Print is Dead: Books in Our Digital Age

Time magazine just chose it’s person of the year, and it’s you. Meaning me. Or rather, it’s us, the information age and everyone who is incorporating technology into every phase of their life. It’s an interesting concept to be sure (personally, I thought it’d be that crazy guy from Iran). But what’s more interesting are all of the corresponding articles that tie into the theme, such as articles on YouTube, the new Internet bubble, and Web 2.0.

Excerpt: “The new Web is a very different thing. It’s a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter. Silicon Valley consultants call it Web 2.0, as if it were a new version of some old software. But it’s really a revolution. And we are so ready for it…”
Time Magazine Person of the Year

The MediaBistro website has an article in their Media News section which asks the question, “Is Print Dead?” The scope of the story is the magazine business, and not trade publishing, but of course there are certain similarities. The tone of the article is that things are definitely changing, and that the Internet is certainly wiping out some forms (and formats) in the magazine world, but ultimately notes that “there’s something special and unique, even luxurious, about reading a big, glossy magazine.” Of course, whether anyone is going to have time to still read those big, glossy magazines is another thing. The last time I was in a doctor’s office, not one person was reading the big, glossy magazines; instead, every single person was playing with their small, portable digital devices: Blackberry, cellphone, iPod.

MediaBistro: “Is Print Dead?”

The founder of Wallpaper magazine, Tyler Brule, is launching a new publication next year named Monocle. Talking about the magazine, and the wisdom of launching something print-based during these increasingly digital times, he said, “I’m so tired of hearing from all corners of the media that print is dead. Well, it’s not. It’s a time when magazines should be pulling up their socks and turning out more fabulous, more confident, more robust products.”

Of course, the “print is dead” argument is meant more for the basic conveyance of information, and Wallpaper and magazines like it — large, colorful, status-oriented and filled with ads — are meant more to be thumbed-through or put on a coffee table than read. So a magazine like Vogue doesn’t have as much to worry about in terms of print being dead, but magazines like Newsweek and Time —which have very much felt the pinch of rising digital reading — indeed have a lot to fear. So I’d say that Brule is half-right; print is not dead for his kind of magazines, but for all the ones already put out of business by the Internet and online reading (not to mention those ones, like Slate, that have never physically existed in the first place), it’s a much different story.

Wallpaper Founder to Launch New Magazine

While I’ve recently seen a number teen magazine closing down their print versions (mostly due to competition from the Internet), choosing instead to concentrate on their online presence, the newest casualty in the declining magazine market seems to be a bunch of how-to magazines about the home (they’re called “shelter mags”).

From a Media Post article: “As magazines struggle with the rise of the Internet and shifting consumer preferences, traditional mainstays are under siege. One notable example is “shelter” mags, including some of America’s most venerable purveyors of homemaking advice. Like lad mags on the other side of the gender divide, shelter and craft mags are caught between a rock and hard place: on one side they face competition from the Internet, and on the other, a market that may be over-saturated.”

Run for Shelter, Home Mags Take a Beating