Comments

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  Elyse Glickman November 24, 2010 at 1:00am

  Regarding Max's comment, the right attitude and the right approach is the ONLY way to survive. When the recession hit, and many people with enviable jobs were being laid off, and a lot of my freelance gigs shut down, I considered my options, pulled up my bootstraps and started a new magazine of my own and doing pro-bono work for a non-competing luxury men's magazine on a to keep my foot in the high-end lifestyle and food worlds with the PR people to let them know I was not just out there but doing something. It is just now starting to pay off royally on both ends. Don't give up.
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  Allan Lynch November 23, 2010 at 5:56pm

  Ed,
  
  I am fortunate to be of an age that by the time the next generation grows up into the prime of their consumerdom I will be dead or in a long-term care facility.
  
  But so much of what I read and hear on this topic is US-centric. Other countries and cultures are not like you. There are different values which start in the home and go to school and evolve out in society.
  
  The other point, I find frustrating, is that the talking heads on this topic don't really have a business background. They may have studied business in university, but that's not the same as being bloodied by actual management or entrepreneurship. They have never owned a newspaper or magazine or radio station or television station. I have owned newspapers, I have friends who own newspapers and magazines. One of our neighbours owned a small radio network. I know people who still are active owners and who have continued to make money in this economy.
  
  I just don't believe it is as black and white as some people would have us believe. Some publications are making money, some are returning to profit, some are expanding. There are stories of titles being revived and new ones started.
  
  It's about believing in your business vision and knowing your reader. I listen to writers complain about the loss of markets. I saw a slump for a while, but I still worked throughout it. I still pitched articles and I'm still selling. I've sold three feature ideas in the last 10 days and am negotiating a new book deal.
  
  If you stop working your business you stop working.

  

  STARTED.IT
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  Ed Wetschler November 23, 2010 at 5:11pm

  Allan, five minutes ago I finished a long, exhaustive, exhausting paper for an education journal about the print-vs.-digital future. All those words, all those citations, and I get the feeling that the experts just aren't sure. They want to know if and when e-readers (not counting iPads) will be able to accommodate sophisticated graphics, layout, color, etc. When that happens (in theory), little kids will use Kindles rather than paper books, and that could affect the way their generation lands on the print-digital spectrum.
  Another issue: When (or if) will the industry make it possible for libraries to, say, download a digital book onto your e-reader and then, when you're done, recapture it and lend it to another library user? Right now that's not legal, so for the present, it's a boon for print and an obstacle to digital media.
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  Allan Lynch November 23, 2010 at 4:56pm

  I think it's interesting that on-line publishers, columnists and writers are elated when they get a print deal. They make a big deal out of getting a column or book deal, so I think this says something. Print still seems to have cache among advertisers and writers.
  
  My US markets are buying. My Canadian markets are buying. A chain of Canadian newspapers sold recently in a bidding war. The country's largest national paper just invested $1.9 billion in a new look, new paper and new print deal.
  
  If anything I think print may become a premium product read by decision makers/an upper income demographic, which means they still have money to buy products and services advertised.
  
  Yesterday I read a short item that says one-third of iPad owners don't use it to read books and that with "multiple use devices, reading gets pushed aside with other features and apps".
  
  I have some inside information about e-book sales. I can't disclose it or the source, but while the head of an e-book company was in the news bragging about how a particular headline-grabbing book was their best selling title, and I don't doubt it, the sales were shockingly pathetic. I don't buy the concept that print is dead. It, like the rest of the economy, got hammered by bad management and the decline in other sectors.
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  Max Pesling November 23, 2010 at 4:20pm

  Last week, NY journalist Pete Hamill, winner of the Louis Auchincloss Prize, predicted that "The journalistic Web will certainly get more professional, with real editors and real pay. Journalism is not a hobby. The Daily Beast, The Huffington Post, GlobalPost.com (for foreign news) are showing the possibilities." Is he right? Is that where we're heading? Or will the ever-increasing proliferation of free content continue decimating the ranks of paid Web journalists?
  
  And while I think the Huffington Post is great, are they paying?? Have I missed something?
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  John Rocky November 23, 2010 at 3:18pm

  We are currently seeting up 2 journalistic tours for next year to experience and write about our products in magazines, TV and other publications. Please send a formal request to john@medraft.co.il if you wish to be considered for this opportunity everything will be paid for except the flight ticket. our aim is to have articles etc in European/Internation medias. our tours will be self drive jeep tours in Georgia and Montenegro as this then covers the 4x4 rugged tours we offer and also the Cultural 4x4 tours
  
  Hi its http://www.medraft.com sorry i should have posted our international web address.
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  Northeast News November 23, 2010 at 2:58pm

  Flying to Chicago last week, Allan, I forgot to turn off my mobile. I felt guilty about that later on, but we arrived without incident.
  John, I went to your website, but couldn't find a place to click for the English version.
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  John Rocky November 23, 2010 at 12:25pm

  We are currently seeting up 2 journalistic tours for next year to experience and write about our products in magazines, TV and other publications. Please send a formal request to john@medraft.co.il if you wish to be considered for this opportunity everything will be paid for except the flight ticket. our aim is to have articles etc in European/Internation medias. our tours will be self drive jeep tours in Georgia and Montenegro as this then covers the 4x4 rugged tours we offer and also the Cultural 4x4 tours
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  Allan Lynch November 23, 2010 at 6:39am

  On Canadian, British, European and Asian airlines the electronic devices only have to be stowed for take off and landing.
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  Buzzy Gordon November 23, 2010 at 6:34am

  Just now getting a chance to reply to your posts of Nov. 11; sorry for the delay. Allan, the beancounters at CO are no dummies. On the flight where a free movie was shown, passenger could purchase earphones for $3; on the flight where they charged for every form of entertainment, they handed out earphones for free!
  I only suggested advertising as the lesser of two evils, between no access to entertainment at all vs. free with an occasional commercial.
  Of course, we all bring books to read, in the airport as well as onboard. But I still enjoy listening to classical music as I read. Even if I want to mess with my iPod, there seems to be more and more flight time when "all electronic devices must be stowed."