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Loading...Magazine Love: Print vs. Online
- Ronnie Citron-Fink
- June 24, 2010
- 9:07 am
- 42 comments
I was in Toronto last weekend for my nephew’s wedding, and while we were prancing around that lovely and lively city, I ducked into a newsstand and spent the better part of a precious hour devouring the Canadian and European magazines. I no longer do that in the States unless I’m in a big newsstand in NYC. Many of my favorite magazines (Domino, House and Garden, Cottage Living, Blueprint, O at Home and Gourmet) have been served a swift death.
Leaning against the shelf of magazines, I couldn’t help but wonder, “Has the American reading public moved on? If so, where are they?” Well, they are certainly on the move. Let’s look at the numbers from last year: It seems declining print ads are the culprit of the killing fields in the magazine world. According to the Publishers Information Bureau, magazines lost 58,340 ad pages in 2009. Hearst Publishing lost almost 3,400 ad pages. Conde Nast lost more than 8,000 ad pages, led by the still kicking Architectural Digest, W and Conde Nast Traveler. Hachette lost 1,661 ad pages.
What happens to those faithful readers? Right now you are reading a blog. I am a blogger. I used to be a magazine writer, but when the winds started to shift, I ventured into the virtual world. For the most part, it’s been an exciting and challenging learning experience on the technical end. Having immediate feedback in the form of a conversation like we have here seems to be the best blogger perk. That can’t happen on paper. When I spoke with the ex-editor of House and Garden, and author of Slow Love, a memoir about losing a job in the magazine world, Dominique Browning had this to say about the topic: “The wave of digital is exciting. There is an immediacy to putting your ideas down without waiting for a six month turnaround.”
Next: Online magazines and digital readers
Image: Amazon
Read more: Blogs, Conscious Consumer, EcoNesting, Family, Home, ebooks, electronics, Family Life, Home, magazines, technology
Ronnie Citron-Fink
Ronnie Citron-Fink is a writer, editor and educator. She has written hundreds of articles about sustainable living, the environment, design, and family life for websites, books and magazines. Ronnie is the creator of Econesting, and the managing editor of Moms Clean Air Force. Ronnie was named one of the Top Ten Living Green Experts by Yahoo. Ronnie lives in New York with her family.
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
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42 comments
+ add your ownI like having the feel of real paper publications in my hands.
thanks
Great move to go to blogging. The younger generation are on line it seem from birth! Just yesterday my husband called me from work and suggested I look up a specific sailing magazine on line. Our picture was in it from a sail boat race we were in last week.
This article was on my mind today. Our local newspaper shut down and now is combined with another newspaper which is also struggling. I read how all the old businesses are shutting down plus the historic homes are going to waste. I've been attempting writing and go to a book store where I like the feeling of books being all around as I struggle at this. Maybe it's psychological but in my mind I've convinced myself I'm around other authors hoping maybe some of their talents might rub off on me. Today I looked at some books about writing even though I can't afford them. There's a lot of free material on the Internet concerning writing now days. I sold myself on the idea of finding a way to buy books again. The material I glanced at seemed better then what I seen on the Net. Plus for me just trying to communicate on the Net hasn't been real good in finding others I like to share with. With books I find more peace of mind as if the author is sharing with me and I don't run the risk of arguing about how I understand what was shared.
I don't know about magazines but I'm going to try and buy more books when I can just to support the authors, bookstores and everybody else who makes them available to us.
Again thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Oh, I would lvoe to buy the Kindle 2, but I find it a bit expensive.
I still do prefer the paper versions of both books and magazines...
Unfortunately, I cannot afford the paper version to be able to keep my magazine rack in my bathroom updated with new reads. Online versions are usually free, and while good that way, I can't take it to bed with me or read at the "home office"...
i love to feel the paper in my hands, while reading a magazine :(
I'm not into magazines much anymore. I like digital media because it saves on paper and I don't have to worry about storing stacks of old magazines that I'll never read again. OTOH, there's nothing quite like relaxing with a real book in your lap.
I don't usually have much time to read magazines and when I buy one, I find it hard to throw it away because there's always more to read or come back to.
As they have a number of subscriptions at my local library, I now quite regularly borrow one or 2, that I can always borrow again later if I want to, without ending up with piles of past issues in my living-room!
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