Content Wise

Notable Links: July 10, 2009

• NYTimes.com: European Publishers Call on E.U. to Protect Copyright - They want better control of—and the chance to generate online revenue from—search engines’ and aggregators’ use of their content.

• Poynter.org: YouTube Launches Reporters' Center to Foster Citizen Journalism - and to facilitate collaboration between citizen video journalists and mainstream news organizations.

• MediaPost.com: Mag Bag: 279 Mags Fold In First Half of '09

• Manolith.com: The Story (so far) of Twitter - An illustrated history of Twitter; it stops short of the recent Iranian demonstrations, but captures other milestones.

Twitter as Publishing: Tim O'Reilly's Take

Tim O'Reilly runs a successful and innovative company that covers technology through many platforms: books in print, books online, Web sites, Webcasts, and real-world conferences. He also thinks of Twitter as a form of publishing, but not in the way that most conventional publishers might.

Rather than spewing headlines or self-promoting, O'Reilly suggests that publishers use Twitter and other social media for "curating and amplifying" the voices of the communities that they serve.

Sure, it's about aggregating and distributing content, but according to O'Reilly the driving motivation should be, as they like to say around his company, to "create more value than you capture." O'Reilly outlined his philosophy—or is it a clever business strategy?—at the recent 140 Characters Conference.

Here's the video of his 15-minute talk. (You might want to duck out for a cup of coffee during the 1 minute and 50 seconds of intro.) The O'Reilly Radar blog also has a written transcript.

Stanford Writers Workshop for Book Authors and Magazine Journalists

Magazine writers and book authors: Wouldn't you like to spend two days this summer honing your craft, learning some business tips, and getting smart about digital tools that can help you become more visible online? How about hanging out on a gorgeous university campus here in Northern California?

If that sounds tempting, please join me at the very first Writers Workshop presented by the Stanford Publishing Courses. I'll be teaching some of the magazine writing and new media sessions, and the book sections will be led by two real stars in the field. Alan Rinzler, executive editor at Jossey-Bass, the West coast imprint of John Wiley & Sons, will be covering books for adults, both non-fiction and fiction. Deborah Brodie, who spent 22 years at Viking and cofounded Roaring Brook Press, will spearhead the program on books for children and young adults.

Alan, Deborah, and I will be joined by an impressive roster of additional speakers and panelists--accomplished authors, editors, publishers, and agents. We will cover everything from pitching to writing to video to blogging and, yes, Twittering.

• Friday & Saturday, July 31 & August 1, 2009, at Stanford University
• See the full schedule of sessions.
• Read about the workshop leaders and speakers.
• Visit the workshop's social network.
• Register here.

See you on campus?

Notable Links: June 12, 2009

• NYTimes.com: Magazine Researchers Explore New Ways to Weigh Ad Impact - Much needed--but only incremental--improvements. It's still a black art.

• WSJ.com:True/Slant Tests Another Model Of Web Journalism - Journalists paid to act like publishers? Advertisers creating content? Hard times breed novel schemes at this online news site.

• MediaPost.com: Digital Newspapers Increase Reach, Politico, 'USA Today' - Politico joins QuadrantOne newspaper ad network, which now has 45 million unique users. USA Today readies paid e-edition for August 3 debut.

Social Media & Site Redesign: Get Your MagsU Slides Here

I had a great time chewing over various aspects of Web publishing with all the smart, friendly folks at the MagsU magazine conference in Toronto on Monday. Thanks to everyone who took part in the sessions.

As promised, I've posted download-able copies of my presentations, "Tapping the Power of Social Media" and "10 Steps to a Successful Web Site Redesign." Help yourself.

And if any of those tips lead you in interesting directions, please jot down a comment here so we can all keep learning from each other.

Magazine for Newspapers Quits Print;One on Luxury Guitars Starts Up

Presstime, the magazine of the Newspaper Association of America, has just published its last issue in print. Beginning in June, Presstime will cover its industry—including the painfully relevant story of how hard it is for publications to survive as hard-copy products—in a digital format only, on the association's Web site. The New York Times has details.

