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Recently I’ve noticed (via posts on LinkedIn and Twitter) that a number of my peers are reading The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen. The frequency of its mention got me on my feet, heading to the bookcase, where I blew the dust off my yellowed 2002 edition to give it a re-read.

It is not a new book, it’s been updated a few times since its initial publication in 1997. I’m trying to remember what was happening in 2002 that caused me purchase the book in the first place. The first-ever iPod? Digital satellite radio? The disposable cell phone? The Segway?

Most probably, whatever drew me to this book was something internet-related, and likely, whatever technology it was, it’s probably long gone.

As an aside, and speaking of redundancy, I love the initial case study in The Innovator’s Dilemma about disk drives. Anyone who lived through the rapid evolution of disk drives will laugh with me on this.

Considering the evolution from where the book left off to present, disk drives are almost obsolete from working environments, replaced with USB memory sticks, cloud servers, and the like. Disk drives continue to be an excellent product and industry to use for an ongoing case study.

Relevant to today, particular to mobile, tablet, and web publishing, content, e-commerce and community building, The Innovator’s Dilemma case studies still ring true with what I, and many like me, encounter on a daily basis in a publishing environment.

The advent of what is termed “cross-platform” or “multiple-platform publishing” has turned the industry on its ear, with most publishers big and small scrambling to figure out what the heck to do, and quickly, before they all go bankrupt.

How do we monetize what we have already? How do we stop the bleeding? What can we bring to market to retain our current customer base? How can we sell advertising?

When we don’t bring innovation to the table when we are having these discussions, we are missing the mark entirely.

Enter here the innovator’s dilemma, especially in magazine publishing, where steadfast tried and true methods of circulation and readership building have been measured, analyzed and implemented exactly the same way for eons. Why? Because for print magazine publishing, they work.

Applying the same principles to digital media is a recipe for disaster. Yet, so many publishers are doing exactly that.

This morning I read an article about Yahoo who have decided to close their tablet magazine app Livestand, six months after it launched. It is closing “amid poor growth and a criticism of a lack of innovation.”

http://www.strategyeyedigitalmedia.com/article/2012/05/28/yahoo_shuts_down_tablet_magazine_app_amid_refocus/

Why isn’t this surprising? Yahoo’s competition was Flipboard, who got to the space faster and attracted a significant readership due to its innovative interface that while offering its users a place to view digital publications, invited integration with user’s existing social media accounts. Heck, I fell in love with it instantly and have used it daily ever since.

In publishing, it seems that there is quite a battle deciding how to approach digital media. Many feel approaching it as an additional or “enhanced” print product is the way to go.

I am not a supporter of that approach. I don’t think it will work.

Last night, I laughed at myself when I read the following paragraph in The Innovator’s Dilemma because my latest and most oft-used mantra is – you can’t put a new hat on print products and peddle them as digital. Even more so when the intention is to market them like they are print products to print customers.

“Using planning and marketing techniques that were developed to manage sustaining technologies in the very different context of disruptive ones is an exercise in flapping wings”.

(The flapping wings references ancient attempts at flight that didn’t take aerodynamics into consideration, but involved strapping feathers to your arms and flapping with all your might while leaping from high places).

Apparently, what I read so many years ago has stuck, and to me the solution is very obvious. The publishing industry needs innovators. The challenge is convincing the industry.

Last year I was commissioned by Magazines Canada to add a new edition to their Small Magazine Handbook series, the Magazine Production Handbook, that would help small publishers navigate the new world of print and digital publishing.

What interested me in assisting them with this project was considering the perspective of the small publisher and how they are often forced to do more with less, because typically their resources are limited.

As I say this, it strikes me that large publishers suffer the same ills, but I digress…

Anyway, seeing the opportunity to cover a few grounds, since the theme of the book was essentially mine to create, I thought I would address a few of the shortfalls I see fairly regularly when resumes cross my desk and the skills that potential job candidates are coming into the publishing industry with – or without – are glaringly apparent.

Namely, print experience.

More often than not, a recent graduate’s technical expertise in the most up-to-date software applications is bang-on. Exactly what we need, and likely they can teach the rest of the department a thing or two.

But many graphic communications programs neglect print, and rarely do I encounter candidates that have print experience. They have never seen a printing plant, and aside from maybe ordering wedding invitations, have never had any exposure to the printing process at all.

Therefore, I spend a lot of time teaching folks the printing process.

Given that in a production department, particularly that of a smaller publisher, a production manager wears several hats, that of prepress manager, production manager for a publication, project manager for digital or interactive projects, webmaster and anything else technical that has the Publisher look in their direction, understanding the differences and the similarities between print and digital products and how to manage them all is essential if they are to succeed.

