Publishing trends - a move online

If the spate of articles about new or newish marketing tools such as social networking sites is to be believed then the traditional world of print could be in terminal decline. It is a topic discussed in earlier blogs. A recent research report from isubscribe.co.uk again highlighted declining advertising revenues for magazine publishers, but then we are in the depths of a major recession so it is not that surprising. Talking to publishers in the industrial magazine market the advertising sales people required no persuasion to hold the same space prices as for several years past - big discounts on rate cards - so may be they would have settled for even less. Another interesting indicator is the start of charging for press releases published on web sites, perhaps a recognition that readers are migrating from the printed to online page. At one time, many years ago now press releases were selected by the editor, suitably edited and printed as news. Indeed, at an even earlier time articles were commissioned and paid for - a useful source of bonus income for a young product manager in the early 70s. Then came the era of so called colour separation charges a fee allegedly based on the extra cost involved in producing colour filmwork. This charge was sold as a "colour separation fee" long after the publishing technology had moved on, remaining in the space sales vocabulary, its origins long forgotten and often unknown by the young sellers. More recently the rationale for a fee has been justified on the grounds that far more press releases are received than can be published.  Somewhere along the line the division between editorial integrity publishing genuine news and selling the space disappeared and in many trade magazines the difference between display advertising and editorial content no longer exists. Of course if as they say too much news is received then more pages could  be printed, but the advertising revenue does not support that.  The following is directly quoted (including spelling) from a publisher in response to receipt of a press release and the publisher's eagerness to print the news if only we pay. "This (the charge) is because we receive many more press releases than we can possibly afford to publish and this option allows us to inlcude material from those that want the guarantee of publication." It continues to list charges per word, for publishing photos and an annual fee to place news on the web site. Perhaps little wonder then that smart marketers are busy exploiting free channels and moving into blogs, Facebook and Twitter while they remain both popular and free.