“Do you believe in miracles?”
Those were the words uttered by TV sportscaster Al
Michaels in the waning seconds of the upset US hockey team's win over Russia -- for
the gold -- in 1980. They may also apply to what is about to take place at
Newsweek.
Newsweek, some 20 years ago, had 3.3 million weekly
readers. It was one of the big three news vehicles, competing with Time and US
News and World Report. Together, this trio represented some of the best
in-depth journalism of its day.
But times changed.
US News and World Report went digital-only several
years ago and has disappeared from its scale of relevance.
Newsweek, went digital-only over a year ago, went
through ownership changes, and now has announced it will resume weekly publication
next month.
What a reversal! Usually, once you go digital, you
don’t go back to print. Will this be a new trend? Could other digital sources
start to publish a print version? One would think a Gawker mag could compete with
People, US, and its printed ilk.
If I was Amazon, Google, or Facebook, I’d capitalize
on their brand and extend into creating a printed magazine.
Newsweek believes it can survive this time around.
It has new deals with its printer, it will raise its cover price, and it will
seek to separate itself with superior content. The ad market is improving and
the recession is over, so that should help.
Publishers continue to experiment, seeking to find
the right balance of cost and content for availability in all formats.
Newsweek’s return to print is a very encouraging step in the right direction.
DON’T MISS
THIS!!!
Here is
my 2014 Book Marketing & Publicity Toolkit: Based on 20+ years in
publishing --
Brian
Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and
not that of his employer, Media Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter.
You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed
in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2013
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