Magazine Industry Traitors!

What ever happened to the idea that a good captain always goes down with his ship? Or in this case, his magazine? The doom and gloom surrounding the magazine/print business is scaring very talented publishing professionals away from the industry altogether. They are, in droves, flocking to anything that has the word “digital” attached to it—it’s truly starting to feel like 1999’s dot-com migration, at least some level, all over again.

What about standing and fighting? I wonder if that thought has occurred at all, or if these individuals have become so disenchanted with the print business that they have just thrown up their hands.

I’ve personally had many conversations with other publishers about this subject and there is a very clear line of distinction between those who grew up in the traditional world of publishing who have not been able to embrace change, innovate or see their brands as more than a circulation driven ad-page model, and those who actually see this supposed “dark period” as pure opportunity for experimentation, building beyond ad pages and circulation and concentrating on all of the exciting opportunities and platforms for magazine brands in areas outside of the busted newsstand sales, subscriptions and ad page business models.

In my 11 years of publishing, I find this to be the most exciting, vibrant and interesting time I’ve experienced and looking at this time period as an incredible breeding ground for experimentation and innovation. I only see good things ahead for magazines and, more importantly, publishing companies that are willing to face the fact that this ain’t your mother’s or father’s publishing industry. So either get on board, or walk that plank!

[PHOTO: Disney]

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The Fader

By Andy Cohn -- Boasting an esteemed career in the music magazine industry, Andy Cohn joined the FADER staff in 2003 as Associate Publisher. Soon after he was promoted to publisher of The FADER and thefader.com and has since led the publication towards noted acclaim through a series of firsts in the industry.

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Progress, not doom and gloom

Submitted by johnee99 on Sat, 02/16/2008 - 23:47.

Perhaps you have confused "standing and fighting" with progress? As someone who has happily made this transition, I feel like I am delivering more value to the reader/visitor through our pureplay online model than trying to subsidize the decline of a print model with poorly executed web offerings. This post seems written under the dark cloud of the 2000 meltdown--save the finger wagging--PPP is not sustainable for many magazines in the face of efficient online content delivery. Unfortunately it is the pubs that face the long walk down the plank--especially under the thumb of all that private equity debt!

Digital is the wave of the future, print the ebb of the past

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 02/19/2008 - 12:54.

The print industry has done absoulutely nothing to retain talented writers. Newspapers fire reporters first and slash editorial budgets before making cuts in any other area. Magazines fire longtime staff writers and take on freelancers with no benefits. And the traditional print model is not green - killing millions of trees annually to print text and ads on and trucking them globally isn't helping with global warming. Face it, print is an industry that deserves to die.

Upside down thinking

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 02/19/2008 - 15:20.

What planet have you been living on? It's not talented journalists who are deserting the media ship -- it is media giants that are shedding experienced media people. Take, for instance, the industry giant Time Inc., which has slashed and burned staffs of the magazines (Time, Fortune, People, Sports Illustrated, the deceased Life, Teen People, etc.). Where was their loyalty to veterans? What were they doing to bring all of these talented journalists aboard the digital ship?? Nothing, absolutely nothing -- hiring ditzy airheads with little real journalism experience but "attitude" to parade on TV and spout their views on blogs. How in the world can you be overjoyed at this terrible turn of events?? Why would any young journalist in their right mind join these soul-less enterprises?? No more sucking up to the media pigs, please.

Face reality

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 02/19/2008 - 15:59.

I have to agree with the above posts . . . the problems with the industry are not being caused by the exodus of publishing talent, the problem is being caused by VC run media companies pushing out their talent. Ever try to hire a replacement at one of these companies? I know a publisher who has complained to me that she is not able to hire a new salesperson on their B2B magazine -- even though the book currently has zero fulltime reps on it now! Zero! As a result, she struggles to publish each issue and then has to explain to management why revenue is down.

Exactly My Point Johnee99

Submitted by Andy Cohn on Tue, 02/19/2008 - 16:27.

You are absolutely correct (for the most part). You just illustrated my point. Magazines WILL indeed, continue walking down the plank, in part, because people like yourself (talented publishing individuals) who understand the need for progress, innovation and ultimately pretty radical change are LEAVING. What's left are people at the helm who are too far leveraged into the world of publishing "as they've always known it' to adapt to this new field of play. However, this post was NOT just about web offerings rather ALL of the other platforms that a magazine brand can extend itself into, that is just one aspect and some ARE in fact poorly executed and some are not.

RE: upside down thinking

Submitted by Andy Cohn on Tue, 02/19/2008 - 21:20.

you are ABSOLUTELY correct, and to clarify, for the most part when i wrote what i did, i was mainly referencing those of us on the business side. To further your point, maybe if more skilled publishing side people stayed in traditional print, they'd figure out ways of growing revenue in order to properly compensate talent such as writers/photographers, who have every right to find top dollar such as they deserve, even if it IS elsewhere.

Don't let the door hit you.....

Submitted by Jonathan Micocci on Tue, 02/19/2008 - 21:55.

I appreciate Mr Cohn's comments. Though I'm a relative newcomer to magazine publishing (four years), I've come to regard 'publishing experience' as a potential liability. There is probably no other industry where apparent professionals compete to predict the death of their livelihood in ever more strident terms, like religious zealots, confusing vehemence with truth or originality. Please leave... Really. Now. There is job training out there and you are young enough to have another career where you can spread your light and joy. And you will be opening up an opportunity for some fool who doesn't know as much as you, and who actually believes in what they're doing.

Leaving print for digital smacks of 1999 all over again.

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