A business model for online publishing, outlined in my local paper The Eastern Daily Press, suggests some profitable ways forward for the industry.
According to the EDP Business, entrepreneur Glen White, runs a successful editorial operation at his Norwich and Toronto-based White Digital Media Group.
Apparently, in 2009 revenues are expected to be in excess of £10m. Mr White is based in San Diego, but still has a home in Norfolk.
His company the White Digital Media Group has more than 100 staff - 40 of those based at the Norfolk headquarters.
The EDP had an incisive quote - not - from editor Ben Lobel. "We are doing really well," he said. Hmmm - but why?
"In February (09) we have sold £150,000 worth of advertising just for the UK magazine".
Interesting model. The word from my source who has to find a way past their fag-break salesmen on her way to work every day, is that they have some heavy-hitting, heavy-duty, puffing, Mr Salestastic Men at their slightly grotty HQ in Norwich.
They must be doing some awesome work on the phones. Guess that's what profitable publishing is all about these days - it's impressive.
It's a fascinating business model and I like the look of the online magazines on the website. The pages turn easily and it's quite a comfortable read - not sure if they produce a print version, will have to investigate more.
Link to White Digital Media Group
http://www.whitedm.com/
Friday 27 March 2009
Wednesday 18 March 2009
Tips from a journalism seminar in London - from print to web
From Mag to Web
Women in Journalism held a seminar last night in London. The panel were Bernadette Fallon, editor allaboutyou.com; Sarah Lindon, senior moderator at guardian.co.uk and Kathryn Corrick, digital media consultant and former manager at newstatesman.co.uk
I went along hoping for some tips on how I can embrace this lovely new technology that seems to putting all us journalists out of work - and possibly even learn how to increase my income by working more on the web.
Yes I can twitter, yes I can facebook and web 2.0 - but most of my income still comes from my pieces in print media. So if anybody can tell me how to make money from the web I'll be very happy indeed. Don't want to be a print dinosaur.
Sadly, didn't learn anything about boosting my income - the three speakers were interesting but seemed to echo what all journalist and publishers know already - that nobody seems to know much about monetising the web - or what a good business model might be.
Bernadette was a good speaker - and explained how the site grew out of a single site bought by NatMags and then used as the She website. Because the readers of Country Living, Coast and other stablemates had the same 35plus female readers, they consolidated the web presence and called it allaboutyou.com - it now serves all these mags.
Bernadette said employment wise there was now a big opportunity for journalists with the right skills to work on web instead. Those skills, she said, were picture awareness (knowing how to use photoshop as well); being able to make a basic video package (at this point I felt sorry for all those TV journalists losing their jobs because we can all make crap web video stuff now) and knowing how to write copy with Search Engine Optimisation terms in it.
About 40% of her content is different from the print mags adn she does have a budget to commission, but you guessed it, it's tiny.
The other interesting thing I learned from this talk was that web people working in the publishing have an inferiority complex next to their print colleagues - they feel unloved and unheard. (Not surprising they are putting us all out of a job and using free writers and punters to contribute free comment). Yes dear Guardian - comment is free - you don't have to pay journalists to produce it!
Sarah the moderator at the Guardian - told us about her job - basically policing reader comments. Learned that it's best if journalists interact with the comments when they have written stuff and post comments back in comment on comments. Just filed to The Guardian so I 'll give it a go when the piece comes out in print - that's assuming I, er, get any comments. It's a good and a very, very terrifying thing that readers can interact with your copy.
Interesting, she spoke about the change from readers being 'consumers' with the journalist as the authority to being 'prosumers' where they interact, debate and take part in a Web 2.0 sort of way.
She said journalists writing for the web tend to have a more conversationalist style, rather than the slightly preachy tones of print journalists. Think I must definitely be from the latter school of journalism.
Journlists, said Sarah; 'Should move away from being experts to being more of a collaborator or a curator.' Found this deeply interesting - can see myself curating lots of opinions, but then a piece doesn't work if you don't take a strong line with it as well.
Kathryn was the last speaker - and raved about a writer called Jeff Jarvis and his thoughts on the web. I'm not sure of the spelling of his name, as I haven't yet checked it out.
