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Search results for "Robert M. Sacks"
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Found 35 item(s). Displaying 1-15
The Lure of the iPad
May 2010 From Publishing Executive
Here is an interesting observation and a modern-age publishing dilemma. Due to print publishing's vagaries and analog necessities, this article was due to my editor four to five weeks before it would be released in Publishing Executive's print and electronic editions. I was asked to write about what publishers should be considering regarding the iPad. Basically the questions are: Where do we go from here? Should publishers be developing apps or wait till the e-smoke clears?
May 2010 From Publishing Executive
Here is an interesting observation and a modern-age publishing dilemma. Due to print publishing's vagaries and analog necessities, this article was due to my editor four to five weeks before it would be released in Publishing Executive's print and electronic editions. I was asked to write about what publishers should be considering regarding the iPad. Basically the questions are: Where do we go from here? Should publishers be developing apps or wait till the e-smoke clears?
March 2010 From Publishing Executive
This month I want to shine the light on an issue that I think warrants discussion by our industry. For lack of a better term, I have been calling it PIP—that is, paranoia in publishing. Here is the core of the issue: We believe that publishing will survive and be quite lucrative for many of the industry's smartest folks, but we can't quite figure out whether we will be part of that group—or part of that survival. And that is the terrible sadness of it.
February 2010 From Publishing Executive
Rance Crain, president of Crain Communications, made an interesting point last month. In a Jan. 4 Advertising Age column, he wrote, "Consumers are getting used to saving again, and they won't part with their money unless they're given pretty good reasons." So where does that leave the magazine business?
December 2009 From Publishing Executive
Over the past 15 years or so, I have become a genius. I know that sounds brash, but the thing is, so have you. In fact, everyone's a genius these days. It is no longer important to just know facts; it is more important to be able to find facts. That is a definite sea change for society and especially for the information distribution business formally known as publishing.
October 2009 From Publishing Executive
I have been talking for years about a possible new business model for publishers that I have termed, for lack of a better title, consortium publishing. The idea works like a cable TV plan—with tiered subscriptions starting with a flat price for a basic service and working up to a platinum package containing any and all available content.
September 2009 From Publishing Executive
A few weeks ago, I was reminded of Bob Garfield's 5-year-old book, "The Chaos Scenario," in which he explained that various converging forces will doom mass media and mass marketing. Garfield argued that the style of old media will continue to be under stress and that this stress will change what we, as producers and users, have grown accustomed to expect from our media.
What's the Formula for Our Future Business Plans?
August 2009 From Publishing Executive
I get the very strong impression that we are on the cusp of the next phase of information distribution. Kindle sales are booming, and there is competition aplenty for the black-and-white Amazon e-reader. Several new machines that cost at least $50 less than the Kindle now are on the market, with more seemingly on the way each week. In cooperation with Google, Sony is making available 500,000 free e-books for e-readers. It is important to note that Kindle sales figures are believed to have grown faster than iPod sales in the same time frame. That is very impressive. Most book publishers are adjusting and adapting to this new platform in one way or another at a rapid pace.
August 2009 From Publishing Executive
I get the very strong impression that we are on the cusp of the next phase of information distribution. Kindle sales are booming, and there is competition aplenty for the black-and-white Amazon e-reader. Several new machines that cost at least $50 less than the Kindle now are on the market, with more seemingly on the way each week. In cooperation with Google, Sony is making available 500,000 free e-books for e-readers. It is important to note that Kindle sales figures are believed to have grown faster than iPod sales in the same time frame. That is very impressive. Most book publishers are adjusting and adapting to this new platform in one way or another at a rapid pace.
Why Do We Read Magazines?
June 2009 From Publishing Executive
Why do we read magazines? What is behind the allure of buying, owning and reading magazines? There are, of course, many answers to this question. But if we are truly honest with ourselves, we might be able to turn the tide of our businesses or, at the very least, start a process of self-analysis that leads eventually to psychological and financial recoveries.
June 2009 From Publishing Executive
Why do we read magazines? What is behind the allure of buying, owning and reading magazines? There are, of course, many answers to this question. But if we are truly honest with ourselves, we might be able to turn the tide of our businesses or, at the very least, start a process of self-analysis that leads eventually to psychological and financial recoveries.
Time to Go Hunting
May 2009 From Publishing Executive
This month I am going hunting. My intended prey are several publishing myths that seem to predominate the psyche of old media.
May 2009 From Publishing Executive
This month I am going hunting. My intended prey are several publishing myths that seem to predominate the psyche of old media.
Publishing Visioneers—Got Any?
April 2009 From Publishing Executive
As I crisscross the country in these difficult times delivering lectures on the future of publishing, I not only talk, but I listen very carefully. I listen to the fears, the bravado, the good ideas and the ever-so-slightly out-of-kilter unusuals. These would be creative members of our publishing brotherhood who have ideas from the fringe, new concepts for old business models.
