Online to offline magazines question

[hooloovoo22]

Does anybody know if there have been any online magazines or blogs or sites that have successfully spun off a print version?

[stealthmag]

It can be done but the skills set required is quite different - although there is some overlap. You also need to think about whether the online magazine (if kept the same) will cannabalize print sales.

Magazines take a long time to reach breakeven. If you are doing it for business reasons and not just out of passion for a hobby, you need to be in it for the long-run (ie plan breakeven within 2-3 years and be willing to work very long hours and invest a lot of captal).

If you have a succesful online magazine, I would look at ways of building a stronger revenue model online (subscriptions, merchandise, premium content) and keep your overheads low.

If you feel this is limited then start thinking about how you can build the website up to the point where you can launch the mag feasibly - create an aggressive data capture strategy for readers, generate interest from potential advertisers, become a subject captain (influential).

Print is very time-consuming and risky.

[Syzygy]

Not aware of any online mags that have made the reverse move to publishing a paper version, however, this newletter [thefridayproject.co.uk] has been sufficiently successful enough to be able to spin off a book relative to it's online content. It shows in some respects (although undoubtedly this isn't unique) that the spin off can be viable.

In the main though, and fairly obviously, publishers move to online versions in order to reduce the overheads associated with paper products - printing, paper, repro, labelling/fulfillment, distribution & postage.

Introducing these overheads to an online brand would require a substantial amount of funding relative to the associated online costs and a complete restructuring of the financial model. Working in publishing I would consider it very foolhardy of any organisation seeking to attempt such a venture. The risks are immense. However, that's not to say that it couldn't be done in the right situation (if it hasn't actually been done already...)

Syzygy