Christian magazines to receive free digital publishing platform software
Eight Christian magazines in Eastern Europe, Asia, and South America
will gain a new edge in the digital publishing world as a result of a
gift of FlipViewer Xpress Creator
software by E-Book Systems. The magazines won the award in the Digital
Publishing Platform Giveaway created by Magazine Training International
(MTI) for E-Book Systems. The company donated the software as a support
to MTI’s efforts to help Christian magazines in developing countries,
according to E-Book Systems President Richard Wan.“E-Book Systems is proud to be associated with Magazine Training International in helping Christian publishers in developing countries embark on the technological wave of digital publishing,” Wan said. “Through digital publishing over the Internet, more readers can be reached with minimal cost.”
The magazines to receive the license, valued at $3,700, are Tapati in Lithuania, Harvest Times for Your Family in India, Evangelski Vestnik in Bulgaria, Zivot Viry in Czech Republic, Khristianskaya Semya in Ukraine, Ultimato in Brazil, Dlya Tebya in Ukraine, and Leah in Bulgaria.
The response of the magazines on receiving the award was ecstatic. “This software is a real answer from heaven to a very real need,” said Tomas Coufal of Zivot Viry. “We’ve already started to offer the electronic subscription to our subscribers and we want to start building an electronic library of the magazine for our readers,” he said.
“Our whole team here is thrilled and excited to hear this news,” said Sam Jacob of Harvest Times for Your Family. “We hope to begin regular email editions from January.”
“I don’t have enough words to say how great this news is,” said Daniela Cabral of Ultimato. “This will be a big help as we are passing through a time of changing and rearranging.”
Representatives of each magazine completed a four-part questionnaire designed to determine their ability to use the technology and to evaluate their goals in pursuing digital publishing. Since most of the magazines are published in countries with a significant Diaspora, the most commonly-expressed goal was to make their magazines more widely available in places where literature in their native language is limited, but where distribution of a print version is impractical. Magazine publishers also hope to reach non-believers or seekers in their own countries who are Internet savvy, but who would not otherwise have access to or interest in print editions.
“We are pleased to have been able to help E-book Systems put their valuable software into the hands of these solid and capable Christian magazine publishers, who would not have been able to purchase such software,” said MTI President Sharon Mumper. “I expect this new tool will greatly expand their influence and ability to impact their audiences with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Founded in 1998, E-Book Systems provides software tools and services for the digital publishing market, using their patented Digital Flip™ technologies. Their digital publishing solution is sold to customers around the world from their offices in the U.S., China, Japan, Germany, and Singapore.
Magazine Training International is a non-profit mission whose goal is to equip publishing professionals and develop leaders who can strengthen Christian magazine publishing in their regions and around the world. Since 1989, MTI has conducted some 50 international training conferences and courses on every facet of magazine publishing. MTI provides a variety of resources for magazine publishers, including DVD and audio training courses, print manuals in multiple languages, and an informative Web site.
A recent addition to MTI’s Web site—the feature which first attracted the attention of E-Book Systems’ Wan—is an extensive section on digital publishing news and resources.
–Magazine Training International; November 15, 2010
Thinking about going digital? View this list of over 60 providers
In an effort to help magazine publishers navigate through the sea of
information on digital publishing, MTI has compiled a list of digital
publishing platform providers and briefly described the type of service
provided. This list should not be considered complete because new providers seem to appear every day and providers use different terminology to describe their services. Also, the list is not sorted in any particular order, and MTI cannot make recommendations at this point. However, we hope that if you are considering creating a digital version of your magazine, the information below will help you in your search to find the best option for your magazine. We have continued to add to this list when new providers have been discovered.
Digital publishing providers, also known as online publishing platforms and digital publishing platforms, are full-service providers. As a magazine publisher, you supply your publication in PDF format to the provider and the provider does the rest. The provider converts the PDF to Flash, adds hyperlinks and other features, and hosts your magazine on the Internet for a fee.