She also talked about what we all know - that people expect web content to be free. Apparently, there is a seminar in London on 30 March 2009 called 'Freeconomics' about this - run by Chinwag Digital, but again I'm not sure of spellings on this - so if you're interested you'll have to google. Oh look I'm being all interactive here rather than authoratative.
Kathryn had worked at the New Statesman and nothing had brought in money to the web version, not advertising, not a paid-for PDF version, not micropayments...nothing.
But she did say that one way of making money was EVENTS AND AWARDS --- so I guess you stil have to get people together for a reader event or industry award to get advertisers to sponsor and punters to part with their cash. They just won't buy content off the internet.
She said email is still crucial. You need as many readers email addresses as you can - research shows people like updates from publications they like over email She said Amazon use email updates better than anybody else - just enough to alert you without annoying you.
So that was it - I learned a little more about the web. But I didn't learn how to make money from it. Oh look - I just wrote this blog for free and I'll earn nothing from it - unless you want to send me a free donation of course!
Feedback on this would also be lovely.
Liz
Women in Journalism held a seminar last night in London. The panel were Bernadette Fallon, editor allaboutyou.com; Sarah Lindon, senior moderator at guardian.co.uk and Kathryn Corrick, digital media consultant and former manager at newstatesman.co.uk
I went along hoping for some tips on how I can embrace this lovely new technology that seems to putting all us journalists out of work - and possibly even learn how to increase my income by working more on the web.
Yes I can twitter, yes I can facebook and web 2.0 - but most of my income still comes from my pieces in print media. So if anybody can tell me how to make money from the web I'll be very happy indeed. Don't want to be a print dinosaur.
Sadly, didn't learn anything about boosting my income - the three speakers were interesting but seemed to echo what all journalist and publishers know already - that nobody seems to know much about monetising the web - or what a good business model might be.
Bernadette was a good speaker - and explained how the site grew out of a single site bought by NatMags and then used as the She website. Because the readers of Country Living, Coast and other stablemates had the same 35plus female readers, they consolidated the web presence and called it allaboutyou.com - it now serves all these mags.
Bernadette said employment wise there was now a big opportunity for journalists with the right skills to work on web instead. Those skills, she said, were picture awareness (knowing how to use photoshop as well); being able to make a basic video package (at this point I felt sorry for all those TV journalists losing their jobs because we can all make crap web video stuff now) and knowing how to write copy with Search Engine Optimisation terms in it.
About 40% of her content is different from the print mags adn she does have a budget to commission, but you guessed it, it's tiny.
The other interesting thing I learned from this talk was that web people working in the publishing have an inferiority complex next to their print colleagues - they feel unloved and unheard. (Not surprising they are putting us all out of a job and using free writers and punters to contribute free comment). Yes dear Guardian - comment is free - you don't have to pay journalists to produce it!
Sarah the moderator at the Guardian - told us about her job - basically policing reader comments. Learned that it's best if journalists interact with the comments when they have written stuff and post comments back in comment on comments. Just filed to The Guardian so I 'll give it a go when the piece comes out in print - that's assuming I, er, get any comments. It's a good and a very, very terrifying thing that readers can interact with your copy.
Interesting, she spoke about the change from readers being 'consumers' with the journalist as the authority to being 'prosumers' where they interact, debate and take part in a Web 2.0 sort of way.
She said journalists writing for the web tend to have a more conversationalist style, rather than the slightly preachy tones of print journalists. Think I must definitely be from the latter school of journalism.
Journlists, said Sarah; 'Should move away from being experts to being more of a collaborator or a curator.' Found this deeply interesting - can see myself curating lots of opinions, but then a piece doesn't work if you don't take a strong line with it as well.
Kathryn was the last speaker - and raved about a writer called Jeff Jarvis and his thoughts on the web. I'm not sure of the spelling of his name, as I haven't yet checked it out.
She also talked about what we all know - that people expect web content to be free. Apparently, there is a seminar in London on 30 March 2009 called 'Freeconomics' about this - run by Chinwag Digital, but again I'm not sure of spellings on this - so if you're interested you'll have to google. Oh look I'm being all interactive here rather than authoratative.
