OpportunitiesOpportunities and Constraints and Constraints for forSusan Currie Sivek, Ph.D. Alyssa Townsend IndependentIndependent Digital Digital Magazine Magazine Publishing Publishing Susan Currie Sivek, Ph.D.

Alyssa Townsend Abstract Indie Mags Today • Niche audiences may help a magazine move Optimists have long hoped that digital • Editors’ priorities: personal curation, passion from free to paid communication would diversify media, for topic, love of tangible, physical design but the realization of this dream is far experience Marketing and exposure from certain today. This study investigates • “Graphic design is content” • Challenges in getting exposure the emerging opportunities available • Low production and distribution costs; • Global marketing difficulty: highly visual to independent magazine publishers greater potential for global reach magazines more successful than those reliant through digital publishing methods, such on text; digital publishing therefore not as distributing their magazines through Method Results inherently more global the Apple Newsstand. These publishing 12 in-depth phone or Skype interviews • Limited success with search engine methods have the potential to diversify with founders and/or editors of digital indie Motives for independent digital magazine optimization, press releases, and Facebook magazine publishing beyond the currently magazines in U.S. and Europe publishing advertising • Express a personal interest and want to share dominant offerings of major multinational Creating multiple revenue streams magazine publishers. However, at the same Independent Digital Magazine Publishers that interest with others • Experiments: in-app shopping with time, a variety of limitations — software Interviewed • Advance their careers or businesses commission; record label with same brand and design expertise, public awareness name; print collection of formerly digital- and interest, and technology companies’ Magazine Publishing Selection of publishing formats Title Topic Platform(s) Web Address • Digital publishing was only real option for only content constraints on publishers — may have Astronaut Art & iPad astronautmagazine. both cost and creative expression already limited the ways these independent music com Independent digital magazine publishers’ publishers can reach audiences. Fan the Film PDF, web fanthefiremagazine. • Room for experimentation in visual Fire com appearance and interaction with content predictions for the future Green Parenting iPad greenchildmagazine. • The more sophisticated the magazine, the • Varying levels of optimism about indie Child com digital magazines’ future DIY & Issuu indielovely.com more time and money required Indie • Need more powerful publishing tools and Lovely crafts Katachi Design & iPad katachimag.com Business strategies ability to publish across platforms/devices lifestyle • Distribution at low or no cost • Address disconnect between the worlds of Outland Motorcycle iPad outlandmoto.com • Revenue from other sources: advertising, indie print and digital publishing Moto travel Spenser Food Issuu spensermag.com sponsorships, or magazine-branded products Symbolia Illustrated iPad, symboliamag.com ... or no revenue at all Contemporary journalism Kindle, Magazine Publishing PDF Sponsorships, advertising, and The Technology iPad, the-magazine.org • 3 major publishing companies: Time, Inc., Magazine & culture iPhone, web subscriptions Advance, and Hearst Treehouse Literary Web treehousemag.com • Currently no use of sponsorship VIEW Photo iPad fusionlab.com/ • Some advertising success; skepticism among • Ad pages fell by 8.2% between 2011 and viewmagazine/ 2012 (Publishers Information Bureau) Yippee Ki- Film iPad ykymag.com advertisers • Distribution of digital magazines: Apple Yay! • Paid content difficult to sell Newsstand, Google Play, Amazon, Zinio, • Magazines in Apple’s App Store “not just up Magzter, Issuu and others against other magazines, but also other apps”