Digital publishing is successful for local magazines

In South Africa, Chris Erasmus, publisher of Odyssey Magazine and Simply Green says that after 'taking the plunge' with a complete switch from print to digital earlier this year, all indications are that the free-to-reader model is working.

Chris Erasmus

To date, with five issues of both titles having been digitally published (through its host site Issuu.com), Erasmus says there is a clear upwards trend in readership numbers.

Free-to-reader digital model

"At first, we were very concerned as to whether our radical step would work, especially as we had with no local examples to look at and there were very few commercial magazine titles in the world which had made the huge leap of faith to a free-to-reader digital model. But it is now evident that our move is working and well."

With Issue 6 of Simply Green about to go live, the title's previous issue had breached the 91,000 reads/views mark (as measured by Issuu). Odyssey Magazine's latest issue, live just over three weeks, had done even better, having gone past 326,000 reads/views and rapidly approaching a third of million. Odyssey's digital numbers show that what was once thought of as a 'very niched' and/or 'esoteric' title has vastly wider appeal than many might have suspected.

"When we were thinking about all this, we had hoped by year's end to be in the mid to high tens of thousands for each title. That was our 'best-case' scenario. We have reached this and more - and much sooner than we thought possible, which is delightful.

"However, there are still issues to be solved. One is that in many cases we are ahead of the knowledge curve with regard to some agencies, media planners and client brand executives. Most of these people are still thinking about online in terms of web pages, click-throughs and related metrics, much of which does not pertain to what amounts to a standard magazine that lives, literally, in cyberspace."

Previous attempts at digital publishing often had a magazine on the publisher's own website, automatically limiting exposure and traffic. Other publishers, wary of the free-to-reader model, are doing what he calls a 'digital dongle' by offering an online, reduced price copy of their existing print title, along with offering existing print subscribers a free online copy.

Free content is the only option

"There are inherent problems with this model for the great majority of publishers and their publications, as we discovered when we experimented with this option a few years back. For one thing, we have found that people simply do not want to pay for information of any sort online, regardless of the price.

"What we've done is simply go round all that. By having a very well known host site, such as Issuu, with 60-some million users and growing rapidly, we've seen that about a fifth to a quarter of our readers are international, opening the way for domestic titles to have a very significant global reach - as long as the content is right.

"Moreover, online, content is king. So the key to our success - apart from removing any payment barriers and allowing people freely to share and distribute the magazine, either through hyperlinks or by downloads - is that we have focused on having an interesting article mix. This ensures that, regardless almost of age and other demographic factors, everyone who gets to the point of turning from the cover to the inside will find something of interest, be they corporate leaders, managers, home executives, ordinary people or students, educators and school kids.

"The numbers show that this approach is working. Having the magazines open to the internet, we can provide excellent articles that stand on their own, as was the case in print, and we can add new dimensions through videos and related material that enhances and enriches the experience for readers, especially those who want to pursue a line of investigation beyond what is on the page before them.

New editions planned

"We already have a localised version of Odyssey Magazine (now in its 37th year of publication) designed for UK audiences, titled Body, Spirit & Mind, which has attracted over 67,600 reads/views and we have more international editions for both titles planned.

"We now know, rather than merely strongly suspect, that digital is the way to go - and we think we've cracked the problem of how to make it work. Our year of transition out of print has been tough and rocky, but we believe it's been worth it and that it can only go from strength to strength as we move into 2014," concludes Erasmus.