To help bridge the gap, the Magazine Production Handbook covers:

• the Evolution of the Production Department
• Premedia & File Management
• Print

A few of my well-oiled peers from several Canadian publishers big and small agreed to contribute and help write the various sections:

Jennifer Blais - Philter Communications, formerly with Spafax Canada
Jodi Brooks - Quarto Communications
Leonard Goins - Rogers Publishing
Maria Mendes - Transcontinental Printing
Lynn O’Hearn - St. Joseph Printing
D.B. Scott - Impresa Communications
Christopher Smyth - St. Joseph Communications

The handbook is now published and available for sale. If it sounds like a resource you may find useful, visit Magazines Canada’s website.

http://www.magazinescanada.ca/handbooks_for_non-members?product=740&category=

The Magazine Production Handbook is a digital edition made to view on Zinio.

The Magazine Production course is part of the Web and Magazine Publishing Certificate, but you don’t need to be in the program to take it.

This is a course that is constantly being updated due to changes in technology and magazine publishers’ requirements. I also take student feedback very seriously.

The Spring semester curriculum will have a nice balance between digital and print, providing basics for both as well as a few hands-on assignments.

Students will:

• have access to the digital edition of the Magazines Canada Production Handbook throughout the course (a million thanks to Magazines Canada for this privilege). The handbook covers project management, asset & content management, and has a section on printing. Not to mention that the various sections are written by a cast of seasoned publishing industry veterans.

• learn about digital publishing in many formats including websites, blogs, apps, and digital magazines (static and rich media)

• discuss current technology and events as they pertain to publishing and magazines

• visit a printing facility and have a guided plant tour

• come away with an understanding of how print and digital workflows can be integrated

Course registration is now open for the Spring/Summer term - Tuesday evenings beginning on May 1st.

http://ce-online.ryerson.ca/ce/calendar/default.aspx?id=5&section=course&mode=course&ccode=CDJN%20205

Last night I was a guest speaker at Ryerson University’s Magazine and Website Publishing course. This course is part of a certificate program that prepares folks who would like to either enter or learn more about the business of magazine publishing and where it is going.

Gone are the days when that was a simple explanation. When faced with the question “What do you do?” at the top of the class, I had a difficult time answering.

What I do has morphed from what used to be a more simple, hands-on affair where the majority of my time was spent planning a single publishing schedule for each magazine, negotiating print contracts, booking in film for advertisements, maintaining deadlines and sorting out print budgets, to something I can’t explain in a way that has anyone comprehending how I spend my time or what I do exactly.

And they also glaze over.

Or drift into a lolling slumber.

How to divide the explanation between print and digital publishing is also a bit complicated. Especially now that one of the goals I’ve set for myself and for the company that I work for has us bridging the gap between the two in such a way that they are not quite separate entities anymore. You can’t talk about one without mentioning the other.

For instance, instead of saying ‘magazine’ or ‘editorial’, I say ‘content’. For a newbie or someone just coming out of journalism school, this does not compute. It is only once you enter the publishing environment that the terminology we are now using to explain magazine publishing even begins to make sense.

The technology we use today resembles nothing we used 10 years ago or even 5 years ago. In fact, it is changing so rapidly, it’s hard to stay on top of it.

I find, as someone who sits in the middle of print and digital publishing, that due to my experience with print, it is up to folks like me to help our publishers sort out the mess that has become publishing, where two worlds are colliding that up to now have not spoken the same language.

What do I mean by that? Well, RGB and CMYK for instance, Mac versus PC, dots per inch versus pixels per inch, etc – the list is endless actually – and combining the two in to one continuous workflow that works reasonably seamlessly is much more difficult than it sounds, but not impossible.

Traditional print production folks need to be taken at face value, with a realization that print publishing has been digital since the early 1990’s, so developing and working with technology is old hat for us. We’ve had to adapt to a rapidly changing technical environment for decades.

This isn’t to say that all traditional print production managers have the capability or desire to adapt. Obviously, it’s those who are keen on technology, intrigued by the internet, digital publishing in all formats, love the new devices that are coming out, and wish to apply the solutions that have worked in a digitally driven print environment to web publishing that are the most valuable.

They are the ones the web developers, who have limited knowledge of print or print file formats and workflows, need to work beside if this type of integration is going to work.

I for one don’t quite understand all of the hullabaloo around print being dead. Study upon study has shown that print readership is steady and that the impact of print advertising is better and more lasting than advertising on a digital publishing product.

But I’ll tell you one thing that print is – expensive. So the appeal of digital products is definitely something publishers need to consider.

But here’s something else – digital product development is also expensive.

