Another Quiet Day

How Magazine Publishing Can Thrive in a New Media Environment

When we tell people what we're up to here at 8020, we often get one question: "Magazines?"

Yes, magazines. Actual print read-it-on-the-toilet magazines. Traditional paper arrive-in-your-mailbox magazines. We are going to publish truly awesome magazines.

Here at 8020 HQ, we're web critters. Collectively, we've got over 40 years experience building websites. In the good ol' days, when the web was new, it was fun to imagine a future full of screens and pixels and not a trace of paper to be found.

But something funny happened on the way to the all-digital future. Paper didn't go away. In fact, to those of use who live and breathe the web, paper became more interesting, not less. More exotic, emotional, and real.

So says Derek Powazek on the foundation of his new company 8020 Publishing. It highlights two things I've been thinking about in terms of the web and new media business models.

First of all, how well-crafted hardcopy objects retain their value for the reader irrespective of the value of the information they contain (i.e. people buy books and CDs even though they could download their contents for free off the web).

The second thought is that ads are a short-sighted and naive way to make money off new media projects. Useful in the short term for simplistic media, but in the long-term the media producer should choose a business model where the money is made off the media itself as directly as possible.

Anything else is going to cause economic friction for the producer as conflicting priorities compromise her craft.

Baldur Bjarnason – 16/8/06