Pub Talk
By Rob Yoegel
About Rob
Rob Yoegel takes an active role in North American Publishing Company's online efforts including content, sales, marketing, usability, functionality and vendor relations as Vice President, e-Media. Rob works directly with publishers and editors in developing a consistent strategy from print to online.
A former journalist, Rob has been involved in Internet strategies since 1996 serving as an associate editor of Target Marketing magazine, where he regularly contributed articles related to the Internet, including e-commerce, Web site design/development, e-mail, fulfillment, customer service and marketing integration. He also spent one year as publisher of PhillyTech Magazine, a regional technology magazine published by Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. E-mail him at ryoegel@napco.com or call (215) 238-5344.
Media Vent
On the 'Power of Print' Campaign
Mar 5, 2010The campaign claims to target advertisers, shareholders and industry influencers. Well listen up, my friends, because you just insulted them...
Why Print Really Could Die
The more I sit in on our annual publication meetings that involve most of our publishing teams, the more worried I’m getting. As citizen journalists/bloggers tout that they can get their content to more people and faster, traditional media counters with their accuracy, integrity and proper grammar. But what are we doing about the time it takes to publish in print today?
Editorial Calendars
It’s alarming to me that editorial calendars are still a significant part of a trade magazine’s plans. Yes, I know advertising reps need to be able to go on calls and point out certain issues that will cover topics of interest to a potential advertiser, but I’m perplexed as to why the goal wouldn’t be to get that advertiser into each and every issue?
Today is July 13, 2007. An editor-in-chief is busy crafting an editorial calendar to impress a publisher that details stories and special sections up to 16 months away (of course, he could be blogging instead)! Technology has brought on rapid changes that are not affecting just certain markets. I propose the end of a 12-month editorial calendar and recommend that editorial calendars be scrapped altogether, be done seasonally, or — at most — six months in advance.
Circulation Audits
Ripe for my next criticism are circulation audits. I’m only familiar with BPA and admitedly what I know is based only on what I’m told by collegues or read and hear about. That said, I’m still unaware of any initiative to help print publishers obtain and “qualify” a subscriber within one week or, better yet, days of someone saying, “Yes, I want your magazine!”
One publisher recently rolled her eyes during a meeting when a similar topic was discussed saying, “We all know how long it takes,” referring to BPA audit periods. It’s nuts that trade magazines that apparently rely so heavily on an audit to sell advertising deal with folks like BPA that make it expensive, difficult or impossible to be more productive and likely more successful.
Production & Printing
Monthly print production and ad closing schedules remain absurd. Let’s take, for example an October issue of your magazine. How is a deadline to know all of the advertising and editorial that will be included six weeks in advance acceptable? Paper layouts and impositions should not be used, art directors should not need a week to lay out a magazine, and magazine printers that are consolidating and going out of business must work harder to get issues to the postal service.
And how could I finish without mentioning the USPS, which more and more seems to me that it doesn’t want business. When my son or daughter ask me why it costs the same to mail a birthday invitation to the kid down the street as it does to send a letter to Uncle Howie in California, I change the subject to the “birds and the bees.” At least I understand that better.
Companies Mentioned:
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Yeah I agree that 6 weeks is an awfully long lead time for closing an issue.
The impacts advertisers too. If we want to change an ad to reflect some new creative or idea or whatever, we get killed by the long lead time. However the long lead time does let us plan our ads and our promotion. Definitely some trade offs.
Hey Dave, thanks for reading and posting. I don't think print will disappear either! I just think that print publishing needs to adjust better and quicker. Adjusting doesn't meet just launching Web sites, e-newsletters, Web 2.0, etc. It means examining content, and how long it takes to get things done to publish a magazine.
Rob, you ignorant sl...I mean blogger.
Print is not going to disappear just like the computer was not going to eliminate paper.
However, I can understand why you might think that the editorial calendar is outdated in today's world. I believe it serves a purpose, however quaint it may seem.
To the advertiser (read: me) the editorial calendar helps plan out advertising spend. I want to know when the vendor directory is going to be published and I want it to be in a form that will persist longer than a blog entry.
As far as BPA Audits, I am firmly in your corner on how time consuming they are, but they do serve a purpose that has not been obviated (yet). Advertisers (read: me) need to understand the magazine's audience and until publishers realize and implement more advanced audience management tools, the 2 dimensional BPA report will reign.