The September / October issue of InPublishing magazine was published last week. Here are some of my takeaways from it, one from each article:
- Scoops: Most scoops aren’t what they are cracked up to be. There are only half a dozen real crackers a year. Sound judgement and analysis of known facts is more valuable. (H/t Michael White)
- Cover design tips: A winning cover is one that creates an emotional response, whether that’s happiness, curiosity, or anger, together with an unforgettable line or image, preferably both, and finally something that is unique to your brand. Pictures make you stop, words make you stay. (H/t Lisa Smosarski)
- Publishers vs Big Tech: Publishers must retain the right to decide how and when their content is used by AI companies and must be fairly compensated for that use. Generative AI is often marketed as “creating” content, but in truth, it synthesises information harvested from existing work – including our journalism. (H/t Owen Meredith)
- AI in peer review: Generative AI should not be permitted to write peer review reports, either fully or in part. However, AI has the potential to support and improve aspects of the peer review process. (H/t Laura Feetham-Walker)
- No more free trials: Trials is an important tactic as publishers try to convert less engaged or price sensitive audiences – but don’t make them free. Heavily discounted trials are more strategic as they create a sense of value and commitment. (H/t Phil Clark)
- Mindset over skillset: While technical ability was once the most critical factor when recruiting, now mindset is just as important. We must place a greater emphasis on a candidate’s willingness to grow, experiment, embrace uncertainty, and learn from feedback. (H/t David Reay)
- Simplifying metrics: Journalists have so many metrics to consider, that there’s some merit in paring down various metrics (including engagement, scroll depth, brand safety, propensity to consume another page view) to a single, more usable score which takes more of a 360 view into account. (H/t Terry Hornsby)
- Evolving content strategies: As search traffic declines and publishers fight for attention next to improving machine-generated content, focusing on ‘specialisation’, ‘trust’ and ‘exclusivity’ is the way to build resilience into content. (H/t Tom Lake)
- Bring campaign metrics to life through storytelling: Start with the impact, not the data. Instead of leading with, for instance, “CPMs were 20% below benchmark”, lead with, “we shifted brand consideration by 15% among your target audience”. Then use the underlying metrics to explain how that happened. (H/t Sean Adams)
- The future of niche: The niche magazine world is about leaning into identity, design and community rather than scale. Listening to our loyal audiences will help us survive, but innovating, experimenting and collaborating with like-minded brands can ensure we thrive. (H/t Holly Johnson)
- Absence of shame: Would a Watergate-style investigation make such a difference today? Sh*t hitting the fan seemed inevitable after Watergate. Would it now? It’s a depressing thought but realistic to think that today, they’d probably get away with it. Witchhunt!!! (H/t Dickon Ross)
- Thinking positive: There’s a huge diversity of revenue streams out there. But, the conversation is sometimes very narrow in the news media sector, very defensive. As an industry, we see everything as a threat and that’s telling. (H/t Christian Broughton)
- In the line of fire: Journalists in Gaza have been killed at a level unseen by any conflict of modern times. (H/t Antonio Guterres)
- Brand value: Every publisher talks about having “brands”. Yet is that true? Do they really have something that adds value to (or even creates) a community; or do they simply have a product that serves a defined target market?
If you want to read the full issue, then please register here. Once you’ve completed your registration, you’ll be provided with a link to the digital edition.
You can catch James Evelegh’s regular column in the InPubWeekly newsletter, which you can register to receive here.