* iMirus http://www.imirus.com
* Nxtbook Media http://www.nxtbookmedia.com
* Texterity http://www.texterity.com/
* Pressmart http://www.pressmart.com
* iDigital Edition http://idigitaledition.com/index.php
* Yudu http://pro.yudu.com/magazines
* ePaperFlip http://www.epaperflip.com/ (Aglaia Software)
* BlueToad http://www.bluetoad.com/index.php
* Edition Duo http://go.editionduo.com/
* Zmags http://www.zmags.com/
* Flip Seek Live Print http://www.flipseekliveprint.com/
* Magazooms http://magazooms.com
* Premedia Technologies (RR Donnelley) http://www.premediatechnologies.com/html/section_3/publishing_digimag.asp
* Mediaspectrum Adrenalin http://www.mediaspectrum.net/index.php?page=Adrenalin-MS (iPad app + reader)
* Page Turn Pro http://www.pageturnpro.com
* Aquafadas http://www.aquafadas.com/en/solutions/
** Dirxion http://www.dirxion.com/index.asp
Ceros http://www.ceros.com/page/titles
Virtual Paper http://www.myvirtualpaper.com
FlipCity http://www.flipviewer.com/products/flipcity/
Creel Digital Edition http://www.creeldigitaledition.com/
Digi-page (LCM Media) http://www.digi-page.com/index.html
Digipage http://www.digipage.net
Digital Publishing International http://www.digital-publishing.co.uk/index.html
Dotpapers http://www.dotpapers.com/home/
PaperWiz http://www.paperwiz.biz/default.html
e-Pub Xpress http://www.epubxpress.com/
Flash Edition.com http://www.flashedition.com/
Fluidbook http://www.fluidbook.com/index.php
kdreams http://www.k-dreams.com/dreamsweb/flipk.php
Live publications http://www.livepublications.com/
PageSuite http://www.pagesuite.com/default.asp
Pagician http://www.pagician.com/
Preface Media http://www.prefacemedia.com/solutions/epages.php
Quality Publisher http://www.qualitypublisher.com/home/
Real Read http://www.realread.com/index.html
Realview http://www.realviewtechnologies.com/
RichPaper http://www.richpaper.com/Default.asp
DigitalInitiatives http://www.digitaleditions.co.uk/
TurnPages http://www.turnpages.com/index.html
UniFlip http://www.uniflip.com/
Visiolink http://www.visiolink.com/frontpage.htm
Vpapel http://www.vpapel.com/eng/index.html
Warp 9 Inc. http://www.warp9inc.com/products/virtual_magazine_system/
WeClickMedia http://www.weclickmedia.com/index.php
Wicow http://www.wicow.com/default.aspx
Zegapi http://www.ipagez.com/
Zendition http://zendition.com/home.html
Instant Pageflip http://www.instantpageflip.com/ (no branding, host on your site)
Digital publishing/newsstand providers are digital providers who also serve as online newsstands. Visit the sites to view hundreds of examples of digital documents. Issuu is unique in that anyone can convert a basic PDF to a Flash file for free. For a fee, Issuu also offers an advanced level of service.
* Zinio http://www.zinio.com
* Mygazines http://www.mygazines.com/
* Issuu http://issuu.com/ (Android ready, iPad app in the works)
** Paperator http://www.paperator.com/ (Available September 2010)
Scribd http://www.scribd.com/
Exact Editons http://www.exacteditions.com/
Sk.im http://sk.im/
TurnIt https://www.turnit.ca/#
The companies below offer do-it-yourself software packages for sale that allow you to create and host the publication on your own site. 3D Issue offers a free tutorial on their site. It is helpful to view the tutorial in order to gain an understanding of how the software works, since all digital publishing providers are using similar technology.
* 3D Issue http://www.3dissue.com/
** Emagcreator http://www.emagcreator.com/
** eDition Force http://www.edition-digital.co.uk/
aXmag http://www.axmag.com/
In House Digital Publication (IHDP) http://www.inhousedigitalpublishing.com/ (Aglaia)
FlippingBook http://page-flip.com/
FlipViewer http://www.flipviewer.com/products/flipviewer-xpress-creator/
FlashPageFlip.com http://www.flashpageflip.com/
Fresh Flash Catalog http://www.freshcatalog.com/
iPaper http://www.ipaper-cms.com/
PageFlip http://www.pageflip.hu/index.php#products
Pagegangster http://www.pagegangster.com/
Real Read http://www.realread.com/index.html
RichPaper http://www.richpaper.com/Default.asp
Digital publishing providers are rushing to provide mobile applications for iPhone, iPad, Smartphones and Android devices. We have marked the providers above with a single asterisk (*) to indicate the publisher has a mobile application available. A double asterisk (**) indicates the publisher told MTI or advertised on its Web site that it is working on a solution for mobile devices.
