From a Printed Magazine to an iPad App

What happened: Last year, Conde Nast closed several of its “big magazine titles” including Gourmet magazine. Few liked this. The graphic arts industry watched one of its venerable magazines go away just a couple months ago. Magazines have always opened and closed but there is an obvious leaning toward digital.

Conde Nast announced in June that Gourmet is coming back as a free iPad app. The Magazine Publishers of America reports that “Internet-sourced subscriptions will generate 24% of new business sales among member magazines in 2010.” Ouch, if you’re one of the magazine printers who lost the printed version and double ouch if you didn’t pickup the contract for producing either a digital PDF format or a Website with an ongoing life of its own.

Why it matters: The needle is moving toward digital publishing. Advancing software is making reading off a screen easier and this appeals greatly to the younger audience’s preference for all things digital. This is leading to a brave new digital world. The question publishers should be asking themselves is “does my publication have enough meaning to its readers that they will demand its continuation, regardless of whether it is published in print or digital?” Printers should be asking themselves if they are prepared to handle the obvious shift to digital that their publishing clients are certain to place on them?

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