Kathryn had worked at the New Statesman and nothing had brought in money to the web version, not advertising, not a paid-for PDF version, not micropayments...nothing.
But she did say that one way of making money was EVENTS AND AWARDS --- so I guess you stil have to get people together for a reader event or industry award to get advertisers to sponsor and punters to part with their cash. They just won't buy content off the internet.
She said email is still crucial. You need as many readers email addresses as you can - research shows people like updates from publications they like over email She said Amazon use email updates better than anybody else - just enough to alert you without annoying you.
So that was it - I learned a little more about the web. But I didn't learn how to make money from it. Oh look - I just wrote this blog for free and I'll earn nothing from it - unless you want to send me a free donation of course!
Feedback on this would also be lovely.
Liz
Monday 9 March 2009
How you can help save the EDP and jobs at the EDP!
My local paper the Eastern Daily Press is shedding a third of its editorial jobs - 54 jobs. Bosses have been adamant the quality of the paper won't suffer - but how can it continue to function with so many jobs lost. Who will call the local police, council, courts and public bodies to account.
Consensus, among those who oppose the moves to downsize, is that you personally can make a difference.
Below is a statement from National Union of Journalists rep Pete Kelley about what you can do.
Pete Kelley says: 'We need you to contact anyone and everyone you know in the circulation area who you think will share our sense of outrage. We need them to tell the company how much it values our papers, and what it thinks of these proposals. I'm sure I don't need to tell you to be careful what you say in these emails. Do it calmly. Avoid personal insults.
Below is one I've just sent out, following a message of support from a regular columnist... feel fre to use this as a model, if you want. It includes two texts that people are, of course, welcome to quote from or adapt.
We feel strongly that this isn't even primarily about our own jobs, it's about a very serious threat to a part of the local media which plays a vital role in our communities. It's probable that many people haven't even thought about how important well-researched local newspapers put together by professionally-trained journalists are, because they've 'always been there', but we need anyone and everyone you can think of to write/phone/email in to: Archant Norfolk managing director Stephan Phillips and Archant chief executive Adrian Jeakings to protest about this, in their own words and in their own way.
I personally think this company needs to be shamed over what it is planning to do.
Contact address is...
Prospect House, Rouen Road, Norwich NR1 1RE
Phone: 01603 628311
Here also is the NUJ statement about the job losses...
The National Union of Journalists has today (Friday 6 March) hit out at newspaper publisher Archant Norfolk's announcement that it is proposing to axe a staggering 54 jobs within its editorial department.
News reporters are excluded from the process, meaning the blow takes out more than one in three of other editorial staff. They are expected to be handed their leaving date at the end of April, after a consultation process involving elected staff reps and the National Union of Journalists, which is legally recognised at Archant Norfolk for bargaining purposes.
The jobs are taken from a total of 179 full-time equivalent editorial staff. But, once the news reporters are stripped out of the process, the job losses will come from 134 staff remaining.
Stephan Phillips, managing director of Archant Norfolk, made the shock announcement to staff of papers which include the Eastern Daily Press, Norwich Evening News and a stable of weekly papers around Norfolk and north Suffolk, at a packed meeting on Friday evening (March 6th 2009).
NUJ chapel committee spokesman Pete Kelley said staff were first made aware of potential job losses in November, when an editorial review was announced and staff were asked to fill in time-sheets for a week to record their daily tasks.
"We thought possibly 20 to 30 might be affected, but the scale of the announcement has left everybody stunned," he said.
Pete Kelley, who expects to be involved in talks over the coming weeks, added: "Decimated is an over-used word. But all our subs know it actually has a technical meaning. The Romans used to take out one in 10. Romans themselves would have been shocked by the scale of these proposals, which wipe out almost one third of our editorial department, and we - as journalists - will over the coming weeks be asking why very loudly.
"We hope that the communities our journalists serve will also be asking those questions.
