There are also reasons for optimism elsewhere in the media, in the nitty-gritty world of business-to-business publishing and text books. Companies like Reed Elsevier, which has moved its print products online over the last decade, and Financial Times owner Pearson, whose education business sells teaching materials to American states, may lack glamour, but profits are relatively stable and, vitally, they do not depend on advertising.

From the start, it seemed like a match made in Heaven. When the BBC announced they were releasing a magazine focused on the US market, a Nxtbook made a lot of sense. Our British office is located across the street from the BBC and if a British company wants to put a magazine into the US, what better choice than an American digital publisher with a British office?

BBC Knowledge is a paid title for print subscribers, but you can get a sneak peak of the October issue here. The photography in this magazine is top shelf and a great example of how a digital magazine can show content in a way that few websites do.

(Meanwhile, FOLIO posted about the death of print and the elimination of seven positions, while the digital magazine… uh never made it into the article?)

Critics will say that PC Mag should focus on the website, but maybe PC Mag knows what we’ve been saying for years: People consume digital magazines differently than they consume website content. Fewer of them read the digital magazine, but those that do stay longer, read more pages and click through at a higher rate. All the time. Period. Why shouldn’t a publisher cater differently to a different audience?

We’re not Zinio, so of course we think PC Mag could’ve chosen a better partner. From our vantage point, their strategy seems to involve driving you to their website, while we believe your content should drive traffic to you, but the fact remains: this strategy could work.

In fact, it already has. Three years ago, a british publisher killed their 30 year-old magazine (PC Mag is 27) and went all digital overnight. Today, the publisher’s revenues are up, their digital magazines always crack our Top 20 readership list, and the brand is stronger than ever. You can read their story here.

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? 

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?

For a complete recap of the event, with all of the award winners, check out Joe’s blog.

Let’s say you have a publisher that could only afford a 1/4 page ad in print, but wanted greater exposure. Or, you wanted to show them the benefits of a full page ad. Use our new Page-Plus feature. Readers click on a 1/4 page ad to open a full page ad. Very cool, and priced low - just like Ad-Jolt! All you have to do is submit the second ad along with your PDF!