Too many stories?
Jerry Ash
I've finally tamed the monster and we have the magazine development,
layout and production running smoothly enough that as of today we are
running two weeks ahead of schedule! That's wonderful because I'm now
able to spend more time networking and direct marketing.
I have several matters I need to consult with you about, but I'll
start tonight by asking for your thoughts on the quantity of stories
I'm including in each issue. I've been thinking a lot (but not acting)
on advice I received from Jack Ring quite some time ago which
suggested there were too many stories in each issue. The view being
that no one was going to read it all.
Of course, I'm a journalist steeped in old media and so the standards
I follow are based on print publications. A 40 page magazine (+covers)
would be about right for a magazine sans advertising if it were a
print publication. Advertising pages would increase the number of
pages, but the content would remain about the same.
With a physical publication, readers have never been expected to read
everything. They flip through the pages, read a bit of this and that,
get caught up in something they find exceptionally interesting and
either read it all right then or make a mental note to return to it
later. So, the magazine lays around and hopefully the cover is strong
enough to keep crying out -- "Read me".
Online publication is a whole new animal, and old timers like me tend
to want to simply transfer print to pixels but keep format and content
pretty much the same. That's why I prefer the PDF version of Smart
People to the html version and continue to hunt for an online Reader
format that will be seen in the same format as the PDF but read
online. The publishing program I want would allow you to flip through
the pages onscreen and zoom into a specific story you want to read --
just like you do in your easy chair. It's the latter feature I've not
found satisfactory in everything I've seen so far.
Well, I digress. The question is, am I giving the readers too much?
Exclusive of the covers, the August issue I've just completed contains
32 articles in 37 pages. The first three pages contain the table of
contents and the masthead page. The articles range from 2 magazine
pages to less than 1/3 page. I suppose that's a lot if you're reading
the magazine on line; about right if it's a print magazine on the
coffee table.
I could reduce the magazine to 30 pages (plus covers) which would be
27 feature pages. In my hands that would be a pretty thin publication,
but online I suppose it would still seem big.
Well, I need your help in deciding. I need lots of opinions,
especially from those of you who are more savvy consumers of online
publications than I am.
Thanks in advance.
Jerry
P.S. I am sending this same appeal to our Editorial Board for
feedback. I'll let you know what I hear.
Ski...@aol.com
amacgillivray
internally.
From a personal perspective, I find there is a lot of content given
all the things I try to do and keep up with.
From a brainstorming perspective:
I wonder what subscribers think? I have a Survey Monkey license if we
wanted to send them a quick and easy survey to explore this.
I also wonder what kind of feedback we'd get if we gave a very brief
blurb about the intent of the mag and asked the question through all
of our social networks. Non subscribers could follow a link to a pdf
of the first issue if they took the time to respond.
Alice (back from Australia)
On Jul 23, 9:36 pm, Jerry Ash <smart.g...@smartpeoplemagazine.com>
wrote:
> Hi everyone.
... I'll
Rhino-neill
Apologies for lack of interaction, been somewhat tied up. With
regards to the length/content I do think that 30 pages is about
right. With regards to content I agree with Skip, we talk about the
digital natives, so I think that we need to attract them by making it
a digital media magazine. I think that I sent this link sometime ago,
when we talked about magazine formats previously. When I get
Knowledge Pad running properly, this is the format that I will use;
http://issue.imotormag.co.uk/car-news-car-reviews-cool-car-videos-fun-stuff/1Q4a5220f44c4da012.cde,
I am also experimenting with some software called Mindjet Mindmanager
8 which allows you to produce a PDF Document, build in links and video
media and basically make Interactive PDF's.
Keep you informed.
Alan
>
> - Show quoted text -
Jerry Ash
Well, the few who have responded seem to favor less pages and so I'm
going to have 30 pages plus cover in the September issue.
Now, let's talk story length. I haven't talked with Michele about this
yet, but I'm thinking we might think about abandoning the "traditional
magazine layout" (we're not printing anyway) and reduce stories to a
few paragraphs per page ... as in those pages in the motorcar issue
you have shared. Then the flip page version I want (and I love this
one you've sent) works better because people can read it online.
I'm anticipating some major push back from Michele (maybe even Boris),
but I don't mind being the oldest among you who's most open to change.
I'm thinking we talk like new media, but then we present the same-o/
same-o to the several thousand who have visited us for a look see.
It's work a group think, don't you think?
Jerry
Boris Jaeger
> going to have 30 pages plus cover in the September issue.
> Now, let's talk story length. I haven't talked with Michele about this
> yet, but I'm thinking we might think about abandoning the "traditional
> magazine layout" (we're not printing anyway) and reduce stories to a
> few paragraphs per page ... as in those pages in the motorcar issue
> you have shared. Then the flip page version I want (and I love this
> one you've sent) works better because people can read it online.
> I'm anticipating some major push back from Michele (maybe even Boris),
> but I don't mind being the oldest among you who's most open to change.
> I'm thinking we talk like new media, but then we present the same-o/
> same-o to the several thousand who have visited us for a look see.
> It's work a group think, don't you think?