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Digital back issues
Adweek (in some ways the successor to Mediaweek) recently reported that some publishers have had success with tablet owners buying digital versions of back issues of magazines.
For example, Hearst reports that back issues make up 30% of single-copy digital sales, while two Martha Stewart publications claim that a quarter of their single-copy digital sales involve older issues. Here, the inherent scarcity of an off-sale date may be working to the advantage of periodical publishers.
Bonnier, a special-interest publisher whose titles include Popular Mechanics, lowered the price of its back issues by 40% and sees a steady business.
In the Adweek piece, Hearst president David Carey noted, “Much of our content is truly timeless.”
If that holds up, it might also become an argument for making that content much more agile and recombinant. That way, readers won’t just buy issues; they’ll design and buy their own custom content solutions.
Posted by Ric Day
I think he “recombinant” approach has enormous potential. In the 70s and 80s when I was reply involved in magazine publishing, it always bothered me that an article published last month was effectively “gone” this month.
The first step will be for magazine publishers to add decent metadata to their archives, and that task is large enough, it could spawn a new industry!
Posted by brian O'Leary
If there is a market for recombinant content, publishers will step up or they may risk losing the opportunity to aggregators. The examples in the Adweek article, particularly Popular Mechanics and the Martha Stewart publications, are great test cases for content that is both likely to be reused (recipes, for example) and highly likely to benefit form a personalized collection.
In this regard, I think smart phones as a platform provide a limited example. It’s possible that my cell phone, with its collection of apps, is unique in the world. It reflects both my interests and preferences, but it wasn’t designed for me by Apple or anyone else. I think the same kind of functionality has to come to content, hopefully sooner rather than later.
Posted by fairuse
Okay, you got me, this is about magazines not books (see twitter post). I hear/read ‘back catalogue’ and think books because I don’t subscribe to magazines. At one time (worked in manufacturing) I did have stacks of paper; trade journals, news of all kinds, industry specific monthly/quarterly pubs, & so on. I guess much of that is now online in one form or another. Not much from consumer interest side of magazines. Time to catch up
After I backpedaled thru the links I understand now. The observation that Kindle has some catching up to do doesn’t surprise me. The iPad magazine campaign was big and required “big magazine” to put big bucks into popular brands. One of my wife’s reasons for buying a Kindle Fire is she wants single issues versus complete subscriptions and back issues. I see that working for cooking publications.
As for me? I have her ‘old kindle’ and a box of “Dr. Dobb’s Journal of Computer Calisthenics and Orthodontia: Running Light without Overbyte” from the end of 1970’s to early 1980’s; history link: http://drdobbs.com/184405518
In comparison, http://drdobbs.com/ is not your father’s DDJ but techweb must be doing something right.
Posted by Brian O'Leary
There’s this anomaly in my writing: I write about magazines, books and association publishing. It’s confusing at times (not so much to me, but to people who are not me). Your observations are very valid in the book space and help elsewhere.
Have you been reading Bill Patry’s new book?
Posted by fairuse
Yes, I do have “How to Fix Copyright”. It has been crazy busy because of the SOPA bill. Computer .. Sleep .. Computer .. Sleep. I wish it was an audiobook so I could listen while typing. I will get time to read shortly.
A toast to busy, because the alternative is not fun. 
Posted by Martin
After I backpedaled thru the links I understand now. The observation that Kindle has some catching up to do doesn’t surprise me. The iPad magazine campaign was big and required “big magazine” to put big bucks into popular brands. One of my wife’s reasons for buying a Kindle Fire is she wants single issues versus complete subscriptions and back issues. I see that working for cooking publications.
I think he “recombinant” approach has enormous potential. In the 70s and 80s when I was reply involved in magazine publishing, it always bothered me that an article published last month was effectively “gone” this month.