Now, I've written at length on this blog and in my inaugural issue of Magma magazine about this topic. Go in-depth; don't compete with the web (online and print can complement each other, they don't have to cannibalize); use great design. But one thing goes further, and I'm thrilled to see an example of it. To wit: Include in the magazine premiums and special stuff that can't be easily scanned by fans who post your mag to their web sites and blogs.
Horror film bible Fangoria magazine, which has been undergoing a thorough revamp under new (as of last year) editor Chris Alexander, has been including a poster every couple issues. As you can see in the cover reproduced above, they're continuing this with the latest issue that Alexander has just started promoting in his social media.
Posters, see, can't be easily scanned. And what would be the point, anyway? You wouldn't post a poster on your blog at full size. You wouldn't download a poster and then print it on giant-sized paper. A poster only has value in original print form. It also induces the occasional purchase of more than one copy of an issue, if the reader wants to have his cake and eat it, too (have the unblemished magazine to save and have a copy of the poster to hang on his wall).
I've been working on a plan for a magazine that deals with this very issue, and I'm very pleased to see that I'm not alone. So a tip of the hat to the Fango crew.
Class dismissed.
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