Magazines
In recent years, the cost of publishing on paper has risen drastically. If the magazine includes many pictures as well, the cost rises that much more. Often, the electronic edition may contain twice as many pictures as its paper counterpart. This is a major reason why big name magazines like Car and Driver, Woman Motorist, and Penthouse are now turning to electronic publications.
Amount of articles publiched electronically varies greatly on the magazine. Some magazines, like Car and Driver, do not publish the entire magazine on line, but only publishes feature articles. On the other hand, Penthouse publishes virtually the entire magazine on line.
There is bound to be something for everyone in electronic publications. There is virtually all kinds of magazines on the internet, from cars to women's issues. One that is worth noting is Woman Motorist, a automotive magazine written by woman for woman. In it, there is car care tips written in english that woman can understand, and a kid section, devoted to kids and car safety. This is just one example of the numerous magazines that can be found in electronic form.
Advantages of publishing electronically is that the pictures are all downloadable, this way you don't have to cut up your magazine to shreds. Like newspapers, the scope of the magazine can be expanded, by including links to other sites to re - enforce a story or point. Back issues of magazines are now making their way into gopher sites, giving people the chance to catch up on previous editions. Since the articles are written in text, and properly edited, it is no big hassle in converting it to HTML. Errors that in occur in the paper edition could not be fixed, and a retraction had to be placed by the publisher for the error. In electronic form, errors can be fixed easily, with no one being the wiser. Lastly, pictures are easier to reproduce electronically, thus giving the reader a more colourful world to read in.
Despite all the above mentioned advantages, there are some disadvantages with electronic publishing, especially if the publication is over the internet. The first one is that some sites (depending on time of day) are impossible to get into, and if you do make a connection, download time is so long (because of the high number of pictures) you could have read the paper edition front and back twice. As well, the electronic edition tends to be more linear in nature, because you can't actually flip page to page unless a link has been setup.
A concern for magazine publishers is how many people actually visit the site ? Some sites include a counter, but it is only an indication of how many people hit the site, not how many people actually read what is contained in the site. Ads can now be found at some magazine sites, and the same concern arises too. Who sees these ads and how do the ads affect the people ? In other words, how effective is it to advertise with these magazines ? One solution that is being looked into is the Nielsen ratings company. Research is being done on how to monitor internet traffic.
Return To Electronic Publishing Table of Contents.
Next : Miscellaneous electronic publications.
Back : Newspapers.
Notes used in presentation. These are the notes used during the presentation.
References :
Woman Motorist Magazine.
An automotive magazine written mainly by women for women. Automotive tips, reviews,
and safety concerns are all included.
Car and Driver Magazine.
The ever popular car magazine is now on line, reviews of cars, car specs, can
all be found here.
Penthouse Magazine.
The most beautiful women you'll ever see.
Email response from : Penthouse.
Penthouse's point of view on electronic publishing.
@Cloud9, articles for magazine journalists.
How the face of publishing is changing with the advent of electronic publishing;
views from the publisher herself.