BoSacks Readers Speak Out: Wholesalers, Circ, Adobe, Playboy

BoSacks Readers Speak Out: Wholesalers, Circ, Adobe, Playboy
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Re: Wholesalers are not Dying, They are Committing Suicide . . . Take 3
Samir, Sorry cannot find the comment button at the bottom, so here goes. About a year ago I met, and spent the day with a retired Aramark General manager, who had 40 years in the industry. We spent the better part of the day together discussing the ills of wholesaler distribution.

His comment was right on the button, and a year later it still holds true. "The remaining large wholesalers are only looking to cut costs, they are not looking to increase sales"



As a 50+ year veteran of this industry he was(is0 so right. All we see is consolidation. Three of the big 4 don't want to let the ND reps work distributions, they just stifle growth. When they distribute a new title, many times the initial distribution is a disaster. Can you imagine putting an average of 18 copies per retailer in one particular agency, and two weeks later 50% of the allotment had been returned. This was that w/s own distribution.



The w/s have people making decisions who have sometimes less than two years experience in single copy sales, and have zero feel for the retailers who are receiving product. Over the past ten years have we seen any improvement with the overall sell thru? I don't think so, yet how many million(s) less copies are being distributed ion the newsstand.

(Submitted by a N/S Distributer)





RE: 7 Wonders of the Circulation World

#9 Why do people believe in rate base #'s they very well know include nearly as much chaff as wheat?

(Submitted by an Unknown)



RE: 7 Wonders of the Circulation World

Reminds me of the old adage from the 20th century regarding the three greatest myths of the time . . .



French resistance

Swiss neutrality

Qualified Circ



Plus, the answer to #8 is the internet . . . Why buy it when publishers give it away sooner via their web site

(Submitted by a Unknown)



RE: Saving the Magazine Business

Ink on paper - in all forms - will remain in peril as long as decisions are primarily driven by the quest to please the investment community first, the board room occupants second, the advertisers third and the customer a very, very distant last. I've long agreed with your mantra that content is KING. Unfortunately for our industry, the gang at the top is so intensely focused on profit that they've collectively lost sight of the foundation of their business - providing worthwhile content to their readers. People will still spend their hard earned money on worthwhile content and that will not likely change in the next 50 years - regardless of the medium.

(Submitted by a Paper Person)



Can't Blame Murdoch for Seizing on Media Shift

everyone thinks that murdoch is this conservative bastion but he's not. he finds niches and does things others won't. if nyc had 2 conservative papers, he would have had a liberal

paper. anyone who's seen what's on the fox network or on fx who is conservative would be shocked at some of the things there (on family guy there was a dance sequence of "prom date abortion babies" which even my son turned off)



one thing murdoch has is a real understanding of digital media, and he's not afraid to fail. he succeeds at driving the analysts and old guard crazy.



as for him buying the wsj, the dirty little secret is how good the online property is doing and how he will really globalize it and make it even more real-time. in 10 yrs the print

version may not exist anyway. he'll use it as a strong brand, and don't be shocked if he doesn't use it and the fox business channel, soon to start, to pry cnbc from ge or create a separate joint venture.



murdoch also knows he will die, something sumner redstone hasn't figured out yet, and his properties run independently with good management. he's been underestimated all his

career, and he's really good at playing along with the joke and counts on surprising everyone, which he will do, again.

(Submitted by an Industry Analyst)



Regarding "Playboy, Others Refuse to Learn from History" . . .



Al Ries's article on line extensions was very interesting. He says that line extensions are a trap that publishers should avoid. He criticizes Playboy for digitizing their archives, cautions the BBC that they might "rack up a big loss" pursuing online videos, and attributes the failure of Talk magazine to Tina Brown's interest in producing books and movies.



I believe that Ries is the fellow who predicted a few weeks ago that Apple's iPhone would fail miserably. Apple sold 270,000 phones in the first 30 hours after the product's introduction.



There's a difference between challenging conventional wisdom and being wrong consistently!
(Submitted by a Publisher)



RE: Playboy, Others Refuse to Learn From History
bob- the point is being missed here. it's apples and oranges. it's a great idea to digitize the playboy archives . . . it's a certain money majker, and what's the downside?

why is the writer lumping in everything else Hef has done? This should be standalone-
heck- I'd buy the 60's and 70's archives- the interviews alone are worth the bucks.
(Submitted by a Production Director)



RE: Wholesaler family since 1917.
Yikes a long time, but I have been on the other side for almost 57 years, and what changes. From 800 local distributors we now have less than 100 ownerships.

Anybody wonder why ? Maybe because those other 700 did not change with the times, and those that are left for the most part (not all) have not changed either. If they had we would not have had diminished n/s sales over the past 12 years, nor would we have lost about 100,000 retail outlets that used to sell periodicals.
(Submitted by an Unknown)


Re: Adobe Makes Decision, To Move Quickly to Resolve Printing Industry Concerns
Smart decision on the part of FedExKinko. The many thousands of smaller scale, working printers out there might have no acceptable alternative to doing business with Adobe but each and every one has the option of going with UPS instead of FedEx. The synergies of corporate marriage cut both ways.
(Submitted by a Printer)


Re: Adobe Makes Decision, To Move Quickly to Resolve Printing Industry Concerns
Bob, I think Adobe should leave the button, but give me the ability to program it to "print to the printer of my choice". I'll take the streamlined process workflow.

(Submitted by a Sr. Director of Production)