Hearst Magazines Publishing E-Books - You Don't Say!

Cosmo Red Hot Reads

A little titillation tonight.

The magazine publishing industry is expanding its revenue base it seems --- by experimenting with the e-book publishing market (and why not? Everybody else is).

And in an outstanding and very successful genre at that: the women's and romance slice of the written word universe.

In the case described in tonight's post it is Cosmopolitan magazine (in Hearst magazine's stable) teaming with Harlequin, a huge women's and romance novel publisher. The business numbers and thinking behind Cosmo's decision to explore e-book publishing is also touched upon.

And what will be the name of this collaboration ? The same branding as the content section of Cosmo magazine that publishes literature for readers:

Cosmo Red Hot Reads :)  

T. J. Raphael reports this in FOLIO magazine:

Hearst Jumps Into E-Book Publishing With Cosmo Red Hot Reads

Two original e-book titles to be published per month beginning in May 2013.

Hearst Magazines is testing out the e-books market with the safety net of the world’s largest women’s magazine—Cosmopolitan. In a joint partnership with Harlequin, a women’s and romance novel publisher that spans 114 international markets, Hearst will introduce digital books bearing the Cosmopolitan logo.

Under the agreement, Harlequin intends to publish two original 30,000-word e-book titles per month beginning in May 2013. The novels, which will be written by some of Harlequin’s bestselling authors, will take on the brand’s editorial voice and be reminiscent of the popular title Fifty Shades of Gray, editor-in-chief Joanna Coles says in a statement.

“We took a look at some of our studies and it turns out 1 in 7 Cosmo women read romance novels, more than 10 million Cosmo readers bought at least one book in the last 12 months and 1.8 million readers bought at least one romance novel,” Mark Gompertz, creative director of Content Extensions for Hearst Magazines, tells FOLIO:. “We didn’t have to be convinced anymore that this was the time to create a line of romance fiction.”

Cosmo Red Hot Reads is a content section with the magazine that publishes literature for readers. These shorter length books published by Harlequin will share that branding and cover the same type of subject matter that this content section in Cosmo is known for.

“Romance readers were really the first to embrace e-books when the trend started,” says Gompertz. “These readers buy multiple books at a time and are constantly reading so we wanted to make them long enough so the reader would be absorbed, but short enough so they could read another right after the last page is turned—that’s really the Harlequin thing.”

These e-books will be available for all major platforms and devices—e-readers, tablets and smartphones for Apple, Android and Windows products. Gompertz says some of the more successful titles could also wind up in print, though the main focus is on the digital landscape. Right now the book will be all content but it is possible that editions could see images or interactivity in the future. Hearst and Harlequin are still determining how to price these books.

Read and learn more

The Writers Welcome Blog is available on Kindle for convenience :)))

Content - Linking Print To Mobiles

Who said you have to have either print or mobile? Why can't you have both experiences at once?

Well, you CAN.

'Publishers are literally driving engagement between the print product and digital platforms...'

"How?" you ask. One way is to link print magazines directly to smartphones and tablets via apps.

Tonight's post will illustrate one print magazine that has done this and will delve into the resulting impressive numbers.

By T.J. Raphael, FOLIO magazine, Publishing Technology section:


Connecting Print and Mobile

As more users interact with content on mobile platforms, publishers are directly linking print to phones and tablets.

Publishers are literally driving engagement between the print product and digital platforms by linking print magazines directly to smartphones. The idea aims to neutralize the “either-or” aspect of print and mobile and merge the strengths of both.

“We’re connecting print to mobile because we believe we’re well poised with our demographic—they are glued to their phone,” says Jason Wagenheim, vice president and publisher of Teen Vogue. “We did a study earlier this year that found that 9 out of 10 of our readers are shopping with their mobile phones. They’re not just making purchases, but using their phone while they’re shopping, searching for coupons and texting friends photos of dresses when they’re in a store.”

Attaching Apps to Print

Based on this, the magazine developed the Teen Vogue Insider app, which is a companion to the magazine. It allows readers to “like” and share brands on Facebook, Twitter and over email as well as map nearby locations to make purchases. Editorial or advertiser-based slideshows and videos are also available. Finally, discounts and special offers are pushed out through the app.

The app is updated to coincide with every issue of Teen Vogue, further tying the mobile experience to print. By having it as a companion to every single issue, Wagenheim says the brand is changing reader behavior that will enhance attachment to the print magazine.

“The app is promoted in every issue with advertising and editorial,” he says. “There’s also a directory featuring all of the pages within the magazine that can be activated with a mobile scan—we use image recognition, not QR codes. You can use the app to scan pages in the magazine to launch these engagements.”

As of press time, the app has been downloaded 80,000 times in the three months since its launch; there have been over 250,000 scans of magazine pages and over 550,000 user sessions.

Every Page Mobile-ized

Read and learn more

The Writers Welcome Blog (WWB) is available on your Kindle :)))