print

Harvey Levin: Sensationalist or Soothsayer?

old newspapers never die, they just fade away

“Leave the heavy stuff. Just go.” That’s what the voice inside my head said when I read in The Washington Post (WP) that TMZ founder and celebrity gossip peddler Harvey Levin recently addressed journalists at the National Press Club about the future of news media. It wasn’t the first time I’d considered hightailing it. I [...]

Mr. Editor, Tear Down This Wall

Advertorial Wall

You know what word I hate? Advertorial. I’m not alone. For those of us who cut our journalistic chops in the newsroom, the division of editorial and advertising is as sacred as the constitutional separation of church and state. My first reporting gig out of college was covering the use of technology in education. Eager [...]

Should This Blog Post Have Been Written in Cursive?

cursive writing

I recently learned that Indiana, my beloved home state, is no longer requiring schools to teach cursive writing, focusing instead on printing and typing. I remember struggling to perfect my cursive writing in Mr. Biltz’s fifth grade class. But I never came close to the beautiful script of my teacher. If there were an Olympics [...]

Nudity, Pregnancy, and the Power of Magazines

mariah carey nude magazine cover

In the celebrity world, there are three life events that absolutely warrant a magazine cover and spread: Babies (both pregnancy and newborn shots), coming out of the closet and losing a significant amount of weight. Though some digital devotees have dismissed the print medium in today’s laptop/mobile/iPad age, the truth is that this tradition still [...]

The Physical Fitness of Content

physical content versus virtual

Hey, sexy. Wanna get physical? No, no, I don’t want to make out with you (though that new haircut really is stunning). I’m just wondering if you’d rather have the game / program / book / magazine / newspaper / CD / DVD you’re about to buy in some sort of physical form, or if [...]

Printervention: An Ode to Magazines

printervention, an ode to print magazines

Call in the A&E folks, it’s time for an intervention. You see, I have a little problem with magazines. My coffee table is stacked with them, my dining room table has a few scattered on it, ditto on my nightstands, and for certain, you can find a few in my purse right now. But the [...]

Tying It All Together: What a Well-Placed Headline Can Do For A Layout

tying it all together, rugs and headlines

There’s a scene from the Coen Brothers’ 1998 cult classic The Big Lebowski where Jeff Bridges’ character, The Dude, walks into a local bowling alley lamenting the ruination of a living room rug vandalized by intruders. “That rug really tied the room together, did it not?” asks a concerned John Goodman, who plays fellow bowler [...]

Launch: Exhibition Magazine

exhibition magazine thumbnail

Talk about targeted content: Newly launched luxury magazine, Exhibition, produces one issue annually and focuses all editorial around one subject.

Wasn’t Print Supposed to be Dead by Now?

wait isn't print dead thumbnail

For the past several years, print magazines have been the punching bag of the blogosphere and digital revolution. Naysayers dubbed it “dead tree media” and essentially had a poll running to see who could predict when it would take its final breath – being on its death bed and all. But it turns out they [...]

Scarcity, Permanency, and Print

print magazines thumbnail

When it comes to digital content, a premium is placed on being able to update minute by minute. The most recent news, the latest commentary, and a real-time feed of reactions frame what’s online. But when it comes to print, trying to follow this model is as daunting as it is misguided, says Wired editor-in-chief [...]

Ma, My Magazine is Talking To Me!

Thumbnail image for Ma, My Magazine is Talking To Me!

Open up the Sept. 18 issue of Entertainment Weekly and CBS TV stars will greet you through high-quality video and audio. It’s true! The actors will appear on a paper-thin video player, packaged within a print ad spread for CBS and Pepsi. This “VIP” (video-to-print) technology invites readers to interact and watch five different videos—straight [...]

Print Edition of Politico Makes the Website Profitable

Politico’s “Washington Coup” was exposed in the August issue of Vanity Fair with a story on the insider political news website and its success since the 2008 election. The interesting twist? The print version of the website is what actually makes the website profitable. The “obsessive-compulsive mix of trade journal, Twitter feed, and, quite literally, [...]

Launch: Behind the Chair

Behind the Chair, a website for stylists and the salon trade, is bringing its online brand to print with the launch of a quarterly magazine, Behind the Chair On Paper. According to FOLIO, 75,000 copies of the 172-page first issue will be printed and distributed in July and mailed along with an educational DVD. Three [...]

Connecting Print Pages to the Online World

Ever heard of QR codes? If you’re in publishing, you might be familiar with them very soon. It’s a new technology that’s being used in Japanese and European publications and is making its way to the U.S. How does it work? Get ready for this: a two-dimensional barcode-like image (like the one seen here) is [...]

Give Print a Chance

I love digital. I love videos. So much that we are changing our name from The Magazine Group to TMG. We’re performing all sorts of non-traditional media services for our clients. But I am sick of hearing that magazines are dead. The hype is what’s killing magazines, not the reality—particularly when it comes to highly [...]

Will iTunes Be The New Virtual Newsstand?

Apps aside, will the iPhone become the new digital medium for magazine content? Perhaps iTunes will become a virtual newsstand for magazines, bringing the newest issues straight through to your iPhone. In a recent article in AdAge, publishers say the idea isn’t so far-fetched. “iTunes is a great marketplace for entertainment, movies, music, TV, even [...]