Quote:
Originally Posted by
jm6032 
rain, not reposting your entire piece, but I'm missing something with most of the posts here, but you come real close. If I understand, what you're describing is the WWW. It is still the new paradigm.
Yes, publishers do seem bent on reproducing their print products and app stores seem to be imposing various restrictions, but, isn't the WWW still a new medium? Why would a publisher want to endure the restrictions of various distribution methods when the WWW is already there? Why have an iPad app, an iPhone app, an Android app? Why not a HTML app? Complete freedom of form, complete freedom of advertising, complete freedom to fill your pages with whatever content and whatever ads and all the platforms I mentioned already have the app to read it.
Cultivate content producers that create content people want to read, or look at, or whatever. Then find advertisers willing to pay you to reach the eyes of your readers.
Maybe I'm old fashioned, actually, I am old fashioned, but all this hype and hoopla about having to do things any particular way seems just outrageous. Printed newspapers and magazines survived many decades with the differentiation being the content and the content creators. The medium simply disappeared as you immersed yourself in the content. Everyone knew how to read and everyone knew how to hold a magazine or newspaper and that's what everyone did.
I think too much is being made of the gathering of reader information. I believe that this constant bombardment of portal pages demanding your information simply gets to be too much. I, and I assume many people, just stop and go somewhere else.
I agree that I don't see a subscription model doing well for almost all content. I do see a way for creative content creators to use the WWW and HTML to deliver their content and have people pay to be seen (advertise) on their pages. I read yahoo and cnn every day for my news. I don't pay anything to them to do it.
Perhaps the real problem is the massive amount of information already available from the massive number of free sites. Perhaps if these mega publishers really wish to make a mark, they should offer something few others do: their expertise in their field and their reputations and their integrity (ok, I don't want to dive into that can of worms).
Maybe publishing should be more like an OSI stack. Just a level or three above the physical layer a different driver should be used.
What am I missing?
To answer ^^^: absolutely nothing. And I agree 100%!
As you said, HTML-App is the way to go, especially with Google Chrome just around the corner, Android, and even MS going HTML5 standards-based with the upcoming IE9.
If I was a publisher, I would be scared... very scared.
OR... I would sit down and do a serious evaluation of what makes "my content" better or more relevant than my competition's. The Flipbook approach is just so awesome, as well as twitter, RSS, Facebook, Blogs, whatever. There is already too much to read and keep up with every day.
If I had big bucks, I would start a syndication agency for authors and content creators. Get rid of the staff except the techs that would "feed" original articles in a standards compliant form. Build in ads to the article's feed, and call it a day.
I just can't see old-style magazines or newspapers surviving. Also, one of the great things about the web, and AI should know, is the interaction between the articles and the readers within the forums. My measly "5-spot" says it's the true meat-n-potatoes re: income. Why else the click-bait headlines?
