That’s One Small Tweet for Man….

So we’ve set up a Nxtbook Twitter account. To be clear, we’re not really sure where it fits into the mix. After all, you can follow our CEO, one of our Sales Directors, our Reality Facilitator, our Intrigue Developer, a handful of our developers or even my own personal Twitter account. (Plus, several others I left off this post.) How much Tweeting from us do you really need?

But we’re hoping to use Corp account @Nxtbook as a focused way to let you know of cool samples, company news, etc. If you really care about digital publishing, but aren’t concerned with Eric and I talking trash about a recent 5k, this might help you keep out the noise.  On the other hand, if you like seeing "the human side of Nxtbook," feel free to keep following us that way… We’re pretty passionate about the work, so the best Nxtbook news will show up on most of our personal accounts, but following the corporate one is just a way to make sure you don’t miss anything that could make your digital magazine more successful.

Our Outside Salespeople Rock…

 

While it’s true that our salespeople know a LOT about digital publishing, here’s the thing: they’re really nice guys! In fact, the three we have who work outside of the Nxtbook office all went together and paid to send the MaggieMoo’s wagon to our office today to say thank you to all of us at the ranch. One chocolate ice cream mixed with raspberry sorbet and topped with Oreo’s later and there’s nothing left to do but thank them for all they do. Thank you! If you work with John, Chris or Wayne - be sure to ask them what it takes for them to send a dip your way!

A Holiday Greeting Like No Other…

What do you get when you have computer programmers composing Christmas carols surrounded by dozens of digital magazine makers dressed in elf suits? Why, you get the 2008 Nxtbook Media Holiday Card. Turn up the speakers and enjoy!

Today’s PSA about Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer is widely known to have many issues.  The one that we at Nxtbook Media usually talk about the most is the fact that it tends to corrupt Flash Player, requiring the user to re-install Flash Player.  Because of these issues, we always recommend that people use any other browser besides Internet Explorer.

But, today comes news of an even greater reason to move away from IE.  Security experts are advising Windows users to not use Internet Explorer at all until Microsoft can fix a very serious security flaw in the browser.  For those of you who don’t have another web browser installed, here are some excellent choices:

Firefox

Chrome

Safari

Opera

Nxtbook Named Best Place To Work in PA…

 

Last night - at a star-studded gala at the Hershey Lodge and Resorts, Nxtbook Media was named the #1 Best Place to Work (Medium Company Category) in the entire state of Pennsylvania. Make no mistake: Pennsylvania is a large state! This HUGE award meant different things to different people.

To some of us, the actual award served as a formal declaration of what we know everyday - this is a fun place to get up and go to. Though we didn’t need a dinner (which was good) and a plaque (which is cool) to remind us that the privilege of enjoying your labor isn’t to be taken lightly, we screamed like freaks when we were named #1.

To the owners of the company, I suspect the award was kind of like deja vu, only maybe a little better. Their previous company had made the Top 50 list several times, but never had they enjoyed the uniqueness of being #1 in a room full of truly great businesses and business leaders. We were happiest for them, because they cared about making this a fun place to work long before awards were given for such things.

What does the award mean to our customers? Only this: All Nxtbook employees are keenly aware that we are blessed to work here, and we only get to keep having this party if we’re relentlessly pursuing the delight of our customers. The satisfaction of our clients is what sustains us, for without happy customers, you don’t have a business - let alone a business people can enjoy coming to. It’s the corporate version of an eco-system: We strive to satisfy you so that the business can satisfy us. Or put another way - so long as you stay #1, we’re confident we will, too.

 

Google Thinks You Don’t Look So Well…

We try not to deviate from digital publishing stuff here, but hey - it’s a holiday week, which means readership is a tad low anyway. Besides, this is kind of cool.

Google is using their search trends tool to predict when the flu will hit your state the hardest. More impressive? They show how their results are more accurate the agency tasked with predicting flu outbreak. Check it out here. 

Third String Good Enough for First Place…

With two booths out of town last week, we were forced to send the Nxtbook Media third string booth to the Harrisburg Regional Chamber of Commerce show. Still, the booth didn’t blink: instead coming home with honors as the Top New Booth at the show.

Nxtbook reps Duane and Shanelle probably deserve some of the credit - don’t these two just ooze approachable and knowledgeable? 

Where’s Bill?

A couple of years ago, Microsoft made a big splash with its WPF (Windows Presentation Format) by announcing the release of Times Reader, a pretty slick product for online readers of the NY Times. Bill Gates and some fella from the Times did a joint presentation: one of those old media meets new technology sorts of things. We did - and still do - think it was a pretty cool application. Still, the fact of the matter is that the WPF format - like it’s close kin "Silverlight" - has struggled to gather marketshare and wide adoption.

So perhaps it was no surprise at this morning’s Adobe Max conference to learn that a new version of Times Reader is launching, based on Adobe’s AIR 1.5. For the Nxtbook development team, this is unneeded (but certainly welcome) validation that our product development path is following the needs and desires of users and publishers alike. Not surprisingly, Bill Gates was nowhere to be found at Adobe Max. Perhaps he was shopping with Jerry Seinfeld?

 

Is FOLIO Asking the Right Questions?

This was going to be a post where I accused Folio magazine of having a bad case of schizophrenia. While their homepage these days seems to cover everything so long as it’s about layoffs or titles closing, the print magazine has some very inspirational content this month about titles increasing ad pages and making print layout ideas work online. Why the good stuff gets buried on the web and the bad stuff doesn’t show up in print is anybody’s guess, but like I said, this isn’t what this post is about.

Instead, this post is about the article called Printers Know They Need to Branch Out. Are They? In it, Editor (and all around good guy) Tony Silber asked seven printers what ancillary services they were offering and if - in fact - they were profitable in doing so. Since one of these services was digital magazines and one of the printers is actually a reseller of our product, naturally I was engaged. Still the article missed the mark.

While we learn that seven out of eight printers offer digital magazine services and only four of them are profitable, we learn nothing about how that would affect me as a magazine publisher. Should I be interested if my printer has these services? Or should I be concerned if I’m buying these services from my printer and they’re not profitable? After all, most of us generally don’t have a long-term plan that involves being unprofitable.

The real questions FOLIO should’ve asked are what have printers learned since getting into these ancillary businesses. As we’ve said before, we’ve been in business for five years and have had three major versions of our product and countless minor upgrades. Generally speaking, that’s not something printers are accustomed to doing. Are they?

Moreover, the 2008 Gilbane report told us that a good goal for a BtoB pub. with a digital circulation is 15% conversion. Are the magazines offered by these publishers reaching that number? Or more to the point, do these printers have the personnel and expertise to get their customers to this point?

In the end, what FOLIO did with this article does little more than attempt to commoditize industries that are becoming more specialized by the day. While there may be 15 places to get a digital magazine today, the proper questions and the proper answers will trim that field to 3 or 4. Sadly, this article won’t help the publisher do that.

A Marathon Tradition

It’s marathon week at Nxtbook Media, at least for the two members of the team enjoying a fall classic. But did you know that Nxtbook Media employees have been enjoying marathons since as far back as 1971? Pictured here is Sales Director Chris Gentri, who completed the Palos Verdes Marathon in 1971 at the age of 12! (It should be noted that for some odd reason, the 1971 course was 25.9 miles - not 26.2 - but let’s give the kid a break!)

 

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