–Jolene Robinson, Magazine Training International; November 10, 2010
Adobe Opens Wired, New Yorker Tablet Platform to Publishers, with Analytics
Back when I was editor of PC World,
creating a magazine that newsstand buyers and subscribers loved was one
of the great pleasures of my job. It was also something of a dark art.
There were plenty of signs we’d succeeded: issues flying off the stands,
renewal rates staying healthy, high scores in the pricey reader surveys
we conducted. But in the end, connecting the dots of reader
satisfaction was difficult, and agonizingly slow.On the Web, things are different. Analytics services such as Omniture let editors and other media types see what’s getting read, what’s getting ignored, and how consumers navigate through everything a site has to offer. They let you make decisions in real time, rather than waiting for months.
At Adobe’s MAX conference in Los Angeles this week, the publishing software company is announcing its Digital Publishing Suite, the fully-commercialized version of the system that Wired, The New Yorker, and other publications have been using to create iPad versions of their magazines. It’s rolling out in pre-release form for publishers who’d like to try it out; the final version is due in the second quarter of 2011.
The Digital Publishing Suite aims to be a comprehensive solution for turning traditional magazines created in InDesign into digital publications that can be distributed to devices of all sorts. But the one aspect that intrigues me most is this: It includes Omniture analytics for digital magazines. (Adobe acquired Omniture a year ago for $1.8 billion.)
If you use the suite to produce tablet versions of your magazine, you can use the analytics service to get a bevy of information about how they’re being read—all aggregated and anonymized to avoid privacy issues. You can see whether readers are opening the issues they’ve bought. You know which stories they’re jumping to, and whether they tap through every page of an article or abandon it after the first one. You can confirm whether they’re watching ambitious multimedia elements such as embedded video. And you can tell whether they’re reading front-to-back, back-to-front, or hopping around randomly.
It sounds like a goldmine of useful information that publishers could use to make publications that serve their readers better. And much of it might help with a magazine’s traditional, dead-tree version, too—I suspect that there would be a correlation between covers that prompt tablet subscribers to open the issues quickly and ones that are newsstand winners.
Analytics can’t tell you everything you need to know about your readers’ relationship with your content. Seeing that a lot of people chose to read a particular article, for instance, says nothing about whether they liked what they got once they finished. So traditional research such as surveys and focus groups still have their place, and free-form feedback such as reader comments on online versions of stories can be very useful. But I know that if I were editing a magazine with digital editions produced with Adobe’s suite, I’d be hungry for the new clues about reader behavior that these analytics could provide.
–Harry McCracken, Folio; October 26, 2010
Charisma’s cutting-edge
redesign draws enthusiastic response
Open the magazine and the first thing you’ll notice is that the cover of Charisma’s August 2010 issue is horizontal. Click to turn the page and you won’t even miss the page-turn effect and accompanying sound as the next two-page spread, without a visible gutter, captures your eye and draws you in with a video that starts immediately. Continue clicking through to the last page, and you’ll be surprised to realize that you haven’t needed to zoom in to read the articles. Welcome to Charisma Digital’s cutting edge redesign. And as Marcus Yoars, editor of Charisma magazine, told Magazine Training International, the staff has been floored by the great response. Most online digital magazines you’ll read today basically replicate the print magazine, with videos, audio clips, hot spots and extra pictures added. After four or five issues following this basic model, Charisma’s staff realized they could create a better Web experience for readers of the digital edition. In fact, the magazine’s publisher did not like the need to zoom in and out, and believed other readers might feel the same way. So, the font sizes were increased, the page dimensions for each two-page spread decreased, and the entire magazine repaginated. Each page is redesigned for the digital version with what Yoars described as minor tweaks and extra elements stripped out. The result is clean, easy-to-read pages that still have the feel of a print magazine.
