Thursday, October 26, 2006
Convergence, divergence and convergence again
Is this story about What's on TV another example of convergence – or is the media eating itself?
Talking of eating, Nexus Media appears to have gone on a crash diet. In one sense this is not a total surprise since a lot of Nexus's magazines have long seemed to be what might be described as "marginal" – viable when advertising times are good but at risk in a recession. It's always a shame when mags have to close and perhaps this should be seen as a straw in the wind for the magazine industry as a whole.
And this is why it is important to be able to write news, to be able to write for the web and to know how to create a good blog. If Uncut is going down this route you can be sure it's bang in the mainstream now ... and another line of questioning for Mr Kim Hollamby.
Talking of eating, Nexus Media appears to have gone on a crash diet. In one sense this is not a total surprise since a lot of Nexus's magazines have long seemed to be what might be described as "marginal" – viable when advertising times are good but at risk in a recession. It's always a shame when mags have to close and perhaps this should be seen as a straw in the wind for the magazine industry as a whole.
And this is why it is important to be able to write news, to be able to write for the web and to know how to create a good blog. If Uncut is going down this route you can be sure it's bang in the mainstream now ... and another line of questioning for Mr Kim Hollamby.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Know-ledge is Power
A really good piece by Janice Turner about In the Know in the current Press Gazette.
Friday, October 20, 2006
Magazines Online - just like 2000 again
An interesting selection of magazine-related material in the media publications right now.
When Kim Hollamby – Mr Digital IPC – comes to town in a couple of weeks time the link below will take you to a Press Gazette news story which should provide the basis for a good question.
Press Gazette - Posting defamatory comments on Yachting World site
And, from the same source, you could also ask him if he has any advice for his opposite number at NatMags, Nancy Cruikshank or Anthony Thornton at IPC Ignite!Digital. (Thornton, of course, get nme.com off to a flying start so he has a pretty good track record).
Andrew Neil is undoubtedly much more clever and much harder working than me but I cannot for the life of me see how he is going to get The Business, newly relaunched as a magazine, up to his expected circulation figures. The first unofficial audits suggest a sale of 20,000 maximum, of which 10,000 went in overseas sales and 5,000 were sold to British Airways. Now, in my day "overseas sales" usually meant being dumped in unsuspecting European countries, and was a figure to watch out for when doing due diligence on a potential purchase. A deal with BA often means something similar and will almost certainly be at a lower price than you'd pay on the newsstand. Even if every newsstand buyer is converted into a subscriber that's a big mountain to climb. Espectaially when the peak is 60,000 as break even!
When Kim Hollamby – Mr Digital IPC – comes to town in a couple of weeks time the link below will take you to a Press Gazette news story which should provide the basis for a good question.
Press Gazette - Posting defamatory comments on Yachting World site
And, from the same source, you could also ask him if he has any advice for his opposite number at NatMags, Nancy Cruikshank or Anthony Thornton at IPC Ignite!Digital. (Thornton, of course, get nme.com off to a flying start so he has a pretty good track record).
Andrew Neil is undoubtedly much more clever and much harder working than me but I cannot for the life of me see how he is going to get The Business, newly relaunched as a magazine, up to his expected circulation figures. The first unofficial audits suggest a sale of 20,000 maximum, of which 10,000 went in overseas sales and 5,000 were sold to British Airways. Now, in my day "overseas sales" usually meant being dumped in unsuspecting European countries, and was a figure to watch out for when doing due diligence on a potential purchase. A deal with BA often means something similar and will almost certainly be at a lower price than you'd pay on the newsstand. Even if every newsstand buyer is converted into a subscriber that's a big mountain to climb. Espectaially when the peak is 60,000 as break even!
Getting into travel writing
There's a useful guide to getting travel writing commissions on journalism.co.uk, linked conveniently for you below:
News and jobs for journalists :: How to: get travel-writing commissions
News and jobs for journalists :: How to: get travel-writing commissions
