[epub] RE: Newsletter market speculations

["Frances Stewart" <fstewart@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At the risk of sounding simplistic, Dawn, I think it depends on what you
have to offer - people don't have time anymore for long-winded articles -
they want digests with the option of references for more.

The truly specialized magazines that deliver the short power-punch are doing
very well.  Their very specialization limits their market, however.  With
our AnyFrontPage Bytes Ezine, (for webmasters crafting with MS FrontPage
software, we constantly reach out to the 'Newbies' trying to keep our base
growing (it's working<G>)

We also have a constant fight to keep our articles short.  It is just not
easy to do that when you are a tech resource and need to include the
background info for newbie-friendliness.

I have found it very surprising that the ad market is such a hard nut to
crack though.  Especially when the ezine vehicle is SO target intensive.

Fran
AnyFrontPage Bytes, http://www.anyfrontpage.com/bytes/
Interactive Ezine featuring FrontPage Resources, links, tutorials, news,
add-ons, contests & competitions for the FrontPage Crafter. Free E-books
included.

-----Original Message-----
From: Dawn Rivers Baker [mailto:editor@wahmpreneur.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 26, 2002 12:56 PM
To: epub@list-universe.com
Subject: [epub] Newsletter market speculations


Hi folks.

At the risk of getting a little heavy on everybody, I'd like to throw some
ideas at you and see what you think.

I've been researching the periodical market lately and I've noticed some
interesting things.  The print newsletter industry is currently a $5
billion a year industry, according to the most recent data I've been able
to get out of the Newsletter and Ezine Publishers Association
(NEPA).  While the industry is dominated by small businesses and
entrepreneurs, the growth potential is definitely there.  The industry's
largest newsletter publisher has reported earnings of approximately $300
million annually, while the largest circulation consumer newsletter boasts
1.5 million subscribers.

Meanwhile, the magazine industry is hurting, partly because of the way the
ad market tanked last year and partly because the younger readers that
everybody is panting after (because you always need to renew your market
with a new generation of customers) are being siphoned off by a combination
of television, cable and the Internet.  The result is that there is a rash
of consolidation expected for the magazine industry; it's slow to start
because of all the economic uncertainty but we can expect it to get up to
steam later in the year as the economy improves.

The problem with all the consolidation is the tendency for those big
conglomerates to play it safe, with the result that there will be a bunch
of bland consumer publications out there and very little creativity or
innovation or new voices to be found.  Already, there is a push for some of
those publications to succumb to the spin-off fever that we saw with
television sit-coms back in the '70s.  This stuff is not likely to appeal
to those younger readers that are so attractive.

What all this suggests to me is that newsletters -- and particularly e-mail
newsletters, which are able to acutally *take advantage* of the way the
Internet is eating into the market -- might be coming to a point at which
they could give the magazine industry a serious run for its money, in terms
of market share.  There are some major obstacles to overcome here -- most
notably the reluctance of the average consumer to pay for electronic
content -- but looking several years down the road, this seems to me to be
a definite maybe. <g>

What is the market looking like to you?

Cheers!
Dawn


EPUB archives: http://Ezine-Universe.com/archives/

-----
---------> March Opt-Influence Co-Registration Special <---------

All orders over 10,000 receive 1,000 free additional subscribers!

                 1.877.547.8864 / 1.920.490.8553

----------> http://opt-influence.com/c/pl.cgi?marpps1 <---------- 


........................ EPUB Discussion List .....................
Post:                                 mailto:epub@list-universe.com
To Join:                         mailto:join-epub@list-universe.com
To Remove:             mailto:leave-epub-721690Q@cool.sparklist.com
Digest Mode:             mailto:epub-digest@lists.list-universe.com
Comments:                    mailto:epub-feedback@list-universe.com