Since every page needs to be redesigned, they must have hired several new staff members, right? Wrong. Charisma’s production team, and in particular one production artist, has stepped up to share the load and make the changes necessary. “To-do” lists have more than doubled, but the team is excited about the new look.
The number of ads in the digital version has been significantly reduced. This exclusivity, however, becomes a selling point. An ad has more impact and receives more attention if it is one of five ads, rather than one of thirty ads in the magazine. So, Charisma is able to ask a higher price for the exclusive digital ad. This allows them to put the time necessary into redesigning the ad for the new format.
The Charisma team now has four main outlets for disseminating information: the print magazine, the Web site, the Charisma news smartphone app, and Charisma Digital. Currently, everything except the print magazine is free. Yoars explained that they believe Charisma Digital, which has the most exclusive videos and podcasts of all four outlets, currently has enough value to begin charging for the publication. However, the market is probably not yet ready to switch to a paid subscription, he says. The business plan for the digital magazine is to eventually create a large enough following that they will be able to charge a subscription fee.
Overall, Yoars says his team is learning as they go. They just completed the September digital issue; only the second issue in the new format. They received encouragement at a recent Florida Magazine Association event where they were told that Charisma Digital’s new Web-friendly design is in step with industry-recognized pioneers in the digital revolution such as Popular Science magazine. That knowledge gives Yoars the confidence to say that they may not have all the answers, but they are on the right track.
–Jolene Robinson, Magazine Training International; August 25, 2010
A look at possible Web-based solutions for magazines
The range of digital opportunities available for magazines is vast.
Deciding which of these options a publisher needs, wants, and can afford
can be daunting. MTI has discovered a company that offers a unique
network of digital solutions for magazines that may help a publisher
both dream about the possibilities and realistically evaluate what
features to implement in its digital publishing plan.Infoswell Media has launched three sites that offer a variety of services for magazine publishers from a-la-carte design products to full page-turn digital editions. Infoswell's fees may not be affordable for some of our readers, but their program of services is a good place to research the types of digital options available to magazine publishers today.
Magazine Builder (www.magazinebuilder.com) offers publishers—both start-up and existing magazines—an assortment of design products to upgrade a publication or expand its online presence. Magazine Builder designers will consult with the client about products needed, design and create a solution, and provide the product with minimal turnover. Products are offered individually and include: logo ($199), cover ($499), pre-launch site ($999), promo video ($599), media kit ($1499), community site ($999) and social media kick-start ($299). The unique aspect of this approach is that a magazine can choose what service or product is most important for the needs and goals of the magazine. Perhaps the magazine is struggling in one particular area. This Web site provides solutions for specific needs.
Infoswell Media (www.infoswell.com), on the other hand, offers full magazine Web site solutions. Three solutions are offered that provide graduated levels of service from basic to highly customized features, with packages increasing in price from $8,500 to $24,600. Before publishers dismiss the service as unaffordable, it might be helpful to take a look at the list of specifications for each package provided by the company. A magazine can use the lists to evaluate its current site or design a new site. Infoswell offers examples of the sites using each level of service the company provides. Several of the sample magazine sites include a digital edition created through iDigital Edition.
iDigital Edition (www.idigitaledition.com) is Infoswell's digital publishing platform service. iDigital Edition offers three platforms that range in functionality and price giving the magazine publisher a tangible way to evaluate the level of service or types of features the magazine wants to—or can afford to—offer its readers.
MTI does not recommend particular companies and this article should not be read as such. Infoswell Media obviously caters to magazine publishers and we were impressed by the level and range of digital services this company offers. It is our goal to simply inform our readers about opportunities and resources available to them.
–Jolene Robinson, Magazine Training International; August 25, 2010
Webzine format better digital solution for Mongolian magazine
| Going digital doesn’t necessarily mean creating a page-turn style
magazine. In fact, Flash publications may not be the best solution for
all publishers. “We have thought about using Flash page-turn format many
times,” said Badamdorj J. Mongol, chief editor of Maranata Christian Webzine(http://www.maranata.mn/). |  |
| “However, in Mongolia we need to wait a few more years for advances in Internet speed.” Meanwhile, the webzine receives 35,000 to 45,000 hits per month and has an audience on almost every continent. | |
“Most people like to read the Bible online and they read my blog,” said Mongol. “We are going to add three new features soon: Twitter, a comment section, and the latest news items.” Mongol is excited about these new features because they will give the site live updates and increase communication with readers. Currently, content is updated weekly except during the summer holiday months.
