• Explore Georgia - Online Travel Guide
  Example of Visitor Guide embedded on website
  (tags: framing)

"The future of marketing is not about tempting them or conning them into buying more; it’s about communicating a message that says, "Regardless of whether you buy from me or not, you need this information. Enjoy!" Smart marketers are doing this today via every medium imaginable, including direct mail."

Thanks, Joe.

How do you do this with a digital magazine? Easy… Turn on the Nxt Pass with Nxtbook. You take your protected magazine and let people in for certain pages or on certain days - either of which will lead to certain revenue.
 

If you brag about yourself in print, you can do it to one person at a time. If you find yourself in a digital magazine, you can tell the whole world all at once. Like these people.

"No new web content meant no new web visitors and no new ad dollars. The dialog shifted to developing unique content for the magazine’s website and how to monetize it.

That was ten years ago. Why are so many publishers having the same discussion right now about digital magazines?   

I’ve heard it all over the industry, "We tried publishing a digital magazine, nothing happened." But remember the earlier lesson of the web: No new content equals incremental new readership and incremental new revenue."

Via Josh.
 

As advertised last week, Nxtbook customer Jim Daly from Edutopia provided viewers with a great webcast. "From Paper to Pixels" gave attendees a bird’s eye view of Edutopia’s strategy and included great insight into how the print, website and digital edition play off each other. If you missed it, be sure to view the archived webinar here.

Michael and I had the great pleasure of attending the Neal Awards last week. We believe in supporting great editorial because good content is today’s traffic magnet. You can view all of the winners here, and Jeremy Greenfield’s take on the action here. Nxtbook customers walking away with hardware included Advanstar, Vance, Crain, McGraw-Hill, Nielsen Business Media & Reed Business Information. Congrats. to all!

At Nxtbook, we’ve always been big fans of Edutopia. Then again, who can’t be? You take a great topic (public education), finance the project by one of the most brilliant minds in the world (George Lucas) - what’s not to love?

This Thursday, during a webinar produced by MediaBistro, Edutopia’s Editor, James Daly, will be presenting the print to digital transition as seen through the eyes of Edutopia. While Nxtbook figures into that transition partially, we expect Daly to address the issues more holistically, looking at all the ways your brand needs to evolve online. In short, digital editions are just one of the arrows in your quiver in the battle for attention; we expect James to discuss the war.

Expect this one to be a winner. Registration is free at this link. 

• Project Analog - March 2008
  Great example of a digital-only publication.
  (tags: digital-only-magazine)
• Linked Summer 2007
  Digital only pub. w/ live RSS feeds
  (tags: digital-only-magazine)

I was talking to Jeff Martin today (yes, I know we have two Jeff Martin’s - plug in whichever one you prefer for the purposes of allegory) about market research.

For the past several years, we’ve seen market research studies published which largely ask readers how they "feel" about digital magazines. They also ask readers their opinion of how they interact with digital magazines. Heck, we’ve even published one. Jeff reminded me that the reasons these studies exist is because the answers are being compared to those readers previously gave about print, a product largely impossible to quantify in terms of market research.

Since comparison is a close cousin to benchmarking, I get this. At the same time, by asking readers how they think they feel about digital magazines, we’re kind of missing the point that we have all the data at our fingertips to tell publishers how they’re really behaving.

For example, in Zinio’s most recent study, readers are asked how much time they think they spend inside a digital edition. The reality is that - at least in the case of Nxtbook - we know the answer. The real answer. The honest-to-goodness truth. And while the truth hurts, it also will set you free. Or so they say.

It’s one of the things we need to figure out about digital magazines. Do publishers want surveys where we compare how readers think they behave, ala Readex and interviews, or do they want the real numbers, with the real engagement times and click-through rates, which are generally way better than what they experience on their websites. After all, when was the last time Google analytics asked you how much time you thought you spent on a website? And even if they did, would you be able to tell the truth?

From the virtual world to the real world. I was thrilled to meet up with ace media salesman and blogger Josh Gordon. Totally unexpected and unplanned to bump into someone whom you love to read. Very cool.

From the virtual world to the real world, Part II. I’m talking to a nice woman and can’t figure out where I know her from. And then it hits me: I’m a big fan of the magazine she’s the editor of. Very cool to meet Ginger from 1to1. 

Hey, I read you, too. Got to trade cards with John Parsons, another man with wicked edit skills. 

And finally, the man-your-arms-must-be-tired award. During Pub Expo, we also had another team down in the Big Easy, sponsoring the Custom Publishing Council’s first show. That show was launched with the help of Joe Pulizzi, the wiz behind the curtain at Junta42. So I was shocked to see Junta Joe bounding up to our booth in NYC just as we were ready to go home on Tuesday. This guy did the CPC on Sunday and Monday and flew up to speak at Pub Exec on Tuesday. Now that, my friends, is a hustler.*

*Before I forget, Jeremy Greenfield posted his review of the CPC show. Aside from the fact that Jeremy makes no mention of sponsors, it’s a good review.