BoSacks Speaks Out:

BoSacks Speaks Out: Here is an interesting quote from the MPA Conference and the article below, "Six percent of their (the consumer's) weekly media consumption is spent on print and 22 percent in the digital space, and growing. This is a revolution." Yep. I would kinda like to see the data, but I will buy into the concept of the program. Everyone is fighting for time. Your time, my time and our own personal time.

What do we really do with our personal time? I just spent 9 hours on a plane in four days. Two hours were spent on my laptop writing my next article for Publishing Executive Magazine, perhaps an hour or so reading various excellent magazines pilfered from a generous display at the conference, and the rest relaxation reading of a novel and a half. Those novels were read e-Book style on a Palm.

Now I wonder what happens when the airlines smarten up and bring broadband to 40,000 feet. Which of the three things will I drift away from? I'll tell you this it wouldn't be the magazine time. No really, even I recognize that sometimes I have to"put down that damn mouse and back away from the keyboard".

But with my own very rough calculations my stats might be parallel to Ms. Millard's quote and that is the next big issue. Time. Where and how will the public spend their media time. Printed magazines and books aren't going to go away, but the digital path does have some sexy additions. While reading my e-book the author happened to have quite an extensive vocabulary. I will admit in public there were several words that were new to me. All I had to do was highlight the word and the dictionary popped up and gave me everything and more that I needed to know to understand the author's meaning and intent.

So the future of print media is grappling for attention with an increasing number of siblings. Mom and pop are not going to throw any of the kids out of the house, but some children do get more attention than some others.

BoSacks-

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"Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers."
Socrates (Ancient Greek Philosopher, 470 BC-399 BC)



AMC: Publishers Urged to Up Branding Efforts
By Lucia Moses
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003664991
Publishers have done much to transform their magazines into brands that live online and on other platforms, and this year's Magazine Publishers of America's American Magazine Conference now underway in Boca Raton, Fla., showcased example after example that progress.

But leading publishing executives speaking at the conference warned that now is no time to be complacent.

"The consumer is way ahead of us," said Wenda Harris Millard, a digital and print publishing vet who joined Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia in June as president, Media, from Yahoo. "Six percent of their weekly media consumption is spent on print and 22 percent in the digital space, and growing. This is a revolution."

Millard, speaking on a panel, said publishers also need to do more to encourage to participation by visitors, while noting that magazines have the advantage of having strong, well-known brands in a time of excess choice. "Brands have never had a better opportunity, because the consumer needs an editor," she said.

Jonas Bonnier, chairman of Bonnier Corp., who joined her on the panel, agreed that magazines took too long to respond to the Internet. At the same time, he maintained that the medium has a leg up over others in its ability to adapt to the digital world.

"We know how to build brands in ways other media don't," said Bonnier, whose company publishes mainly enthusiast publications like Skiing and Yachting.

On separate panel, editors shared the good and bad of being stewards of their ever-expanding print brands. On the one hand, they're enthusiastic about the chance to try out new initiatives and connect with readers in new ways. At the same time, they acknowledged the challenges of overseeing multiple brand extensions with limited staff.

"You really do have to have a cohesiveness and unity of voice across all these platforms," said Shoshana Berger, editor in chief of Meredith Corp.'s ReadyMade, a shelter magazine that also lives online, in books and in events, among other areas.

Stephen Adler, editor in chief, McGraw-Hill Cos.' BusinessWeek, admitted that the ability to break news online comes at a cost.

"I do find quality control of stories that go online is a real challenge," he said.

The conference concludes Oct. 30.