The Economy (and Other Changes) Hit Home

[Kayla Lamoreaux]

I felt it appropriate to share some of my thoughts today. I am devastated that Digital Scrapbooking Magazine will no longer exist in print after the Feb/Mar 09 issue.

I started scrapboooking digitally in 2002 - for years I have felt like the odd girl out at all the store scrapbooking crops and apparently I have evangelical issues. Then in 2006, when CK Media took over Digital Scrapbooking Magazine, I was so excited - finally there was a magazine by a crafting media company dedicated to digital. I felt validated as a digital scrapbooker.

In the past year I had the opportunity to work on the creative team for Digital and get to know the Editors and other team members personally. They are wonderful women. They truly poured so much of their time, talents and energy into creating a publication that was a great resource for digital scrapbookers. My life has been truly blessed having had the opportunity to work with them.

As the new Creative Team for 2009-2010 was announced, I was so excited for the coming year. The three designers chosen were amazing and I was really looking forward to being inspired by their talent combined with the amazing ideas of the magazine editors...

When I first heard about CK Media's decision to cease printing Digital Scrapbooking Magazine I was stunned. My first reaction was fear - if a HUGE company like CK can't make a magazine work for our industry than what does that say about our industry? I began to think about the things I have heard from traditional manufacturers over the years - "digital is a fad," "digital won't be around.." What if it was true?

After further thought I believe that the changes at CK Media are indicative of larger industry shifts but to understand where I am coming from on this, you need to go back in time. We will start with the traditional industry - The business model for traditional is such that artists' names for paper companies are most often never revealed. Artists in the traditional scrapbooking work for royalties profiting on far less of the end product cost than digital artists.

Manufacturers in turn take care of paying production and marketing costs (covering advertising fees to companies like CK Media). Over the years competing magazines would emerge, but the model stayed the same: Artist produces product for manufacturer. Manufacturer markets and produces product - markets through media and delivers to retailers. Retailers deliver product to consumers. Media shares information with consumers to influence customers purchasing decisions.

The scrapbooking industry has very few media outlets and CK is one of the largest. In my opinion one result of this exclusivity of media in the scrapbooking market is that traditional editors and book authors for the CK Label have become celebrities to consumers. So much so that their influence is a very real market factor to consider when entering the traditional marketplace for scrapbooking.

Contrast that with the Digital Scrapbooking business model which turned the traditional model on its head. In the Digital Scrapbooking market the Artist usually delivers their product to the consumer - direct. The closest thing to a celebrity in digital are the many artists. As manufacturers of their own products they influence consumers. In digital scrapbooking the barrier to entry for designers is pretty much nonexistent. There is a plethora of designers and digital product. Another market factor to consider are the wealth of freebies on the web.

Instead of media companies and manufacturers dictating trends, the power in the digital industry rests with the designers and consumers. Designers produce product directly for the consumers and the consumers vote with their dollars.

Without the manufacturer, digital designers retain five to ten times what they would in a traditional market. It may seem like a very positive thing and I am all about designers being empowered. However, I believe that there is a cost for that power.

With the digital scrapbooking market model as it stands, there is little room in the prices of product for marketing budgets. There is little room for education budgets and website costs and bandwidth. Most digital designers struggle to bring home a profit after costs are considered. In providing low cost and free products we have in essence deflated the rise of our own industry...or have we?

I believe that the exit of Digital Scrapbooking as a printed magazine from the market highlights the fact that we need to seriously evaluate our industry. I have always felt that digital's lower product costs and small designer boutiques are part of the charm of digital. I love being able to connect with designers and artists - I wouldn't have it any other way. Yet if our industry is to grow, will this have to change?

I submit if we want to be taken as seriously as the traditional market, we need to restructure what we are doing as an industry and change our business model to make room for the costs of running websites and marketing to consumers.

Yet another thought keeps tugging at me as I write - If we look to the past for answers as to how to grow our industry I don't believe we will find them. I still believe digital is the future. I believe the traditional and digital industries are in a transition - which sadly is being accelerated by the current economic conditions.

It is easy to buy into the fear and look back to what we know in the scrapbooking industry to work - more middle men and higher product costs. Yet if we look forward we are walking into uncharted territory - and I think that is where we will find our answers for digital.

In all honestly having Digital Scrapbooking as a printed magazine meant that issues were being completed 6 months in advance to meet printing deadlines. We are a "NOW" industry - meaning that we look online to find up to date and relevant information. Digital designers don't pre-release products to magazines 6 months before they are released to the public. The result is that the product we saw used in the magazine projects was really yesterday's news anyway.

Call me an optimist, but I believe this change is a good thing in some ways. It gives CK the freedom to move to a more responsive media outlet for digital scrapbookers. If you take the printing cycle out of the time frame, an online newsletter or magazine could be much more relevant to their audience.

Envision it - product designers begin planning their design releases, and share their new releases with the online magazines (all of them) a few months before they are released. I know it takes planning, but stay with me here. Media outlets then have the product beforehand and use it in layouts and projects for their magazines. Then the designers time the release of their product with the time frames for the magazines so you don't just get an email from the designer you also see the product around in online media...

And lastly, for those of you who love the printed version you can take with you anywhere...we are a forward moving industry - and the future is being able to read things on the screen in a portable format - what about podcasts from media for your digital music player? Videocasts for your iPod/iPhone? what about an issue output in Kindle format you could take with you anywhere? The digital reader devices are going to be more and more popular and I believe prices will continue to drop.

