Living and (still) breathing in a digital world
There’s no shortage of stories about the death of the publishing industry. These days, it seems like everyone from experienced media pundits to the casual observer enjoys blogging about our imminent demise. They do have a point: old media is doomed, at least the way we’ve known it for decades. Traditional business models are unsustainable. Content is a commodity. Ad sales are tanking. Blah, blah, blah.
At eMedia Vitals, we’re taking a different approach. On the pages of this website, we plan to chronicle the rebirth of an industry, not its death. We will do so by talking about the strategies and the tools media professionals are using to find new growth opportunities and develop innovative approaches for creating content and community in a digital environment. Oh yes, and making money too.
These insights will come from many sources. We’ll have original content, of course – articles, blogs, videos, podcasts, and the like – which we will supplement with an aggregation of the best content from around the web. The content will cover the full spectrum of the publishing industry, from trade magazines to consumer pubs to local newspapers. We’ll address the needs of small publishers as well as Big Media.
We’ll also be relying on you, our community members, to comment, share stories and ideas, and join our discussion forums – because as you all know, media has become a shared, participatory experience.
Our content is segmented by business function and fully searchable. In addition, we offer a guided search feature to help you drill down on content based on publisher type, topic, content type, and company. The goal is to combine intellectual capital and technology to build a targeted community with a shared goal: building and maintaining a successful business in the digital publishing space.
One final note: If you’re in B2B publishing and haven’t signed up for our Digital Revenue Workshop, you should check it out – we’re offering deep insights into six proven methods for driving revenues.
We hope you like what we have to offer.
Join the discussion
Rob, I'm really interested to see what you guys do with this set of topics. You have already showed me several blogs and sites that have useful insight, that I've never managed to find before (not for lack of trying). There is a crying need for this kind of thinking, and this kind of practical, non-whining approach.
That's awesome that you found some interesting sites already. We really wanted to build a site that helps the industry find solutions to their problems instead of covering them.
One of the things we hope to do is to turn folks on to other sites that we find helpful. There's a lot of great creative thought out there, and we want to make it easier to find.
The other thing we want to try to do is to showcase the potential within the industry right now instead of bemoaning the challenges. Everyone knows that advertising is down, layoffs are happening, and companies are struggling with their debt. What folks don't know is who is doing it right, and how they can apply the successes of others to their businesses without just copying the business approach. We hope to provide that insight.
We'd love to get some additional feedback from folks. What types of things would you like to see covered, discussed, and explored in more depth?
thanks guys - appreciate the feedback. Spread the word and we'll get some positive energy flowing through this industry. And if there's stuff you think we should be covering that we're not, please share your ideas. - Rob
Hi Rob - This is a welcome tone - must say I've had it up to the eyeballs with people carping about the death of journalism/print/whatever. Look forward to your focus on moving forward!
Derek Slater
Thanks, Derek. We definitely want to cover the industry from a vantage point that is unique in its optimism. The rate of change in this industry is increasing exponentially. For companies that transform themselves into innovators and focus on customer-focused execution, it's an exciting time to be a publisher.