“Content is king,” I wrote in this morning’s JLP newsletter (click here to subscribe). Though there is an easy joke to make about who in their right mind wants to be king in the wasteland of our current publishing crisis, I do truly believe that original content is the only ladder tall enough for any magazine to climb out of this financial blackhole and fundamentally transform their product.
It should go without saying that in the digital era of $0.00 (or at least very low) distribution costs, magazines can not solely be a vessel for advertising, eg. subscriptions once again have to pay the bills (or at least a real share). The only eyeballs you’ll get moving forward are those who find something meaningful and original in your pages, or something sordid and time-wasting (Perez), and so the bloodletting within the halls of the editorial offices has got to stop if the magazine will survive.
In this vacuum of thinner and thinner titles eventually a major magazine (and then many) is going to cut their losses (only cutting down trees for special occasions) and move to online-only, and begin to stuff each issue with unique content. Doing so might then cut short the portals and meta-filters (as the real content gets put behind a pay wall). Instead of opining about the news or its’ spin, we’ll have people reporting on issues again. And if you believe in media you’ve got to believe that if someone creates important content there will be millions of subscribers willing to consume it. If people are not hungry for news anymore than the publishing industry is already finished… we only need sudoku puzzle books from here on out.
A lot of people are tracking Kindle and e-book technology, and have been frothing at the mouth at the still unknown potential of an Apple iTablet. But it seems obvious that a new portable, wireless, full-color and video capable platform/device has got to be part of the new media paradigm. If so, then the real question is how long can publishing wait until they’ve burned through every bit of capital left (surely the ego-driven old school publishers are losing their nerve by now)? Will we save ourselves in time enough to make good on the elephant-sized paradox of modern publishing… magazines are dying inversely proportionate to the world becoming more connected and media-hungry every day ever more than ever before in history.
That’s what it looks like from here… I’m sure I’m getting part (or most) of it wrong, but I still have some faith left. And I’m really excited about the possibility that out of this insanity their may even be born a sort of rebirth of journalism and original story telling. JLP HQ will be here ready and waiting to dig in and make a contribution to restoring content back to its rightful place.