I don't know - part of me wants to be sad when I look to the past and what Digital Scrapbooking Magazine was. However, when I set my sites on the future for all media outlets in our industry, right now I am thinking the glass is half full and I can't wait to see what this change brings.

Obviously I am an optimist...

[Smith]

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i like topic its very interesting

Regards
Milan baros

[shelli]

Also I forgot to mention I didn't know they were stopping publishing the mag, coz yesterday I subbed to it!! Now I have to figure out what to do with that!!!!

[shelli]

The one thing about digital ezines I have noticed alot, in my small part of the digi-world I have seen, is that they show one LO using 12 different kits, and where you can get each kit. So the majority of digi zines to me have seemed like ads. Every now and then, tips and tricks, or tut, but you run into which program, and can I do the same thing in my program etc, so then it seems that zines need to be program specific, or tut's done more than one way for PSE & PS & PSP etc. . .
These are just a few things that popped into my head as I read each of y'alls great posts! Just take it as food for thought!! Please don't take anything personally, anyone, I am just thinking out loud here!! :D

[Channon Zabel]

I am sad too about the lose. I am old school and like having a magazine to take to the Dr's office with me to read.. I don't have Kindel, yet. Maybe when I do someday I won't be as sad. I used to take my digital scrapbooking magazine with me too to shows, workshops,and vendor booths when selling digital scrapbooking and show people the magazine and tell them that digital is the wave of the future, look, we even have our own magazine now. I am a little sad that I can't say that still. I love this post though and all of the comments. Kayla you are so smart and you are a wonderful leader for us in this industry. thank you for all your thought that goes into this group

[Kayla Lamoreaux]

April - you have such an insider's look at the mag it is very helpful. I agree with you that they cut DSM because of expenses not because the potential wasn't there. As far as the ads go - I wonder if you factor out the costs of printing and mailing issues and downscaling them to an e-newsletter format how much that would cut costs...

[Brooke - in Oregon]

Oh I just love the positive half full look at this. Yes it sort of knocked me for a loop and yes it did scare me. I think I am old enough to feel the need to 'hold on' to the way things were and yet young enough to see that letting go of some of the old makes room for lots of great new things! I really only look at the paper version when my laptop battery poops out! lol

[AprilAnderton]

Hi Kayla! I didn;t see this post until this morning and I had to come on and tell you to stop thinking so hard or you might hurt yourself! Hee hee! :) No, really, I think you make a lot of great points but one thing you may not have factored in is that the parent company had to cut expenses. Period. It's easiest to cut the newest title with the smallest readership, smallest staff and shortest track record. Digital Scrapbooking magazine was growing seriously fast and I don't there was a lot of analyzing before it was cut. It was just the fastest way to cut expenses. From personal experience (and research) most magazines lose money the first couple years.

One thing I think needs to be looked at if other craft magazines need to survive (particularly CKMedia's titles) is the fact that every other type of magazine geared toward women has ads for cars, sopa, beauty products, department stores etc and it's expected! Those ads in CKMedia magazines would likely cause an uproar from readers but THAT'S THE PRICE of a fat magazine. Ads pay for content. Either the reader needs to suck it up and deal with more ads or CKMedia needs to charge $20 an issue. Which would you rather do? I'd choose more ads. CKMedia readers have been spoiled and something has to change.

As far as Digital Scrapbooking magazine goes, I'm not sure how it will go. It's hard to put out even a digital version without editors so, who knows?

[Kayla Lamoreaux]

Great thoughts. I used to think that we needed to market to the traditional scrapbooker as well until recently. While I do believe that eventually all traditional scrapbookers will be doing some form of digital scrapbooking - trying to tell them that offends them (believe me I have tried and offended many times - lol). In some ways some people take it as if what they are doing now "traditional" is not the smartest way to go and they take it personally...

This quote by Seth Godin really hits it on the head, "Growth doesn't come from persuading the most loyal members of other tribes to join you. They will be the last to come around. Instead, you'll find more fertile ground among seekers, among people who desire the feeling they get when they're part of a vibrant, growing tribe, but who are still looking for that feeling."

I think digital scrapbooking's largest new user group will be found among those who don't scrapbook - they don't have the time. They take digital photos, they want fast solutions, they are busy, moms, and others who want to document their memories with out the mess or time trap that is traditional scrapbooking... (not that traditional is a time trap but these people view it as one - which is why they never started...)

You all are really bringing on some great points and making me think!

hugs,
k

At least that is my two cents.

[Hummie]

Kayla...just another note to let you know that your words have inspired me and I'm thinking.....poor hubby had to listen to me all through lunch yesterday....somehow I feel a need to convince him of things before I spend money.....he doesn't understand a word of this techy stuff....but your post has me thinking of new directions to take.

[Aly Dosdall]

Kayla...you're so smart. i love your point of view on this. some very interesting things to consider. lately i have been wondering (especially after having attended CHA) if digital needs to considering catering more to the traditional scrappers/retailers by offering CD's of their products that can be sold in the LSS or other craft/hobby stores. I know in the past that hasn't worked so well, but it might do better if we offer more education/marketing, etc to the traditional consumers and retailers. I realize digi scrappers will never buy that way, but we may broaden our market. just a thought that's been brewing recently.