In another passionate op-ed, publishing analyst and board member of the Magazine Innovation Center, Bo Sacks, argues that whilst magazine media might have lost its dominance, it has something that can’t be bought: reader trust. In fact, he argues we could be standing at the threshold of a new golden age of publishing, if we want it enough…
A Substack author, Ted Gioia, penned an article titled The Death of The Magazine in which he discusses in detail the death of the magazine industry. It is an interesting and misinformed read.
Paraphrasing Vizzini from the Princess Bride the author fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is, “Never get involved in a land war in Asia.” But only slightly less well-known is this: never predict the death of the magazine industry by only looking at the success or lack thereof of large publishing houses. Gioia confuses the health of large publishing houses, which are mostly in decline, with the review that the entire industry is dying. He is decidedly incorrect.
Mark Twain once said “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
I’m not sure if that is too metaphysical for these pages or not, but I’m referencing all the absurd talk about the death of print we read in so many trade magazines and blogs. What the print industry is going through is not about death. It is mostly about a direct loss of dominance. This loss of dominance is not equivalent to death—it just feels that way.
Don’t compare your company or your titles to anything other than your last and next issue. Industry averages and how other titles are doing is bullsh*t. The only thing that matters is how your book is doing. And many titles are going great. Established large periodicals, such as the New Yorker and Vogue, stubbornly cling to a global readership in both print and digital formats. And there are other examples, but the industry as a whole is and will be around for many generations thanks to thousands of niche titles.
Yes, not the larger titles but the industry as a whole is and will be around for many generations.
Bragging rights to the size of September fashion issues is apparently now relegated to a quaint custom from the days of irrational exuberance. Perhaps the hubristic approach this industry once took when comparing size is the ghost of our previous vanities. Who needs to brag other than a bully?
We are as an industry no longer the dominant media as we once were. We must accept that and get over it. Once we do, the talk of our demise will evaporate. We have to share more of the advertising dollars than ever before. We clearly aren’t used to that, and it still hurts.
But, as an industry, we aren’t dead or near it. We should be living/working and creating fully to the best of our abilities and thereby fear nothing but a lack of creativity. With creativity, I believe that there are ever-present and super opportunities here today and an ongoing era of great publishing expansion. That would be the expansion of the media world, delivered by multiple methods to various devices, only one of which is paper.
The golden ticket: Reader Trust
We have at our disposal something very few on-line competitors have. Trust. We have spent generations of slow-speed fact checking of our editorial products. The result of that hard work is a still standing sensitivity by the public of the integrity in our printed products.
I say that today, right now, is the next golden age of publishing, if we want it. Let the past go and get on with the here and now. Think like an entrepreneur and adapt to the conditions you find yourself in and not how you wish they were. We don’t need a “thump” when we drop magazines on the table, as that is no longer relevant. We need the sound of “ka-ching”, and that is an achievable goal.
Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “There are no facts, only interpretations.” That comes mighty close to our understanding of the magazine industry today, at least when it comes to the various reports we constantly read on the subject. How many headlines have you seen that report that “Print is dead” or “Print is alive” or “Print is vibrant” and back to “Print is obsolete”? These types of headlines appear relentlessly every day. It’s enough to make a grown man cry, and indeed some do.
So, what does it mean? Can both concepts, death and vibrancy be correct? The obvious answer is yes. It’s all a matter of perspective. Falling back on another famous yet underappreciated quote from the prophet George Carlin, “Some people see the glass half full. Others see it half empty. I see a glass that’s twice as big as it needs to be.”
And there you have it. The expectations and the glass that hold the print industry need to be adjusted to a smaller container to fit the current conditions we work in. Based on all relevant data, that glass needs to be at least half the size it was ten years ago, as we print, mail and engage in half the advertising we once owned and cherished.
I offer this perspective because the only way to keep your sanity is to question the things that we have long taken for granted.
Absolute size by itself is no indicator of success and achievement, let alone of managerial competence. Being the right size is.
Peter Drucker
Bo Sacks
President, Precision Media Group
This commentary originally appeared on Bo Sacks daily newsletter and is re-published with kind permission. You can subscribe to Bo’s e-newsletter here.
