I can’t believe you’re even reading this! Don’t you know this is an online magazine. Nobody reads magazines anymore. That’s what the dying newspapers say, but apparently you didn’t read that.

Though newspapers are supposedly falling dead all around us – The Seattle Post-Intelligencer became the first major daily to cease publication and the San Francisco Chronicle faces major cutbacks and lay-offs – the actual fact is people are reading more than ever. They just aren’t doing it the same way they used to.

While newspaper readership has decreased by 5 percent in just the last six months, people are reading news more than ever. Every month one to two million people visit and read the Huffington Post website. A story written for the New York Times is now read by more people than ever before as it gets passed around by email and reposted on blogs and linked to on aggregator sites and written about in online magazines. Unfortunately, the New York Times isn’t being paid for all those readers. And there’s the problem.

Even as readership has increased, revenue has decreased. Now, the New York Times may be facing bankruptcy by the end of the year.

But, then, what will all those online sites link to and comment about?

The general wisdom suggests that magazines are facing the same bleak future. But, while nearly 524 magazines went out of business last year, 715 were started. That’s an increase of nearly 200 new magazines.

What do they know that we don’t?

They know that the demise of the printed word has been predicted before.

While the economic recession has dropped newsstand sales by over 20 percent in the last year and the first quarter of 2009 saw the first time more magazines folded than were created, these kinds of problems have been seen before. Though ad sales are down in even the biggest magazines (with VOGUE deservedly taking one of the biggest hits) and a number of publications have had to fold, niche publications are flourishing; people still need something to read on the plane or in the bathroom!

The so-called media experts have put forth a number of ways to save the printed word:

We could turn all magazines and newspapers into non-profits ala Mother Jones. The fact is Mother Jones’ model works. They’re still here while Playgirl Magazines isn’t. But, isn’t it a little bit sad (and I would hope, inaccurate) to suggest that a profit can’t be made.

The most popular idea to come out of pop business psychology is the idea of the long-tail of the market. With the expanded global market and the demands of that market, there are consumers for smaller and smaller segments and niches that once wouldn’t have found an audience. Gone are the days of a one-size fits all approach. Small, niche publications are continuing to make money, so why not just go smaller. Organic Weaving in Utah Magazine, anyone? I’m sure it’s an audience that isn’t being currently served. Of course, the downside of this is approach is, um, Organic Weaving in Utah Magazine.

Lots of people blame the internet for the fall of the printed word, but there’s no inherent reason the world wide web needs to mean the end of all other forms of reading. When it was started (or created, depending on your view of internet history) it didn’t have to provide content for free. That much of the content is free is largely a circumstance of deals made by AOL. Now, the internet mavens love phrases about free content for all people and the availability of information.

But, how much is that article that you’re reading for free worth to you? How much is this one worth? 10 cents? 50 cents? $1? Because the overhead costs that are inherent in magazine printing and newspaper publication are gone, there’s no reason people can’t pay exactly what the content is worth to them. A number of sites and people have put forth the idea of micro-financing. Spot.us got large grants to try just that. The overwhelming reason it hasn’t worked so far is because it doesn’t work, the technology isn’t quite there. Sure, you might be willing to pay $1 to read an article, but are you willing to spend five minutes creating a profile, signing in, verifying your credit card information? Most people would give up and that does no one any good.

The key to the future of the printed word is adjusting to this technology. iPhones and Crackberries are here to stay, so why not create a magazine application that works uniquely for these devices – there’s already applications for everything else. Why not create an application or widget so people don’t have to sign in just to pay 50 cents for an article, so it becomes automatic. The only problem is what exactly does that look like? What does that mean?

The fact is, though, what form the future of magazines take can’t be known yet, because the factors that determine the future have not even all settled into place. Things like Slate.com and Salon.com are thriving, but they still don’t rival what old newsstand sales used to be. Magazines are changing right now and old guards are falling, while new publications are popping up ready to take their place.

>Written by d/visible contributor Kelly Dunleavy.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 1:46 pm and is filed under Culture, Advertising. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.