While the perceived value of newspapers continues to swoon, the magazine company Future US believes there's a substantial pool of potential readers out there who value pricey guitars—and cars, watches, wine, and "the deluxe life," in general. The company has just launched Guitar Aficionado.

This looks like a smart business move. Coverage of celebrities, investments, high-end lifestyle, and big-ticket travel is probably a magnet for advertising.

We take any launch these days as a hopeful sign. And we wish Guitar Aficionado well. Still, we can't help wishing there were room in this economy not only for a magazine that serves up guitar porn and luxury but also for one that serves the people who put out the nation's newspapers.

What do you think?

Portfolio Magazine: R.I.P.

Just catching up on a little Grim Reaper bookkeeping... We hereby add Condé Nast's Portfolio to our list of deceased magazines.

The closing of the two-year-old business glossy and its Web site was announced late last month. Portfolio was the victim of the same severe advertising downturn that has been threatening the entire industry—as well as, perhaps, a touch of mega-media-company hubris. David Carr of the New York Times reported:

Most of the $100 million pledged toward the start-up is gone, sunk into the very expensive printing, paper, marketing and editorial costs that go with creating a magazine, especially one published by Condé Nast.

Carr also noted that Portfolio apparently kept to its extravagant ways until near the very end. To dress up a November 2008 story about JP Morgan Chase entitled "The $58 Trillion Elephant in the Room," the magazine hired a real elephant for the photo shoot. Cost: $30,000.

Jon Fine at BusinessWeek.com posted a thoughtful postmortem.

Mags University Discount Deadline: May 1

Our friends who run MagsU, one of the best magazine conferences in Canada, are offering some tempting discounts for folks who register by May 1—anywhere from 20 to 50 percent off. At those rates, magazine publishers might actually be able to send some people to the conference.

I hope so, because I (Michael) will be making two presentations there on June 1, both in the digital realm:

• Nine Steps to a Successful Website Redesign. Believe it or not, site redesigns don't have to be interminable, gut-wrenching ordeals that fail to deliver noticeable improvements. But they do need to be carefully planned. This is not about visual design. It's about how the right processes and, dare I say, political awareness can lead to a bang-up new site with less stress.
• Tapping the Power of Social Media. If your confused about crowd-sourcing, fuzzy on Facebook, and wondering what widgets have to with magazines, come to Toronto and we'll do some de-mystifying. I'll show examples, demonstrate a few tools, and recommend strategies to consider in this realm of "social publishing."

For more info, see the conference's full line-up of sessions.

Stanford Publishing Course: Two Days Left for Discount

Heads up: Wednesday is the last day to get a 10 percent early-bird discount on tuition to this summer's Stanford Professional Publishing Course.

We enjoy teaching at this intensive program every year--the sessions, the faculty, and the participants are always enlightening and often inspiring. Being on the stunning, sun-washed Stanford campus for a week isn't bad, either.

This year, appropriately, the course is emphasizing the re-invention of media in a digital world. We hope you can join us.

• Main Course: July 11-17, 2009
• Pre-Course for Internationals: July 9-11, 2009
• See the list of speakers
• See the session topics

Dead Magazine List: Blender Starts Us Off

Maybe it's a little morbid, but we think it would be useful to start tracking all the magazine closings during this difficult year. So we're adding a new category for this blog: Dead Magazines.

First up: Blender, which has been covering music and entertainment with a "laddie" sensibility since 2001. Alpha Media group, just announced that the magazine's April issue will be its last.

As publishers always say at this point, the brand will continue online at Blender.com.

When we get a minute, we're going to set up a stand-alone page where we'll gather all notices of 2009 magazine closings into a centralized inventory, the Dead Magazine List.

We could use your help. If you hear of a new closing, want to remind us about a magazine that ceased publication earlier this year, or have some thoughts about what's going on, please add a comment here or e-mail us.