The book listing on the webzine uses audio clips to help sell books published by Maranata Publishing LLC. Most of the books include an audio clip with a description. “The audio clip is for people who don’t want to read the description,” Mongol explained. The audio clips also appeal to readers who like a more interactive experience with the webzine.
Mongol offered some suggestions for anyone considering starting a webzine.
• Start blogging first.
• Find ways to monetize your webzine; otherwise it will die prematurely. Maranata uses advertisements and banners to help cover the cost of administration.
• Remember it is important to maintain a servant attitude. This will attract readers, particularly when you bring more than information into their lives.
• Be fresh in the Lord and inspired by the Word of God and Holy Spirit. This will give you never-ending content for your webzine.
Digital publishing is here to stay. Many magazine publishers around the world are reaching their audiences via the Internet. The key is to find the format that best suits the readers and the technology available to them.
–Jolene Robinson, Magazine Training International; July 6, 2010
DayStar and Alive Magazines merge to form digital-only publication
 | Initiate Media, publishers of DayStar Magazine, announced the merger of DayStar with its Australian equivalent Alive Magazine to produce a new digital-only magazine to serve Christians in both New Zealand and Australia. The new digital magazine will be titled Alive (incorporating DayStar) magazine. |
“Having already gone down the path in July last year of turning our 35 year-old Alive Magazine to digital-only, we feel we are really well versed in managing this change in forming a joint digital magazine,” stated Matthew Danswan, CEO of Initiate Media. “It is a huge change, and one that might come as a surprise to some. However, as we are deeply ingrained in the media world and keeping abreast of the technology, this is a change that is happening globally, and even the biggest US publishers are having to adjust the way in which they publish.
“Recently we have seen CCM (Christian music magazine) and Today’s Christian Woman in the US come out of print and go to digital-only,” he explained. “Focus on the Family (US) has pulled their youth magazines out of print and has gone online, and Christianity Today has launched an online only magazine for leaders titled Catalyst Leadership. In recent years we have also seen New Man and Spirit Led Woman magazines go the same way. [Editor's note: Today's Christian Woman is out of print, but Christian Today International is publishing a digizine for women called Kyria.]
“More and more, consumers want content for free, as they can access so much free information on the Internet. And advertisers are looking more to online, as it is cheaper, more measurable, and allows for instant click-through to their websites. We are simply moving with the times and developing a business model that will keep Christian publishing feasible long-term. It is early days yet in terms of technology, but the new iPad – plus all of the subsequent readers that will hit the market in the coming months – will really heat up digital magazines, as its technology is ideal for reading magazines online.
“The publishing world has changed forever, and we too need to change our way of doing business if we are to have a bright future. This is essential, as we see our role in Christian media in New Zealand and Australia as being crucial to helping other Christian organisations promote their great works. Media is a very powerful medium for spreading the gospel, and thus our move online not only means that we can open up for our advertisers a market of literally millions of people within NZ and Australia, but we can also spread the Word of God across the globe to anyone with Internet access.
Mr Danswan states that magazines and books will ultimately end up going down the same path as newspapers and music, where content will be delivered online. “The digital age has already turned the music and newspaper industries upside down, with books and magazines now the next two areas to be affected. The final medium will be TV, where we will be watching TV from the Internet. And if it sounds like it’s a long way off, it is not. In the US a website called hulu.com allows you to view all of your favourite TV shows on demand. This is certainly not the end of magazines, just as it is not the end of music CDs or even printed newspapers, but in our niche Christian market, it is a great fit.
“So these changes are extremely exciting, as they give us a whole new lease on life and a platform to reach millions more people – at a fraction of the cost. We have invested a significant amount of money in new website technology for feeding news, serving up banner ads, and creating digital magazines, so the future is extremely bright for Christian media, and we are determined to lead the way.”