"These are hard times for the newspaper industry. That's understood. But to put it in context Trinity Mirror has made 13pc of its workforce redundant since January 2008. In the same time, Johnston Press has cut staff by 12pc. Down the road, our Archant colleagues at Ipswich are in the process of redundancies affecting nearly one in five. All of these are bad enough, but we fail to understand the disproportionate scale of the cuts here.
"Our city paper, the Norwich Evening News, has run a "Love Your Local" campaign which has been picked up by the government and has been brilliantly received. It saved three post offices from closure with the Save Our Post Offices campaign, and helped the puppet theatre stay open. It raised funds to ensure kids who need ambulance treatment in Norfolk are given a teddy bear to calm them down.
"And the EDP has recently run some brilliant, important reports on the bill for city council pay-outs and the failings in privatised home care for the elderly. Last year it highlighted how a secret plan was being proposed that could have flooded huge areas of Norfolk's coastline, and it has been fighting for local business with its successful Shop Here campaign.
"We're producing award winning pictures and websites. On the weeklies side the Lowestoft Journal won the EDF front page of the year award for its Wembley FA Vase special, Wymondham and Attleborough Mercury was recently Newspaper Society Niche Publication of the Year for a special supplement on Wymondham Abbey. The Yarmouth Mercury showed an ABC figures increase last year.
"Our editorial department is a success story valued in local communities and earning national recognition.
"It is difficult for my members not to feel the current economic downturn is being used as an excuse to slash staffing levels... and this at a time when loyal, long-serving journalists will find it extremely difficult to find work elsewehere. The NUJ will be working hard, in talks over the coming weeks, to bring these figures down. We hope local communities will support us."
The NUJ has called a chapel meeting for Monday March 9th at which industrial action will be considered.
The news of the job losses also comes just weeks after chief executive Adrian Jeakings said that it was the company's staff who made Archant a success.
At the annual Archant People Awards ceremony, held in London on Friday, January 23, he said: "The bedrock of the company is formed from the people around the country who every day work to produce our newspapers, our magazines and our websites and they are what makes Archant different.
"We have a track record of successful change and I believe we can survive and prosper in this changing world because we have the best people in the business."
Thoughts on Jeremiah James Colman
I'd like to ask a question on behalf of a man who can't be here today, but who is very relevant to what is happening.... Jeremiah James Colman.
In 1870, Jeremiah was a factory owner who was asked to help set up Norfolk's first daily paper. He's important for two reasons. He's important because the Eastern Counties Daily Press (as it then was called) lost £400 in its first three months... in those times a huge sum. The following year, in 1871, it survived only because Jeremiah guaranteed to cover half its future losses. The paper by then called the Eastern Daily Press didn't turn a profit until 1879.
That's something our profit-focused shareholders and our shareholder-focused group board need to think about. Never for one moment think we're primarily here to make money.
Jeremiah stuck with it because he was a social reformer... introducing revolutionary working practises in his own factory. And he was joined, in starting the paper, by men like Jacob Tillett, campaigning to get all men the vote and for fair access to education.
Before the EDP was first out of the red, it was already attacking the Lord Mayor for refusing to let St Andrew's Hall be used for an agriculultural labourers' meeting.
In more recent times, we have been true to that spirit (see examples above).
Local newspapers - and now websites - matter as much as papers did in 1870. They matter to inform, to campaign, to hold the powerful to account, to dig in and question. They matter to pensioners who write in to tell us they've read the paper for 57 years. They matter to political campaigners who have few other platforms, to playgroups looking for volunteers, to support business and the arts, to fight crime.
What we do here matters to our democracy.
It seems to be becoming an industry mantra that newspapers are dead. I think if Jeremiah James Colman were here today, he'd be angry about that. He'd want to ask what we're doing to challenge that assumption. He'd be asking, if you destroy the slowly built-up teams, the skills and experience in your editorial department, what is left? What is the point?
Consensus, among those who oppose the moves to downsize, is that you personally can make a difference.
Below is a statement from National Union of Journalists rep Pete Kelley about what you can do.
