The Future of Magazine Publishing

I think we all know that the future is electronic now, with books on Kindle-like devices and magazines on tablets like the iPad.

Image: Pixomar / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I had a meeting this week with someone from the European Union who wanted to get a blogger's view on how I see publishing panning out in the travel sector. It served to crystallise some of my own thinking about magazine publishing and how that might work in the future.

So far, magazine publishers have got their on line offering wrong.

Several major titles have already made the move to tablets, but I think they've got it wrong.

They've simply recreated the paper magazine for a tablet - complete with pages of static adverts, and  lacking in any kind of interactivity or multimedia.

I can tell you from personal experience it's pretty boring leafing through six pages of adverts before you get to any content!

Magazine publishers need to learn from bloggers and create:

• A multimedia experience with video and audio
• Adverts that allow us to order the products we see and like
• The ability to add comments and see other people's
• More layers for those who want to know more

Generating income

And that leads us onto payment. Those "layers" create instant pay walls. Let's try an example:

I'm a Formula One motor racing fan. I'd be happy for my regular magazine to move to tablet - I'd enjoy this month's feature on the Williams formula one team just as much on an iPad as I did on paper. The same goes for the interview with Nick Heidfeld.

And for most people that would be enough.

But as a serious fan, I'd be happy to pay more to get more. How about a small red button on each article to take me a little deeper into the story? I wouldn't hit the button to find out more about Nick, but I would to watch an interview with Frank Williams, and see an in depth drawing of the revolutionary gearbox on this year's Williams. Those additional features would be behind the red button and I'd pay to hit it.

It should only be a small charge - think iTunes track money - and only a small percentage of people would want to "go deeper." You could even have a membership program that give me unlimited "button clicks" for a set monthly fee.

Advertising

Now let's think about advertising.

One issue facing publishers is that with the market fragmenting and becoming more niche, their rates are getting lower as their audience is declining.

But if people can buy directly from the adverts, then those sales can be tracked. So as well as charging a set fee for the advert, a commission on sales directly generated could be negotiated as well. Those commissions should go some way to making up the shortfall.

In fact, with the additional income from button clicks, membership and sales commission, the core magazine could be really cheap, or even free.

Think about it for a moment. What I've just described is a blog, isn't it?

So are blogs the future of magazine publishing?

What do you think?