural disasters). It's not a skill you really want to maintain, but the last few years have sort of mandated it.
The pandemic has impacted the newsstand in two very direct ways: store traffic and the supply chain. Fewer store visits means fewer opportunities to make a sale. A strained supply chain means several things: less product, it gets harder to get to market, it gets harder to get to market on-time.
In the end, this all comes back to the article at the top of this chain: We need to expand e-commerce activities for print editions.
Your Magazine Zen Moment This Week is brought to you by...
...because I love me some local magazines!