Publications like New York, Forbes and The Atlantic have become leaders in what we consider the second phase of mobile publishing development – the technology is dependable, early jumpers are releasing their all-new versions upgraded from their 2010 efforts, and standards for what consumers are willing to pay for are establishing themselves.
But there are hundreds of smaller publishers out there bravely forging ahead without the expensive bells and whistles of the big boys. These companies are only on their first app iteration, not their second or third, and have substantially fewer resources to throw at a digital magazine.
These are the publishers for whom the digital replica was made. No one says you have to start out like New York, with a spectacularly innovative digital magazine platform. Nope, you can ease into the mobile publishing age with a simple digital replica magazine, and still satisfy your readers, your advertisers and your bottom line.
A replica edition is fairly simple, with print content digitized on pages exactly as the print edition does it. Usually this means simply uploading PDFs of your pages into software of some kind, or having someone else do it for you. The layout, advertising and content are exactly the same as the print version, no more or less, and each page, accessed by swiping horizontally, is identical to the print original.
(Note: If you currently create your magazine pages as PNGs, please resist the temptation to upload those. The iPad’s technology makes those pages look fuzzy and pixelated. That’s definitely a no-no.)
Producing a digital replica is a fairly simple process now, with dozens of providers offering software and even hosting, marketing and analytics services.
And if you’re concerned that you’ll look like a publishing dinosaur by putting out a simple replica, fear not. At least not yet. These days, many perfectly respectable publishers are opting for the replica because of the lower price points for design (none) and production.
Among the simple replica brethren are the brand-new Atlantic Weekly, Black Belt and other magazines from Active Interest Media, Fine Gardening and other Taunton Press publications, Sound + Vision and other Bonnier magazines; even a
brand-new digital-only science magazine called Brain Dump. You’re certainly in good company if you choose to go replica only.
Digital replica: The cons
Obviously the biggest downside to creating a digital replica of your magazine is that it’s an entirely new expense, requiring more manpower and technology that you never needed before Steve Jobs and his iPad came along. We’ll get into the actual costs later.
In addition, many publishers find that their sales staffers have trouble selling advertising now that it’s so much more complicated in the digital world. The metrics are complex and not standardized, and explaining the benefits to a new advertiser may take more knowledge than your print ad salespeople have.
From the consumer point of view, one of the biggest complaints we hear about replicas is that the page, being simply minimized to fit into a tablet screen, delivers type that’s too small for many people to read. Enlarging the view then expands the page beyond the confines of the tablet screen, so the reader has to move the page around with a finger to read all of it.
Another problem that no one seems to be measuring is that a replica edition, if done sloppily, can generate animosity and drive consumers away from your brand – even long-time readers. In the iPad newsstand, I see dozens of complaints about the technology of every app I’ve ever reviewed here, and many I haven’t – and I mean 1-star ratings out of 5.
An example from TIME magazine, which should have the money to do these things right:
(1 star)
No longer interested
I have not been able to download the last three issues, even thought they appear on the library shelf, and I have downloaded the upgrade. This is a waste of time, and I am going to write my subscription off.
I guess that subscriber won’t be renewing any time soon.
Digital replica: The pros
So why should you trust your brand to a digital replica? Most importantly, because consumers now expect and even demand a mobile version of your magazine. The longer publishers wait to jump on the bandwagon, the more they risk losing their audience to rivals who already have a mobile version.
On top of that, consumers are starting to actually prefer digital magazines to print, partly because of the convenience and, especially in the case of millennials, partly because of the green factor: A full 37% of respondents in a 2011 MPA survey said that digital media’s lighter environmental impact was one of the reasons they buy digital media.
And while I mentioned above our consumer research showing that the small type of a replica can be a pain for readers, there is an alternative to the basic replica that we call the “vertical swipe reflow,” which allows a larger font size as each article is then reflowed into a long single page that’s accessed by swiping vertically.
We’ll get into this option more deeply in another chapter. It’s something most publishers could choose at a minimal expense – at Mequoda, for instance, we charge $35 per page to redesign a magazine to reflow – to overcome the replica
“con” of small type.
Besides, consumers are increasingly willing to spend serious cash on mobile media, unlike expectations of website content back in the early Internet days when everyone demanded that all content be free. PriceWaterhouseCoopers has even predicted that consumer spending on digital magazines will top $80.2B by 2016.
You certainly want to be getting in on that action, even with a plain replica!
By the way, tablet magazine readers are also younger and more affluent, according to numerous studies – a two-fer that’s rare for any commodity – making them a tempting audience for both publishers and advertisers.
That’s one reason why you may also be able to charge higher prices for
advertising. Another reason is that readers have been shown to be more engaged with, and spend more time on, digital content than on print. Although as I’ve noted, advertising rates appear to be lagging behind, others report higher prices being charged successfully.
Furthermore, by going electronic and taking delivery costs out of the equation, you can afford to expand your reach globally for the first time. And as some publishers have proven, adding a digital magazine to your product line might allow you to
actually raise subscription rates without substantial pushback from your readers.
Finally, data is starting to trickle in showing that digital subscribers, including those who get the digital edition as part of their print subscription, renew at higher rates and at higher price points. That’s not too bad, either.
So … is it worth your time and expense to publish a replica?
While you’re weighing the above pros and cons, you’ll also need to consider cost.
The best thing about the replica is that uploading PDFs is pretty much all there is to it: No need to redesign around fancy options like interactive ads, videos, or interactive content. If you want to move beyond the simple replica, most providers will happily do so for you, but let’s consider the basics of producing a plain replica.
When it comes to providers in this space, Adobe’s Digital Publishing Suite is the granddaddy of them all. However, getting into DPS Enterprise requires an upfront cost of more than $50,000, and Adobe also charges $.35 per download. This makes DPS best suited for large, multi-title publishers.
Number 2 in the field is Mag+, which Mequoda generally recommends for its clients. For Mag+, you’re going to pay $599 per month to publish to all devices, and about $.04 per download. (And unlike Adobe, Mag+ allows publishers to host their digital magazines themselves, eliminating the download cost.) This package is much friendlier to smaller publishers.
There are so many other factors and options that I’ll be revisiting this issue in an entire blog post later, but for now I’ll just mention that you can also get software only and do all the rest yourself, or even use free, open-source software such as Treesaver.
How much should you charge?
Pricing for digital magazines is as chaotic right now as your average Macy’s sale.
No two pricing policies are alike! However, we’ve determined that the average single-copy price is $4.97, while the average 1-year subscription rate is $19.97.
Some folks bundle their digital subscriptions with print for an extra $5-$10. Others maintain completely separate subscription options.
If you’re feeling bold you can add bundle your digital subscription with your print subscription, and take that opportunity to raise your print price.
Of course, the real question in pricing is how you’re going to break even and make
money after investing in your digital edition. And as I said, the cost of going digital is complex enough to merit its own spreadsheet.
But here’s the bottom line based on Mequoda’s research so far:
To launch a simple replica, you can expect to pay about $7200 per year for Mag+, plus another $2000-$3000 in labor. If you have a $30 subscription, with the
average 70% remit, you’ll need to sell 500 subscriptions to break even. And even the smallest of publishers we’ve heard from are selling 10,000 or more in their first year. If that’s not enough to get you on the digital bandwagon, we don’t know what is.
There are dozens of replica editions already out there, and there are enough advantages to mobile publishing that Mequoda believes no one should hesitate.