April 2009 From Publishing Executive
As I crisscross the country in these difficult times delivering lectures on the future of publishing, I not only talk, but I listen very carefully. I listen to the fears, the bravado, the good ideas and the ever-so-slightly out-of-kilter unusuals. These would be creative members of our publishing brotherhood who have ideas from the fringe, new concepts for old business models.
Your Benchmarks for Survival
March 2009 From Publishing Executive
Clearly we are in a moment in history that I expect we all wish we were looking back on rather than living through. The Great Depression, which our grandfathers and great-grandfathers lived through, was not an easy time for anyone. But unlike the Great Depression, today the publishing community has been hit with a triple whammy in that we were already under attack by technology demons before the economic foundation of our advertising base was pulled out from under us, and at the same time, we were placed under an ecologic microscope. Technology, economics and ecology would be hard to fight individually, but en masse it will take great stewardship to survive the treacherous terrain.
March 2009 From Publishing Executive
Clearly we are in a moment in history that I expect we all wish we were looking back on rather than living through. The Great Depression, which our grandfathers and great-grandfathers lived through, was not an easy time for anyone. But unlike the Great Depression, today the publishing community has been hit with a triple whammy in that we were already under attack by technology demons before the economic foundation of our advertising base was pulled out from under us, and at the same time, we were placed under an ecologic microscope. Technology, economics and ecology would be hard to fight individually, but en masse it will take great stewardship to survive the treacherous terrain.
Darwin's Laws of Publishing
February 2009 From Publishing Executive
Most people in publishing don’t know that Charles Darwin had a few comments on our industry. My favorite: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”
February 2009 From Publishing Executive
Most people in publishing don’t know that Charles Darwin had a few comments on our industry. My favorite: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”
Will You Survive Publishing's Perfect Storm?
November 2008 From Publishing Executive
Let’s face it, traditional publishing is under serious attack. We are facing both the customary enemy of rising manufacturing costs and the nontraditional entry of strong digital competition where once none existed. And if that wasn’t enough, we have the increasingly evident disadvantage of a terrible carbon footprint. This is a perfect storm of tremendous proportions. What are publishers to do? How can we survive?
November 2008 From Publishing Executive
Let’s face it, traditional publishing is under serious attack. We are facing both the customary enemy of rising manufacturing costs and the nontraditional entry of strong digital competition where once none existed. And if that wasn’t enough, we have the increasingly evident disadvantage of a terrible carbon footprint. This is a perfect storm of tremendous proportions. What are publishers to do? How can we survive?
What's a Pound of Flesh Worth These Days, Anyway?
September 2008 From Publishing Executive
What's a pound of flesh worth? What's a fair wage? Is your day's labor in the publishing salt mines worth what you earn?
Here is another question, which seems particularly relevant and timely in light of recent reports showing that some executives at magazine industry associations earn annual salaries of $400,000 to $740,000: Do they think that - at a time when the industry is as challenged as ever-they have earned that pay in the same salt mines for a job well done?
September 2008 From Publishing Executive
What's a pound of flesh worth? What's a fair wage? Is your day's labor in the publishing salt mines worth what you earn?
Here is another question, which seems particularly relevant and timely in light of recent reports showing that some executives at magazine industry associations earn annual salaries of $400,000 to $740,000: Do they think that - at a time when the industry is as challenged as ever-they have earned that pay in the same salt mines for a job well done?
Discovering Profit in Sustainability
August 2008 From Publishing Executive
Does the current magazine business model have anything to do with sustainability? Not the ability to sustain ourselves as a business, but rather the new-age definition of environmental sustainability as defined by Wal-Mart. You remember Wal-Mart—the conglomerate that distributes nearly 25 percent of all newsstand titles? Oh, yes, you remember Wal-Mart—the mega-discount retailer that recently cut 1,000 magazine titles from its roster. But did you ever wonder why it did that? As I found on the Wal-Mart Web site, “through sustainability, Wal-Mart has saved billions of dollars in costs and has begun to drive profitable product innovation. Our goal: Offer our customers an increasing
August 2008 From Publishing Executive
Does the current magazine business model have anything to do with sustainability? Not the ability to sustain ourselves as a business, but rather the new-age definition of environmental sustainability as defined by Wal-Mart. You remember Wal-Mart—the conglomerate that distributes nearly 25 percent of all newsstand titles? Oh, yes, you remember Wal-Mart—the mega-discount retailer that recently cut 1,000 magazine titles from its roster. But did you ever wonder why it did that? As I found on the Wal-Mart Web site, “through sustainability, Wal-Mart has saved billions of dollars in costs and has begun to drive profitable product innovation. Our goal: Offer our customers an increasing