I don’t want to see our publications’ digital products hindered by development costs. And that is where having a print experience is very helpful.

Production in print is cost-cutting central. We are good at finding cheaper, alternative solutions to get our products out the door without sacrificing the quality or end-user experience.

From my standpoint as a producer, that makes publishing a very challenging and exciting industry at the moment.

And by the way, I still don’t think the students in last night’s class have any inkling what I do.

How fun is this? To celebrate Fashion Magazine’s 35th Anniversary, they and L’Oréal Paris have created a new, limited edition raspberry-hued Colour Riche® lipcolour and are asking Fashion Magazine readers to name it.

Bernadette Morra, Fashion’s editor-in-chief says “Lipstick is the go-to item in a woman’s cosmetic bag - the beauty perennial that finishes her look, gives her confidence, and allows her to express her individuality to the world. These are the same goals we help our readers achieve with every issue of FASHION. So what better way to commemorate our 35th anniversary than with a new lipstick? We are thrilled to partner with L’Oréal Paris to create a signature colour to mark this very special occasion. Stay tuned for what our readers name this hot new shade.”

I’d love to give it a whirl, but I can’t because I work on Fashion (darned rules and regulations), but you can. Enter here:

http://www.fashionmagazine.com/blogs/contestpage/?slug=fashions-35th-anniversary-special-edition-lipstick-contest

On March 1st I attended the annual State of the Magazine Nation event hosted by Magazines Canada. This year’s theme focused on how the printed page is changing, a tongue in cheek and rather obvious topic about how magazine publishers are having to reevaluate their businesses and consider how they might publish their content across multiple platforms.

The featured speakers were:

Lynn Chambers from newly named TC Media (formerly Transcontinental Media), who is the Group Publisher of Elle Canada, Canadian Living, More, and Juice, a new publication recently launched in partnership with Loblaws.

Shelagh Stoneham, the Vice President & General Manager, Brands & Marketing Communications at Rogers Communications Inc. Shelagh’s specialties are corporate brand strategy and marketing communications, including mass advertising, social media, search, direct, customer base and retail programs.

Jeanniey Mullen who is the Global Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Zinio, the digital newsstand and publishing media marketplace.

The speakers were interesting, each of the publishing companies shared stories and real experiences relevant to changing and restructuring their products to incorporate new technology and bring their content to their readership in multiple formats as well as sharing some successful and creative digital executions in partnership with their advertisers.

However, the highlight of the event was not what I heard from the speakers. It was a conversation I had with a dyed in the wool web dev colleague of mine that I dragged along. As the speakers, especially Jeanniey from Zinio, presented, he had a hard time wrapping his head around why on earth one might have any interest in reading a digital edition of a magazine, regardless of the bells and whistles you could wrap around and through it.

He then made a very astute connection (in my opinion) between what the magazines were attempting to do in their digital publications with what Google is already doing on the web, so why wouldn’t you just surf the internet?

What interested me about his viewpoint was his trust in the brand he (and the majority of us) use daily, Google. At that moment it occurred to me that we as magazines, who spend all our energy becoming trusted brands, are no longer just competing with each other, but also with Google for brand loyalty.

And not just within Google, meaning search engine optimization and how the majority of publishers have little hope in ever having their content rise to the top without the search criteria including the actual name of our publications, but with Google directly, seeing as they are essentially an aggregator, much like a magazine, who is obviously as my friend has just demonstrated, trusted.

I was quick to point out that Google also returns crap, and began explaining what we as publishers have to offer is a trusted, targeted voice, and a place, whether printed or in a digital format, where our readers can come to get information they can relate to, specifically selected just for them, to use and enjoy in a safe, protected environment. He wasn’t buying it.

The next day I offered him my iPad, and an assortment of digital magazine examples for him to peruse at his leisure. This time, he was buying it, and did experience the solitary, focused, uninterrupted environment a digital magazine can provide, similar to that of a print magazine, but only partially. The digital edition I gave him was so large, and so full of enhanced, rich media that he began squirming, looking at his watch, and finally decided he didn’t have enough time in his day to devote to it. He quit halfway through.

Our ongoing conversation continues, and at this point we both agree that digital publication formats are not where they should be to be successful. Some hinder the reader’s enjoyment with over-complicated features, too much content, difficult navigation, or poor quality text and images.

We also agree that there is room in publishing for both websites and digital editions of magazines and each serves a purpose.

But what’s clear is that we as an industry have not found the right formula for a digital publication.

I look forward to are more conversations like this one, because they will lead to the right formula, one that successfully fits between a print and an interactive web experience, that isn’t trying to reinvent or replace one or the other.