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Magazines and E-books: Together at Last?

Posted on Sunday, September 29, 2013 at 5:24 PM

In the news: Magazine publishers are diversifying their digital product lines and, in the process, making their mark in the e-book singles world.

Our leading news item this month comes from an unexpected place: HuffingtonPost.com's "Books" section. This month, three magazines (Discover, Fast Company, and Philadelphia Magazine) made their foray into e-book publishing with the release of e-book singles. These publications follow in the footsteps of The Atlantic, GQ, Publishers Weekly, and others that have published e-book singles in the past.

Thin Reads CEO and editor in chief Howard Polskin writes in his HuffingtonPost.com piece, "[These magazines'] collective action within the space of such a narrow time frame suggests that a shift may be occurring among magazine publishers who are awakening to the revenue-generating possibilities of e-book singles." E-book sales have been on a meteoric rise in recent years as tablets, e-readers, and smartphones have surged in popularity. Magazines may be able to woo an entirely new audience -- i.e., e-book readers -- by publishing pieces too long to run in a single issue in digital book format.

Read more of Polskin's round-up here.

Also Notable

New Digital Ad Metrics

Adobe and the Association of Magazine Media have made significant progress in their joint effort to boost digital magazine advertising. According to a recent AdWeek.com piece, "Following the MPA's announcement last spring that it was working with digital companies to develop tools to track digital magazine readership, Adobe has built that capability into its Digital Publishing Suite software, which is used by most of the major magazine publishers." The availability of credible digital readership statistics may inspire digital advertisers still on the fence to invest in digital magazines. Read more here.

Using Magazine Metrics

In a September 19 interview on Foliomag.com, Meg Estevez of NewBay Media spoke with Arti Patel about how to use metrics effectively and the data collection strategies that have worked best for her brand. Read the interview here.

Magazines vs. Rising Postal Rates

The financial picture for the US Postal Service has been bleak for quite some time. On September 25, the USPS asked to for a 4.3 percent rate to stay afloat after a year that has brought billions of dollars in losses. Top magazine industry representatives, including Mary Berner, CEO of the Association of Magazine Media (MPA), have vowed to fight this rate increase. Read more about the proposed rate hike and magazine industry response here.

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