Publishers Blogging

There are lots of magazine blogs. But there is a real paucity of blogs about the magazine business: its commercial prospects, the strategic issue of adapting to the web, competitive intelligence and innovation. Book publishers, by contrast, are getting to be very bloggy-minded. We regularly tune in to book publishing blogs such as Charkinblog, O'Reilly's Radar (which is a gold star technology blog with good publishing angles). Brantley's blog and the hugely informative Open Access News. Michael Cairns has posted some very helpful guidance for publishers who are considering blogging about their business. He is thinking of 'book publishers', but I reckon that the magazine publishing industry is in greater need of more coverage in the blogosphere. I know of no blogger who provides detailed and insightful coverage of the results, corporate activity and strategic issues facing magazines in the way that Cairns's PersonaNonData does for the book publishing sector. The best coverage may be from Paidcontent which is too Press-Release-driven and includes the magazine industry in its overall media purview -- so much less analytical or opinionated than Cairns's commentary.

Some of the best magazine industry blogs? I would recommend Samir Husni's MrMagazine.com (particularly interested in launches), Jeremy Leslie's magCulture (insight and focus on design) and Magforum, an informative UK-focussed web site which is evolving into a blog. If you have necrophiliac inclinations there is the funereal magazinedeathpool. Chris Anderson is one of the most influential magazine industry bloggers and pundits, but his blogging is too rarely about magazines. Its all about his big idea thelongtail. And Nicholas Carr and Jeff Jarvis occasionally touch on the magazine industry, which they both know well from the inside, but Carr needs to get a better grip on the future of digital print, less on the future of IT, and Jeff Jarvis risks losing himself in interactive TV (which is another business, not the magazine industry).