And The Saga Continues…

On the heels of last week’s iPad article written by our own J.Matthew Riva, we received a comment from one of our readers saying…

“As a literary agent of 35+ years, this appliance (yes appliance, not gadget) may be the saving of the book business. If the iPod had arrived 2 years earlier when the music industry was being hacked to death, there might have been a non-live-performing living for struggling musicians and singers.

Problem: How will books be promoted? Co-op advertising with iBook?” – Peter R.

savvy’s response: Peter, I think you bring up a good “problem”. We see it as a potential for sponsors to get on board with authors. Also, authors can distribute their content in advance, say through a sneak preview to its community via social networking, blogger outreach and via other author’s blogs, etc.

Clearly, the Print community is up in arms, and there are those who are seeing the forest through the trees that they have to go digital…but just how to do it?

So, just as we received Peter’s comment, in last Tuesday’s Cynopsis Digital, the Print saga continued:

Following a drop over 25% in ad revenue from print magazines last year, a group of prominent magazine publishers including Time Inc., Hearst, Conde Nast, Meredith and Wenner Media are launching a jointly-funded $90 million dollar ad campaign to help convince readers, advertisers and shareholders of the “power of print.”  The 7-month campaign, developed with Y&R New York, is expected to roll out with lush color spreads in the May issues of nearly 100 print magazines and web sites with taglines such as “We Surf the Internet. We Swim in Magazines” and “Will the Internet Kill Magazines? Did Instant Coffee Kill Coffee?”

And I thought…oh my god, the Publishing industry is finally coming to the realization that their model is in trouble, and broken. It’s about time. Now, I’m a fan of magazines and books, don’t get me wrong. I have a number of subscriptions and love taking them with when I’m traveling on the train, or making time to read on the sofa. I still believe in destination reading and the tactile nature of the product. I truly believe the experience will never go away. I also think though, that there has to be even more of an integrated approach, and yes, I think at some point, they should charge for their content online. Sorry folks. But, I have to say, I was a little scared for them having read this (in addition to the fact that I spent 4 years at Hearst.)

And then I read the next story…

Figuring to keep eggs in both baskets, Conde Nast is moving along with plans to create iPad native version of several of its popular titles including Wired, GQ, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and Glamour, according to the NYTimes. The publisher will sell editions and subscriptions through iTunes and encourage readers to register their personal info to better track consumer data.

And then I thought phew…they’re getting it. They’re being proactive, they’re taking charge. Way to go! Someone FINALLY has insight.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Wired, Vanity Fair to Debut iPad Apps in June (cultofmac.com)
• Publishers launch self-campaign to promote magazines (newstatesman.com)
• Top Condé Nast Magazines are Coming to iPad (mashable.com)
• Digital: Conde Nast’s GQ App Gets Foothold with Consumers – Advertising Age – MediaWorks (adage.com)
• GQ Creates a $2.99 iPhone App (blogs.wsj.com)