With Rolling Stone having just past its 1000th issue it seemed a good time to revisit the article I wrote last month about the future of newspapers –only this time with particular reference to magazines.

Magazines face many of the same challenges that newspapers are currently presented with:

1. Declining circulation
2. Diminishing agency interest
3. Increasing operational costs
4. Increasing online competition
5. Identity crises of sorts

What makes the situation different to newspapers is that magazines –whilst still loosely following the same wide appeal/low relevance tactics- are typically geared towards one niche market or another: gardening, skiing, needlecraft, fashion. They are essentially pre-internet blogs. The reason the future looks brighter for magazines than it does for newspapers is that all media (at least, all intelligent media) is moving towards a niche approach and they are already there. What needs to change now is how they interact with their readership.

“When I read letters to the editor published in a newspaper or magazine nowadays I can’t help but think that they, too, seem somehow archaic. After becoming accustomed to reading the unedited, unvarnished user comments on blogs, the typical letter to the editor published in a print publication now seems filtered and slick, even phony. How were these letters edited? What passages were cut out? What did the letters say that the editor chose not to publish? Were they more critical? The concept of “letters to the editor” seems outdated.”
That is according to Patrick Phillips of iwantmedia.com and he hits the nail on the head. If users feel a greater sense of intimacy with your content by interacting with it –by opening up the dialogue- in an unfiltered online space then that is where your brand needs to go.

Of course this does not mean packing everything into the car and moving from print-town to website town. What it means is that you extend your brand into these new markets. Offer instead extended articles, follow up pieces, content that did not make it to print –grow your brand beyond the four corners of your glossy paper stock into a space where users feel welcome and involved. This can also free you from the tyranny of weekly/monthly deadlines, reliance on ad dollars for the page count of a particular issue and missed opportunities when stories that are relevant to your readers happen just as you are going to print. Magazine comes originally from the French ‘magasin’ meaning storehouse. You can put things other than text in an online storehouse. A viable online brand space opens up opportunities in podcasting, video essays, photomontages –even Skype conferences. (Won’t be long now.)

In the article on User Generated Content elsewhere on this site, I make reference to some techniques that allow magazines to grow their brand by using the technology of social networking. This is exactly what readers want –a sustained dialogue with your product. I am currently working in the magazine game and our readers often seem more passionate about the product than we are. It is a big part of their lives and they are itching to be more involved.

Editors need to loosen the chains of control significantly when it comes to managing their online space. This is a matter of survival. According to Erik Sass, Here’s why:
“Search providers, (in particular the large three search providers: Google, Yahoo and MSN) are beginning to co-opt the consumer relationship online,” continues the report, which laments that the major search engines are becoming ‘gatekeepers’ to other sites, while also attempting to keep visitors on their own properties as long as possible.”
The point is to cultivate that relationship with the readers. You need to stop woodworking enthusiasts from heading straight to Google for all their industry news when they should be heading to your woodworking magazine web site.

Content scraping by aggregators is a concern for magazines because it removes the content from an area where you and your advertisers can monitor its efficacy and who it is delivered to. The best case solution is to act now to build a thriving online community of passionate woodworkers (to continue the example) who regularly interact with your product online. This mitigates the reader loss from aggregators as your readers are getting so much more from you than mere articles. It could in fact see aggregators grow your readership as more people find their way back to your site and join your community.

The MPA held its second “Magazines 24/7” conference at the end of last month to collectively discuss where the industry is heading. One piece of advice the attendees heard was to make plans for the day when the majority of your readers are web-based and your print product targets a high-end, ‘prestige’ demographic. The future for magazines most definitely lies in extending your brand into a more social online space. But please… Have a heart. When that day comes the least you can do is offer a few free subs to the salons.

G Preston White is a New Zealand-based freelance writer. He can be contacted via his website and blog. www.prestonwhite.co.nz