144.6 Million Readers. What If You Had Them?

It's an amazing number to wrap your blogging head around isn't it? What if you actually had 144.6 million readers? (and they are not all sitting at home in front of a monitor - times are quickly changing - they are on the go, anywhere, reading you) Would you do anything differently on your blog? (Things might be moving this way for you...really...so think a minute and let me know your thoughts) Pretend we are sitting around a massive board room table (eating fresh French pastries and Peruvian coffee with rich cream) discussing this potential. (Joni is writing our 'think tank' ideas on the flip chart and she designed the board room....gorgeous isn't it...) How will you feed those 144.6 million readers...every day?

BREAKING NEWS: Full Colour Kindle for Magazines !!!

LOS ANGELES — Five of the nation's largest publishers of newspapers and magazines are teaming up to challenge Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle electronic-book reader with their own technology that would display in color and work on a variety of devices.Time Inc., News Corp., Conde Nast, Hearst Corp., and Meredith Corp., whose magazines include Time, Cosmopolitan and Better Homes and Gardens, announced a joint venture on Tuesday to develop new ways of presenting publications digitally to rival Kindle's gray "electronic ink" technique.

The publishers' answer to the text-oriented Kindle promises to emphasize visuals, retaining the distinctive look of each publication. It also aims to incorporate videos, games and social networking along with a classic magazine layout that can be flipped through with the touch of a finger.

The new standards the publishers are jointly developing would let consumers read the digital publications on some tablet computers, portable electronic readers and smart phones that render color images.

"The genesis of this idea is to build a fully featured kind of immersive e-reading application that can render our content beautifully on those devices that come to market," said John Squires, the venture's interim managing director.

The Kindle has been available since 2007. Electronic books, newspapers and other publications that Amazon sells for the Kindle will only work with that device.

Companies in the joint venture are hoping to break that lock and sell content starting in 2010 using the new standards. Publishers outside the joint venture would be able to adopt them, too.

The new joint venture would allow partners to set prices for their content. It also has plans to develop new advertising formats that are interactive and target an audience that is more engaged than in print.

The media companies are all equal partners in the venture. The companies said their publications reach 144.6 million people altogether.

How To Save A Magazine

We've all witnessed it this past year. We've all shed a tear or two and shrugged our shoulders in complete and utter disbelief. A 'Domino Effect' has hit our beloved shelter magazines like a media pandemic on a rampage. So how can the remaining publications stay afloat; printing our monthly fixes? They get smart. Real smart. They don't fight the paradigm shift. They go with it. Case in point. Canadian House and Home. (business brilliance by Lynda Reeves and Suzanne Dimma) Their strategies are right on trend; an online TV channel - with the pages of the magazine coming to life in HD - slick production values too - and albeit, new ad revenues to boost their bottom line. If I were you...and you know who you are out there...and I'm not you...but...I'm just sayin'.....this is 'How To Save A Magazine'. (You can subscribe to the digital edition of the magazine too!) Be sure to bookmark this new 2.0 shelter magazine TV Channel. It's online. It's FREE and it's as sweet as it comes. Hold on...you're gonna love this: Turn the Canadian House and Home TV channel on HERE. (and if you have a monitor or laptop near the tub, all the better..heavenly..Canadian.)

My Writing Fees (Every Writer's Guidelines)

I throw a 'one-two punch' (well maybe a one-two-three punch):
I can also provide photographs and/or illustrations to compliment my written words.
I've written about this before....

Blogging
Weekly* Blog Writer (Mon-Fri) 1 Post/Day $125 ($25/day)
*Limit: I am available for max. 3 different blogs
and/or
$50 - $300 per post

Photography and Illustration (negotiate per job)

General Interest/Consumer Magazines
$1.00 to $2 per word
$500 to $10,000 per article
$400 to $1,500 per column

Trade/Special Interest Magazines
$0.30 to $2 per word
$500 to $4,000 per article
$300 to $1,000 per column

Large Daily Newspapers
$0.30 to $1.00 per word
$250 to $2,500 per article
$330 to $1,250 per column

Smaller Community Newspapers
$0.10 to $0.50 per word
$75 to $1,000 per article
$75 to $500 per column

Online/Web Site Writing
Varies widely; "business" sites pay higher
$1 to $3 per word
$60 to $100 per hour

Advertising Material
Copy/Scripts/News Releases
$350 to $500 per page
$750 to $1,000 per project for brochures
$75 to $150 per hour

Blogging Extras
Free gifts, products, barter
All expense paid trips for posts/blogs
Photography and Illustration
(negotiate per job)

If you would like me to write for you please contact me via email:
Patti Friday
libertypost (at) gmail (dot) com

CanWest Empire Crumbles

Canada's largest media empire is declared insolvent; restructuring of CanWest will lead to biggest sell-off of media assets in Canadian history. No one is safe. (Look at the Canwest brands/companies who have employees crossing their fingers and toes!) In addition to owning the Global Television Network (and the beloved HGTV and Food Network), Canwest is Canada's largest publisher of paid English language daily newspapers and owns, operates and/or holds substantial interests in conventional television, out-of-home advertising, specialty cable channels, and web sites in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. The only security 'out there' is business ownership. Small business ownership. (like HGTV Design Darling, Sarah Richardson) Home-based business ownership? This paradigm shift (all things leading and living on the Internet) is ferocious.

The NEW New York Times Photoblog: LENS

Lens is the photojournalism blog of The New York Times, presenting the finest and most interesting visual and multimedia reporting — photographs, videos and slide shows. A showcase for Times photographers, it also seeks to highlight the best work of other newspapers, magazines and news and picture agencies; in print, in books, in galleries, in museums and on the Web. And this blog is still an infant! It just started on May 15, 2009! Lens blog points readers in the direction of important books, galleries and museum exhibitions. And it draws on The Times’s own pictorial archive, numbering in the millions of images and going back to the early 20th century. In time, the NY Times hopes it will also become the center of a community of readers who are not just interested in photojournalism — in the broadest sense of visually chronicling the world around us — but actively involved in some way or other, whether professionally or informally. You can expect them to ask you for your photos on some topical subject or theme. Longtime readers of The Times may be mildly amused by the idea of a Times photo blog, since it is still possible to recall days, as recently as the 1970s, when there was not a single photograph anywhere on Page 1. But the truth is that photojournalism has been in the Gray Lady’s blood for 95 years. The Mid-Week Pictorial, a rotogravure magazine, was established in 1914 specially to provide ample photographic coverage of the war in Europe that would soon turn into World War I. Lens is a healthy way to start your morning. (over coffee of course)