Pete Kelley says: 'We need you to contact anyone and everyone you know in the circulation area who you think will share our sense of outrage. We need them to tell the company how much it values our papers, and what it thinks of these proposals. I'm sure I don't need to tell you to be careful what you say in these emails. Do it calmly. Avoid personal insults.
Below is one I've just sent out, following a message of support from a regular columnist... feel fre to use this as a model, if you want. It includes two texts that people are, of course, welcome to quote from or adapt.
We feel strongly that this isn't even primarily about our own jobs, it's about a very serious threat to a part of the local media which plays a vital role in our communities. It's probable that many people haven't even thought about how important well-researched local newspapers put together by professionally-trained journalists are, because they've 'always been there', but we need anyone and everyone you can think of to write/phone/email in to: Archant Norfolk managing director Stephan Phillips and Archant chief executive Adrian Jeakings to protest about this, in their own words and in their own way.
I personally think this company needs to be shamed over what it is planning to do.
Contact address is...
Prospect House, Rouen Road, Norwich NR1 1RE
Phone: 01603 628311
Here also is the NUJ statement about the job losses...
The National Union of Journalists has today (Friday 6 March) hit out at newspaper publisher Archant Norfolk's announcement that it is proposing to axe a staggering 54 jobs within its editorial department.
News reporters are excluded from the process, meaning the blow takes out more than one in three of other editorial staff. They are expected to be handed their leaving date at the end of April, after a consultation process involving elected staff reps and the National Union of Journalists, which is legally recognised at Archant Norfolk for bargaining purposes.
The jobs are taken from a total of 179 full-time equivalent editorial staff. But, once the news reporters are stripped out of the process, the job losses will come from 134 staff remaining.
Stephan Phillips, managing director of Archant Norfolk, made the shock announcement to staff of papers which include the Eastern Daily Press, Norwich Evening News and a stable of weekly papers around Norfolk and north Suffolk, at a packed meeting on Friday evening (March 6th 2009).
NUJ chapel committee spokesman Pete Kelley said staff were first made aware of potential job losses in November, when an editorial review was announced and staff were asked to fill in time-sheets for a week to record their daily tasks.
"We thought possibly 20 to 30 might be affected, but the scale of the announcement has left everybody stunned," he said.
Pete Kelley, who expects to be involved in talks over the coming weeks, added: "Decimated is an over-used word. But all our subs know it actually has a technical meaning. The Romans used to take out one in 10. Romans themselves would have been shocked by the scale of these proposals, which wipe out almost one third of our editorial department, and we - as journalists - will over the coming weeks be asking why very loudly.
"We hope that the communities our journalists serve will also be asking those questions.
"These are hard times for the newspaper industry. That's understood. But to put it in context Trinity Mirror has made 13pc of its workforce redundant since January 2008. In the same time, Johnston Press has cut staff by 12pc. Down the road, our Archant colleagues at Ipswich are in the process of redundancies affecting nearly one in five. All of these are bad enough, but we fail to understand the disproportionate scale of the cuts here.
"Our city paper, the Norwich Evening News, has run a "Love Your Local" campaign which has been picked up by the government and has been brilliantly received. It saved three post offices from closure with the Save Our Post Offices campaign, and helped the puppet theatre stay open. It raised funds to ensure kids who need ambulance treatment in Norfolk are given a teddy bear to calm them down.
"And the EDP has recently run some brilliant, important reports on the bill for city council pay-outs and the failings in privatised home care for the elderly. Last year it highlighted how a secret plan was being proposed that could have flooded huge areas of Norfolk's coastline, and it has been fighting for local business with its successful Shop Here campaign.
"We're producing award winning pictures and websites. On the weeklies side the Lowestoft Journal won the EDF front page of the year award for its Wembley FA Vase special, Wymondham and Attleborough Mercury was recently Newspaper Society Niche Publication of the Year for a special supplement on Wymondham Abbey. The Yarmouth Mercury showed an ABC figures increase last year.
"Our editorial department is a success story valued in local communities and earning national recognition.
"It is difficult for my members not to feel the current economic downturn is being used as an excuse to slash staffing levels... and this at a time when loyal, long-serving journalists will find it extremely difficult to find work elsewehere. The NUJ will be working hard, in talks over the coming weeks, to bring these figures down. We hope local communities will support us."