Read full article http://www.daystar.net.nz/article.php?z=28&a=514
–DayStar (www.daystar.net.nz/); June 27, 2010
Publisher finds multiple outlets for her magazine
Cailin Henson, founding editor of New Identity
magazine, is determined to give her audience of young adults options
for receiving the content of her new online digital magazine. Recently
she told Magazine Training International how she is able to offer the
magazine in multiple outlets with minimal expense to her organization.New Identity’s primary outlet is as an online digital magazine using Issuu, a free digital publishing provider. The magazine is embedded on the home page of her Web site, newidentitymagazine.com. The magazine is also available on Issuu’s Web site which acts as a virtual electronic newsstand. Facebook provides another outlet for the digital edition. Henson embeds new issues to New Identity’s Facebook profile. Issuu tracks readers from all three venues and compiles the results in one report. New Identity has 2,500 viewers per issue.
“I want as many options as possible for my audience,” Henson said. Issuu helps her offer more options. The magazine can be read on any personal computer. It is also possible for Issuu publications to be read on mobile Android devices. A notice on the Issuu homepage says that iPhone and iPod Touch capabilities are coming soon. Creating a special version of New Identity for mobile devices would not have been possible for Henson on her own because the cost of developing the code for these devices would have been too expensive. However, because she chose Issuu, readers of New Identity have the option of taking the magazine with them on the move.
Another option for readers is to listen to the magazine via a weekly podcast. A narrator reads a section of the magazine, and that reading is available as a free podcast from the New Identity Web site. The magazine is quarterly; so over the 12 weeks between issues, a listener would be able to hear the entire magazine.
For die-hard fans of printed magazines, New Identity can be purchased in a print edition through MagCloud.com. The print-on-demand option is rather expensive. Henson sets the price of each issue to cover only the cost of printing. The prices of the first seven issues range from approximately $8.00 to $13.00 per copy. Henson said that so far, the readers who have taken advantage of the print-on-demand option include her close family and friends and a few contributors to the magazine who want to see their work in print.
The beauty of these options and services is that they are free to New Identity. Henson pays for her Web domain but Issuu, MagCloud, and the podcast do not require any additional external expense for the magazine. The free services make it possible for Henson and her small not-for-profit organization to offer multiple outlets that would otherwise not be economically feasible.
–Jolene Robinson, Magazine Training International; June 25, 2010
Launch of online digital magazine is a learning experience
 | “I always wonder if this is the way it was supposed to go.” Like many other founding editors, Cailin Henson has learned through trial and error how to launch a new magazine. “I felt that God told me to create the magazine and that our community needed it,” Henson said. New Identity magazine, an online digital Christian magazine for young adults, is now working on its seventh issue and Henson is still learning. |
New Identity is offered to readers free of charge; so, finding ways to cover the magazine’s minimal expenses can be difficult. At this point, the magazine is supported by donations and personal investment. Using volunteer staff and working out of her home helps keep expenses low. Henson also kept her start-up cost low by learning to do many things herself. She created the non-profit organization, set up the Web site, and designed the magazine, utilizing do-it-yourself books and her own instincts. Her investment in time has been significant—she spent nearly a year developing the magazine before the actual launch—but has meant a smaller capital investment.
A purely volunteer staff currently produces New Identity magazine. Henson used a couple of non-profit organizations in her area, including Idealist.org and Volunteer Match that host volunteer opportunities, to find volunteer editors and contributors. The magazine now has eight staff members, but she admits this model is not sustainable, since at some point her staff members may need to find salaried positions.
Fundraising is difficult because potential donors assume that since the magazine is free, the organization must be doing well and doesn’t need money. Henson plans to create a marketplace section in the magazine to help cover costs. The special section would be included at the end of the magazine with small ads from various organizations or companies. Links within the magazine would go to the marketplace. Larger magazines such as Better Homes and Gardens are using this type of revenue generating advertising.
Henson rejoices in the small successes and letters received from readers. In the end, she knows that any success is not due to her particular gift set or skills. The credit goes to God. “It is easy to get caught up in the execution of the magazine and forget why you are publishing it,” Henson said. “You can only go so far and leave the rest up to God. That is where the freedom comes to play it by ear and see where it goes.”
–Jolene Robinson, Magazine Training International; May 20, 2010