iPads, iPhones and the glut of various tablet devices currently hitting the market are changing the way many people look at publications. An increasing number of people are finding that using mobile devices to access a wide range of material (often while commuting) is more convenient than magazines, newspapers, and other traditional print media. The brilliant screen resolution has promised to make the iPad the new medium for reading magazines.
For some printers and publishers this previously inexperienced trend is a source of concern; even fear. But is this fear well founded? Was the initial buzz around the iPad and magazines just a fad? Is this a threat or opportunity to the print industry?
After all, there appears to have been a downward trend in iPad magazine subscriptions after the initial frenzy. When Wired launched their iPad magazine in June 2010, they sold more than 100,000 'copies'. But more recently it has been reported Wired's iPad mag only sold an average 31,000 copies per month in Q3/10. Falling further to 22,000 and 23,000 for October and November respectively. Vanity Fair fared no better and has seen declines in iPad sales from 10,500 in August, September, and October to 8,700 copies of its November issue. Glamour dropped around 20%, Men's Health has experienced a 28% drop and GQ has lost buyers. Fewer and fewer people appear to buying digital magazines for the iPad.
So is this a sign for the future? Does it mean printers and publishers need not worry? With the glut of tablets and smartphones expected on the market in the near future and the reducing entry cost, I am sure there is a long-term future for ePublishing. And for printers and publishers with vision, ePublishing should be seen as a way of complimenting their 'ink-on-paper' publishing - it's a chance to get ahead of competitors, to take advantage of lower distribution costs, increase reach and create new revenue streams.
As Charles Darwin said; "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most adaptable to change"
Simple Solutions
There are a variety of options for providing material so it can be viewed on the mobile devices flooding the market. The simplest approach is to make your pdf print material 'look like a magazine or book', and there are numerous cheap software applications that allow you to turn your pdf files into 'page flippers'. In fact most machines, whether they be iPads, iPhones or tablets have excellent support for viewing pdf files natively within their environments.
Here's a brief summary of PDF-related options:
1. Provide a link to a PDF document from an existing website. Most tablet devices have the ability to easily download and view PDF documents, so this is a simple approach, if people are already visiting your website.
2. Make your PDF downloadable from the Apple iTunes store as an "App". There are many options for converting a PDF document to a "page flipper" app, which can be listed on the iTunes store. While this may provide a level of marketing exposure, it is unclear how much benefit this provides as it may get lost among the 200,000 games and other apps in the iTunes Store.
To list applications on the iTunes store, it is necessary to open an account with Apple, which involves sending various paperwork and company details to Apple.
One downside, is that applications for iPad and iPhone devices will not run on non-Apple devices. This is a serious concern if one considers the number of vendors and projected growth for Android-based phones and tablets.
3. An alternative to creating Apps is to publish e-books. Apple provides guidance on how to do this. Their recommendations are that if text is going to be the star of your presentation use the ePub format, but if layout is important then use pdf files. Both of them can be published via the iTunes service as a digital eBook.
To list an eBook with iTunes, you need to open an account with Apple, and you need to get an ISBN number for your publication. This is not necessarily a simple process. The main benefit is that you will be listed as a book, rather than an App, and this may have credibility implications.
Limitations of Page Flippers Unfortunately, most readers are experienced with the internet, and are no longer satisfied with simple pages of text intermingled with pictures. They want sites that allow them to "do stuff". They want to watch videos, to search through content, to access related information, to "browse", to find out prices and to purchase things they like, and to follow their whim. They often aren't satisfied to just flip back and forth through pages.
To meet these expectations, a different approach is required. While there are several possibilities, the most flexible and cost effective approach is to convert your application to a "Web App". In simple terms, a Web App is website that can be distributed or accessed as if it were an application running on the mobile device.
Rather than being a simple "page flipper" for viewing a PDF document, a Web App has the ability to contain extra functionality. Such functionality can be related to improving the user's experience (for example including videos, menus, links an interactive features), or related to generating revenue from the document (targeted advertising, or the ability to make purchases directly from within the publication), or related to providing a useful service to the reader (calculators, access to data, Facebook connections, etc).
However, with the right development tool you can turn your publication into a great looking Web App with a level of quality consistent with your printed publication(including a choice of up to 3,500 fonts) - 're-purposing' your design and print effort to multiple electronic delivery platforms including the web, tablets and smart-phones utilising various operation systems (eg Apple iOS, Google Android, Windows Phone), and also from the Internet.
With a strategy that 'goes beyond page flipping' you can reap significant commercial benefits including increased revenue opportunities, for example: a. Regionalise advertising ie provide advertisements specific to the location the person is accessing the ePublication b. Introduce a "click through" payment system for advertisers. When a reader clicks to a specific advertiser's entry, you are able to charge for this (similar to Google Adwords) c. Place only a short version of your publication online to entice readers to: i. Subscribe to the printed version, or ii. By placing the publication behind a payment gateway, have readers purchase the current online publication or subscribe to future online versions.
Maintain quality 'look and feel' of your publication With the ever-increasing array of electronic tools on which people are accessing the web, it is important that quality publications be presented professionally. What may look great on a computer screen from a website will not translate to an easily viewed presentation on a smartphone or tablet.
Speed Matters And, it's not enough these days just to produce an App or a Web App that conforms to the design and marketing view of the magazine.
Users are becoming more and more demanding. Marissa Mayer, Google VP, has stated that their testing has shown a "half second delay [in page loading] caused a 20% drop off. Half a second delay killed user satisfaction".
Pages need to load quickly to give users that 'instant-on' experience. It is no use having the best looking magazine page which takes 2 minutes to load up - there won't be anyone there to read it. The recent load times of the 'The Daily' iPad app is a good example.
Use new media Today, publishers and printers have the option to go digital or 'ink on paper', but many are choosing a collaborative approach, still delivering traditional print, but complimenting it with high-quality digital editions.
With your on-line version of your publication, look to embed video and audio files on the repurposed website. This makes the media come to life and offers a rich multimedia experience, if the publisher wishes to do so. This gives the publisher the opportunity to grow revenue streams using advertisements embedded in the new media. Most importantly this new media should be delivered using technology that ensures compatibility with the wide variety of platforms such as Apple iOs which are unfriendly to flash, and non-Apple devices.
While the discussion for and for or against the benefits of ePublishing will no doubt go on for some time, there are a few facts that cannot be ignored:
• tablet devices are the hottest selling item in the electronics industry, and demand for compatible media will have similar exponential growth.
• for some types of media, the presentation of an iPad or other tablet device "touches" the reader in a way that a website or printed media never will.
• today, publishing in a tablet format is a sign that your business is forward thinking. In the near future, not publishing in a tablet format will indicate to your customers that you are behind the times.
ePublishing is here to stay. The only question is how it will fit with traditional media and how to maximize the benefits is can deliver.
