Dear Publisher,
We all see the stats. Declining revenues, disappearing titles, empty shelves. Right now, print publishing is on track to be the new vinyl record. But that doesn’t mean it’s the end of publishing for good.
People still want to consume content and as you will see, we have a plan that will not only ensure survival but will usher in the dawn of a new era of publishing. A new way to ‘print’, which will give readers access to the written articles they can’t get enough of and provide rewarding, profitable outcomes for those who are committed to sharing valuable information.
We’ll get to the plan shortly. But first, we need to accept some inevitable truths...
Print must change or die...
People don’t want to wait. They want it and they want it now. Delivered, instantly.
We need to accept the fact that going to a newsstand and paying $9.95 is fast becoming defunct. On top of that, there is the expense and stress of printing, distribution, logistics, back-issues and stock control. What’s more, with customers now becoming increasingly global, the traditional printing model simply doesn’t work.
A final and significant issue is that you can’t un-print something if you discover you’ve made a mistake. This can be both embarrassing and costly.
People don’t want to pay...
We know this one hurts but hang in there.
Before the internet, print publications were gold. Now, there are millions of blogs and billions of pages on every topic online and if you search you’ll find information about anything. So most customers simply won’t pay for information.
To overcome this problem, imagine that you are now 100 per cent online and you don’t have the cost associated with printing, distribution, logistics, etc. Do you really need to charge for your magazine or print publication? Sure we all have bills to pay and we’ll get to that, but imagine if your publication was free and price was no longer a barrier to entry. Your circulation would skyrocket.
“It may look great on your 22-inch monitor but on a phone, it sucks.”Tweet
Mobile is King & Queen...
Nobody can deny the growth of the mobile platform.
As marketing legend Gary Vaynerchuk says, mobile is priority 1, 2 and 3. Outside of work, mobile makes up over 80 per cent of time spent online and by 2025 this is expected to be over 90 per cent.
So if you want to connect on the one device that matters most, then mobile is it. All current publications seem to ignore this fact and instead, they take exactly what should have been printed and put it online. It may look great on your 22-inch monitor but on a phone, it sucks.
You have to pinch in-and-out like crazy and move from column to column in a totally unnatural way. Oh and remember the advertisers, the people that pay our bills? On mobile the print versions of their ads are tiny and completely unreadable.
Apps are not the answer...
We tried. After 10 years of software development and millions spent, we can confidently say apps for publishing never lived up to the hype. Why? Because they work on some devices and not others. And they don’t work on desktops.
Apps cost a fortune to build, they’re painful to maintain and trying to publish a magazine inside an app still doesn’t really work on mobile.
The only place they do work is on a tablet, which is only a small slice of the time people spend online. Just ask Apple and its failed Apple News+ subscription model.
You need to control distribution...
The idea of giving your print publication to Apple, Amazon, Readly, etc and thinking they're going to save the day is like feeding a tiger, inside their cage. You never know when they are going to flip.
So screw them! Control your own destiny and don’t put your future in their hands. They are not going to save publishing, you/we are.
In a moment we are going to show you why and how to build your own database, so YOU control the relationship with your audience and no-one else.
They say the first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one. Having done that, let's get into solution mode. And if you want to come on the journey with us, we are going to build a much better future.
Here's our solution to overcoming the death of print and taking back control (not to mention profits)...
We all change how we design...
Greatness is not skating to where the puck is but skating where it’s going. And you only need to look at trend lines to conclude that mobile is where 80% (soon 90%) of users are.
Unlike desktops or tablets that we mostly leave at work or home, the mobile is the one device that we have with us everywhere we go. So the solution we created is to design for mobiles first and for added benefit make it work everywhere else too.
That means we start designing our publications 400 pixels wide by however long. There is one column, designed exactly the way you want. Then you upload your beautifully designed content to the Mobimag software and we do the rest. And for ads, it’s the same deal, only this time they take up the full screen and readers can’t ignore them.
We forget about building apps...
Imagine having a publication which doesn’t force a user to install software or get forgotten about because it’s on the wrong device. The reader just clicks on a link, the content opens instantly and it works, every time, on every device.
Up until now, this has been impossible, but if we change how we design, this dream becomes reality.
“Up until now, this has been impossible, but if we change how we design, this dream becomes reality.”
We make our print publications free...
Paid subscriptions are a legacy of a bygone era. We know customers hate them, so let's all find the new cheese.
We suggest you make your new publication 100% free. By doing this, you open up the floodgates. The new name of the game is to collect as many email addresses and as many mobile phone numbers as possible.
We focus on owning our subscribers...
Rather than sending leads to Apple, Google, Amazon and others, send readers to your link and build your own subscriber list. These companies have already stolen trillions of dollars in advertising revenue, so let's not make them any richer. We’ll say it again, own your subscribers!
We find new ways to monetise...
Advertisers want their ads to take up the full screen and not be lost in the clutter of pages full of other ads.
They want to insert videos, they want tracking and they want clickable links. All these things are now possible... if you're ready to change.
Plus, you can support your advertisers with content packages, including video production and custom publishing deals. You can make money from affiliate links, revenue shares, selling covers and custom editorial. So if you have been worried about declining revenues, let us help you fight back and become profitable again.
That's our manifesto. That’s our pitch and now you need to make a choice. Are you going to hold onto the past and suffer the ongoing decline? Or will you try our new approach and join us to build the future of publishing together.