E-Archive

From Editor's Desk

in Vol. 20 - July Issue - Year 2019
Paper Print or E-Magazine?
Andrzej Wojtas

Andrzej Wojtas

No matter if you publish books, magazines or newspapers, how to offer the information is an ongoing topic in the Publishing Industry. However, for MFN there is no doubt that its magazines will remain to be printed on paper.

It started already well over a decade ago. Prediction were made that soon no books, newspapers and magazines on paper would be available. In the age of smartphone, tablets and laptop computers, there is no need for paper copies so it was said. In certain areas of the publishing industry, these prediction became partly true. The daily newspapers where probably hit the hardest. However, E-books certainly did not succeed in replacing the old style paper books, even if they could be offered cheaper. Also as far as magazines concerns, the E-version did not take over as announced.
The MFN organization had many of such internal discussions, but always decided to focus on the print version. It of course would be much easier only to have an online version of a magazine. With nowadays access to cheap or free online publishing software, almost everybody is able to publish information. Basically no infrastructure is needed and no benchmark requirements to be fulfilled. And that is exactly where the problem is. If everybody can easily publish online information, how is the quality of text and pictures supervised?
Because by printing a magazine you must automatically integrate a certain quality control. Printing and distribution is very expensive. If text, pictures and graphs have mistakes or are of bad quality, you can not just click a bottom and load it up again. So the cost alone makes you fulfill certain quality standards, because without that nobody will buy your magazine or place advertisement in it.
Especially for advertisers, E-magazines are less attracts. Magazines lay around on office tables and in meeting rooms or are at some point directly handed to the subscriber. This without a chance to just delete the info. That is a different level of exposure.

MFN is sure that its magazines will still be available as paper print versions for many years to come!

Andrzej Wojtas (Ph.D.), Chief Editor of MFN, E-mail: andrzej@mfn.li