Will Print Magazines Survive?

[Brian]

[Brian]

Publishing insiders Bob Sacks and Samir Husni square off in the magazine industry’s hottest debate: Will print magazines survive—or even thrive—in the next century?

Bob Sacks: It’s a Digital World Now
http://www.writersdigest.com/article/it ... world-now/

Samir Husni: The Death of Print Magazines and Other Fairy Tales
http://www.writersdigest.com/article/th ... iry-tales/

What's your take? Is there a future for print magazines?

To be part of our Conversation, post your response here. A few responses may be selected to run in a future WD e-newsletter.

[Jamesaritchie]

Anyone who claims to have the answer to this question is either guessing, or is self-deluded.

[Ablurition]

Print magazines will survive as long as women go to grocery stores. And as long as Playboy continues to be published, lol. Think about it, some guys don't want to admit that they do anything but read the articles - why would they want an electronic subscription that their wife/girlfriend/mother could easily uncover with a few clicks and a little sleuth work? (You can take the mailing label off a magazine, but you can't erase an IP record.) Sorry, I'm not trying to be sexist, just trying to make a shallow analysis of the print magazine market. I think there will always be a demand for print materials as long as there are specialty mags too... regional, trade, hobby, etc. I can see a large trend, maybe even a majority sometime in the future, where reading material is solely electronic (iPod, cell phone, Blackberry, Kindle...). Still, there's nothing like doing a crossword puzzle and having to erase something and getting those little eraser remains all over the page. You can't silly-putty the comics on an electronic reader, either, lol. I've got both electronic and print magazine subscriptions, and I enjoy the print ones much better. Come to think of it, I read more of the print magazines than the electronic ones. It's easy to scroll past the content on a screen, but it's also easy to scan a printed page and find something that catches your eye.

[WeekendWordsmith]

The electronic age is marvelous, and it allows some wonderful methods of communication.

Look at this board -- the immediate and widespread input and feedback are possible only through an electronic connection. And it sure blows the doors off of a series of "letters to the editor" over several issues as a forum for reader exchanges.

Still -- maybe I'm too old to think otherwise -- but there will always be something special about holding the printed page in my hands. It's portable, flexible, and doesn't require a single battery.

As a guitarist, I can compare the question of on-line vs. print to a debate over electric vs. acoustic guitars. There is a role for both -- plugging in and cranking it up is awesome, but the sheer organic beauty of the music that fingers, steel strings, and a wooden soundboard produces will always find an audience.

 

[Timeless]

I sure hope they do. I haven't gotten used to this whole zine movement - it just doesn't feel the same. I want a magazine (or book) I can take with me on a flight, a bus trip, to the kitchen for a snack. I know they have these e-reader type devices you can take with you anywhere, but I haven't fully warmed up to them.

[abqwriter]

My guess is that it will and it won't. It will not survive at the level and in the current form that it is today, and that goes for all print media - magazines, newspapers and books. It won't go away completely, but it is currently in massive upheaval. I strongly believe that more and more content will go to the web and mobile, so writers who position themselves to be a part of that trend will ride the crest of the wave.

[supernerd]

I suppose there is a market for online magazines/books, but that ain't me. I couldn't even read the two articles posted because that much text on a screen hurts my eyes.

This forum (and many other sites like it) are convenient for the rapidness of the input and feedback. And that's great. But if I'm going to sit down and read a magazine or book I too want something I can take with me anywhere without the hassle of trying to find somewhere to plug it in...plus, the text on a page doesn't hurt my eyes.

The market is there, but so is the market for an ACTUAL book. I think it will continue to reincarnate itself over and over again from the computer to phones to Blackberries to whatever groovy little gadget Sony...Toshiba...Verizon...whoever comes up with next. It will evolve but never take over completely.

I love the smell that hits me when I open the door and step into my favorite bookstore. The papers, inks, coffee...You don't get that from the internet. A tangible book is an experience, and I don't think it will be going out of style any time soon.

I gotta go. Where's my purse...?

[G-Girl]

[terrifitz]

Print magazines will survive; maybe not in the quantity they are now. I agree with the other "posters", there is nothing like browsing the magazine racks in the local stores, flipping through the pages to see if you really want to purchase this one or maybe the other one. Take it home and yes, go to the bedroom or kitchen and sit down quietly and read it. Computer screens are tiring on the eyes and concentration levels can get low when reading a mass of print. When on the computer, one tends to "scan" choosing only the words that you are searching for, not really digesting the whole content.

I don't want to see them disappear completely and I don't think they will

terri