Print: The original mass medium

1
Print The original mass medium

• Writing . . . is the great invention of the
  world.
• -A. Lincoln
• Why would he say that?

2
Print Media

• Books
• Longevity
• Versatility
• Impact
• One-time purchase
• Medium to high cost
• Social and cultural impact
• Big topics
• Bookstores, book clubs, online sales

3
Print Media

• Newspapers
• Immediacy
• Practicality/utility
• Low cost
• Limited in format and frequency
• Political and social impact
• Ad driven
• Subscriptions and newsstand sales

4
Print Media

• Magazines
• Versatility in content, format, frequency
• Customized content (niches)
• Cultural, social and political impact
• Usually ad driven, but various other models exist
• Balance of longevity and immediacy
• Low to medium cost

5
Books

• Johannes Gutenberg
• 1450-1500 30,000 titles published in Europe
• 1998 70,000 titles published, U.S.
• 1998 3 billion books sold, U.S.

6
Book selling

• 27,700 bookstore in the U.S. (1997)
• General (6,900)
• Religious (4,000)
• College (3,500)
• The growth of chains
• Online sales Amazon.com
• 3 percent of all sales (1998)

7
Four eras of American publishing

• Colonial era (1600s-1865)
• Gilded age (1865-1900)
• Commercialization of Literature (1900-1945)
• Publishing goes public (1945-present)
• A new era?

8
The health of American book publishing

• Book clubs
• Changes in the organization of publishing firms
• Boom in American education
• The paperback revolution

9
Paperbacks

• About 60 percent of all book sales
• Mass market
• 1939, Pocket Books, Robert deGraff
• Trade
• 1953, Jane Epstein of Doubleday Anchor Books

10
Economics of book publishing

• Retail 25.00
• Seller discount 12.50 50
• Printing 2.00 8
• Warehouse, etc. 2.00 8
• Marketing 1.50 6
• Overhead 2.00 8
• Author 2.50 3.75 10-15
• Profit 1.25-2.50 5-10

11
Magazines

• What is a magazine?
• Arabic makhazhin, a place where goods or
  supplies, esp. ammunitions, were stored.
• First use for publication, 1731 London
  Gentlemans Magazine, taken from the French
  magasin.
• Thus . . . a publication that holds and dispenses
  information.

12
Magazines

• The Review, London, 1704 (first ever)
• The Gentlemans Magazine, London, 1731 (first to
  use magazine in the title)
• The American Magazine, Andrew Bradford, Feb. 13,
  1741(first in the New World 3 issues)

13
Magazines

• The General Magazine and Historical Chronicle,
  Benjamin Franklin, Feb. 16, 1741(3 issues)

14
Magazines, defined

• A formal definition
• A publication that is produced periodically on
  paper with a collection of any or all of the
  following articles, reportage, essays, fiction,
  artwork, photography, other editorial features.
  Usually referred to as periodicals, esp. in
  legal definitions.

15
Magazines, defined

• U.S. Dept. of Commerce
• Publications are considered periodicals rather
  than newspapers if their news and editorial
  presentation do not appear to be directed to the
  public at large.

16
Magazines, defined

• Thus, a magazine is . . .
• a regularly published periodical that targets a
  select audience, a group of readers defined by
  their interests or demographics.

17
Magazine variables

• Audience
• Content
• Form
• Functions (Types)
• Consumer
• Trade
• Public relations

• Frequency
• Classifications
• Economics
• 3-legged stool
• Content (Editorial)
• Advertising
• Circulation

18
Magazines How many?

• Estimates as high as 22,000 titles (U.S.)
• 4,000 consumer
• 8,000 trade (business to business)
• 10,000 public relation
• About 160 have circulations of 500,000 or above
• Consumer titles generate about 80 of all
  magazine revenues

19
Magazine readers

• 1993 360 million, total magazine circulation
• 94 of American adults read at least one magazine
  per month
• 28 of Americans read a magazine on a given day
• 25 minutes a day reading a magazine