Post #12 – Women’s Memoirs, Book Business – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
If you have any illusions left that the world of print media is merely going through a down cycle but will be back strong as ever, this news should open your eyes to reality. Publishing has changed, continues to evolve, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Nielsen Business Media–a source for much of our media intelligence–has been slowly selling off its magazines and focusing on what they see as their core business (Business Insider reports and trade shows).
Today’s news is particularly telling. Along with the report that they have sold eight titles to a new entity, e5 Global Media Holdings, Nielsen announced that it was shuttering Editor and Publisher. I find it interesting that they found a buyer for Adweek, Brandweek, The Clio Awards, Backstage, Billboard, Film Journal International and The Hollywood Reporter. But all they could do for the publication with a 125-year run was shut it down.
I went to the Editor and Publisher website, and here’s the opener for the lead story: “As word spread, rapidly, on Thursday about the sudden shuttering of Editor & Publisher, after 125 years, both in print and online, by its parent Nielsen Co., major publications and Web news outlets covered the news with prominent reports.” This interest is apparently giving some at E&P hope of a reprieve. Frankly, I have my doubts. So many of the entities running lengthy stories have their own problems.
Personally, I believe there is still a place for Editor & Publisher. I doubt, however, that the traditional, mainstream media can be the ones to save it, and not only because of their own travails. They’re all just too close to the subject, too intimate with the patient, to be objective. Survival might take drastic amputation, harvesting of organs, and unconventional infusions. I just don’t think most of the stewards of our traditional media can be that innovative and hard on one of their own.
Director of the School of Journalism, USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, Geneva Overholser’s comment to The New York Times says it all to me: “In a world full of people pronouncing and posturing and declaring about the media, E&P just kept doing good old-fashioned reporting about what was actually happening.” Business as usual, even when well performed, is no longer enough.
All that said, this is not a time for discouragement. Yes, our precious publishing world is changing. Some of the new work is good, some atrocious. But Matilda and I believe that all this is healthy transition. The strong and the innovative–those who understand what the market wants–will survive, even thrive. It’s true, their medium of delivery may change radically, but what is it that we really cherish? The smell of ink, the texture of newsprint, the magazine racks full of colorful, shiny titles beckoning, the sound of the spine cracking when we first open a new book? These are all comfortable to us, but it’s the words and ideas that we crave. As writers, you can take heart in that.
We’re going to continue to examine our industry throughout 2010. I just thought the news of E&P’s demise would effectively set our course for the coming year.
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Great article well said!