Digital Magazine and Newspaper Editions: Buyer’s Guide
� Ad clickthroughs.
� Email-to-a-friend and social bookmarking invocations.
� Usage of features such as bookmarks, highlighting, and annotation.
� Usage of rich media content.
� Types of devices and browsers.
� Referral URLs.
Publisher Interfaces
It is important to find a digital edition provider that can work the way you want to
work. This manifests itself in two primary ways: editorial and production, and
subscriber management.
Production Workflow
Editorial workflows should ideally enable a publisher to send the digital edition
provider the same files as those that it generates for printers. Most digital edition
providers will accept PDFs, subject to certain provisos such as resolution (DPI) and font
embedding; some will also accept formats like QuarkXPress, Adobe InDesign, or
Microsoft Word.
Discuss your particular format issues with digital edition providers to determine which
one will accommodate your workflows. You should also discuss the digital edition
provider’s features for accepting rich media files such as audio, video, and animations.
If you intend to create a digital edition that is not merely an exact facsimile of your
print publication – or if you are a digital-only publisher – then it is important that the
digital edition provider have the capacity and skill set to work with you to design a
publication that meets your needs.
Subscriber Management
The other primary interface between publishers and digital edition providers is
subscriber information. Some print publishers have their own subscriber management
systems, while others house their subscriber information at fulfillment houses such as
CDS or PalmCoast. Meanwhile, many digital edition providers maintain subscriber
databases and handle fulfillment for all of their customers’ publications. Such providers
also tend to handle payment processing and other e-commerce issues for paid digital
editions.
This may well be fine for digital-only publishers and print publishers that are just
starting out with digital editions. But print publishers that want to expand their digital
edition strategy often find themselves wanting to integrate print and digital subscriber
information, for reasons such as these:
� Combination pricing: if you’re a print subscriber, get the digital edition too for
$X less.
� Promotional e-mailings of the digital edition to print subscribers.
111
©2008 Gilbane Group, Inc.
http://gilbane.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135