The NUJ has called a chapel meeting for Monday March 9th at which industrial action will be considered.
The news of the job losses also comes just weeks after chief executive Adrian Jeakings said that it was the company's staff who made Archant a success.
At the annual Archant People Awards ceremony, held in London on Friday, January 23, he said: "The bedrock of the company is formed from the people around the country who every day work to produce our newspapers, our magazines and our websites and they are what makes Archant different.
"We have a track record of successful change and I believe we can survive and prosper in this changing world because we have the best people in the business."
Thoughts on Jeremiah James Colman
I'd like to ask a question on behalf of a man who can't be here today, but who is very relevant to what is happening.... Jeremiah James Colman.
In 1870, Jeremiah was a factory owner who was asked to help set up Norfolk's first daily paper. He's important for two reasons. He's important because the Eastern Counties Daily Press (as it then was called) lost £400 in its first three months... in those times a huge sum. The following year, in 1871, it survived only because Jeremiah guaranteed to cover half its future losses. The paper by then called the Eastern Daily Press didn't turn a profit until 1879.
That's something our profit-focused shareholders and our shareholder-focused group board need to think about. Never for one moment think we're primarily here to make money.
Jeremiah stuck with it because he was a social reformer... introducing revolutionary working practises in his own factory. And he was joined, in starting the paper, by men like Jacob Tillett, campaigning to get all men the vote and for fair access to education.
Before the EDP was first out of the red, it was already attacking the Lord Mayor for refusing to let St Andrew's Hall be used for an agriculultural labourers' meeting.
In more recent times, we have been true to that spirit (see examples above).
Local newspapers - and now websites - matter as much as papers did in 1870. They matter to inform, to campaign, to hold the powerful to account, to dig in and question. They matter to pensioners who write in to tell us they've read the paper for 57 years. They matter to political campaigners who have few other platforms, to playgroups looking for volunteers, to support business and the arts, to fight crime.
What we do here matters to our democracy.
It seems to be becoming an industry mantra that newspapers are dead. I think if Jeremiah James Colman were here today, he'd be angry about that. He'd want to ask what we're doing to challenge that assumption. He'd be asking, if you destroy the slowly built-up teams, the skills and experience in your editorial department, what is left? What is the point?
Friday 6 March 2009
How to be the most annoying Starbucks customer ever!
Top ten annoying things to do in a Starbucks' queue.
1. Keep changing your mind about what food you want. "I want a chocolate muffin...no I want the fat free orange cake, no actually the granola flapjack looks lovely"
2. Taste a self-serve wrap, make a face that says 'yuk' and put it back.
3. Ask them to check your change once you've paid and complain they haven't given you the right amount back. Ask the till assistant to recount your change several times.
4. Sneeze on everything. Drop bits of a grizzled paper hanky on the counter.
5. Drop what they've served you and go and get some more instead. Do this several times.
6. While you are in the queue ask for a price on everything - say you've forgotten your glasses.
7. Ask for a calorie count on everything - say it's too fattening and ask for something else instead. 8. When you go to pay attempt to negotiate the bill.
9. Pay in small change.
10. Try to engage the assistant in a long, meaningless conversation while a large queue forms behind you.
1. Keep changing your mind about what food you want. "I want a chocolate muffin...no I want the fat free orange cake, no actually the granola flapjack looks lovely"
2. Taste a self-serve wrap, make a face that says 'yuk' and put it back.
3. Ask them to check your change once you've paid and complain they haven't given you the right amount back. Ask the till assistant to recount your change several times.
4. Sneeze on everything. Drop bits of a grizzled paper hanky on the counter.
5. Drop what they've served you and go and get some more instead. Do this several times.
6. While you are in the queue ask for a price on everything - say you've forgotten your glasses.
7. Ask for a calorie count on everything - say it's too fattening and ask for something else instead. 8. When you go to pay attempt to negotiate the bill.
9. Pay in small change.
10. Try to engage the assistant in a long, meaningless conversation while a large queue forms behind you.
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