Marketing Mag (Australia)
21 Monday May 2012
Posted magazines
in21 Monday May 2012
Posted magazines
in19 Saturday May 2012
Posted magazines
inI was interviewed and quoted in Spain’s leading newspaper el país on May 19. Here is my quote (needless to say it is in Spanish)…
“La de las portadas impactantes es en realidad una apuesta sobre si algunas portadas venderán más o no”, explica Samir Husni, profesor en la Universidad de Misisipí y experto en el sector de las revistas. “Las portadas que hemos visto recientemente en Time, Newsweek y The New Yorker pueden parecer sensacionalistas, pero lo cierto es que todas generaron un debate que se mantuvo vivo más tiempo de lo que duraron los correspondientes números en papel de las revistas, y se convirtieron fenómenos virales en todo el planeta”. En ese sentido, en el del debate, esas portadas han resultado un éxito.
19 Saturday May 2012
Posted digital, innovation, magazines
inInterviewed for an article in Printing Impressions, May 2012. Here are some of my quotes in the article:
“Print is still the cornerstone of the magazine business,” states Dr. Samir Husni, a.k.a. Mr. Magazine and the founder and director of the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi’s Meek School of Journalism and New Media. He is professor and Hederman lecturer at the School of Journalism, not to mention a popular speaker, media consultant and researcher for the magazine media and publishing industry. Dr. Husni is also the president and CEO of Magazine Consulting & Research, a firm specializing in new magazine launches, repositioning of established magazines, and packaging publications for better sales and presentations.
“Even those publishers who are expanding and going in to digital work, it’s still based on print and, with few exceptions, no one is divorcing print to focus on digital,” he adds.
Magazines that banish the print edition generally sign their own death warrant, Dr. Husni notes, and none are thriving as online-only editions. He cited some B2B and niche IT publications that don’t rely on newsstand visibility. And, for those who drop the print edition, it’s a matter of not having a sustainable advertising revenue model.
Magazine publishers are still trying to find their way with a revenue model on the digital side. Too many of the heavy hitters—Time Inc., Condé Nast—are providing all access (digital and print) to subscribers. Dr. Husni points out that Amazon doesn’t send a print version of the book you purchase for the Kindle, and Apple doesn’t mail you a CD when you purchase songs off iTunes.
“(Digital) is a business that’s three or four years old as compared to (print) that’s been around for 200 years,” he says. “To me, the printed magazine is the best laptop ever invented. It doesn’t overheat. The copy is clear, you don’t need a screen and it’s cheap. If I get mad at the magazine, I throw it across the room. If I get mad at my iPad and throw it across the room, it’s going to cost me $700.”
As publishers look to cultivate readership online and in print, Dr. Husni believes it’s important to create an experience that is unique to its medium, not to mention relevant, sufficient and necessary. With the meat of readership aged 25-65 relying on both media, he feels it’s important for publishers to study and learn what it is that they want. “But, to give me the same experience everywhere is not going to work,” he points out.
16 Wednesday May 2012
Posted magazines
inI was interviewed on May 12 by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for a story on TIME magazine’s breastfeeding cover.
Here are some of my quotes:
Samir Husni, director of the Magazine Innovation Center at the Meek School of Journalism and New Media at the University of Mississippi, dismissed criticism voiced in some circles that Time had used sensationalism to spur attention.
“What’s wrong with a sensational cover if it’s based on fact? This is a factual mom, a factual kid, a real down-to-earth story. It’s reality. When was the last time a magazine created such a conversation that wasn’t about a celebrity divorce or a political scandal?
“I love the cover. It was a brilliant move by the editors. Everyone is talking about it. They created the conversation that everyone is continuing.”
14 Monday May 2012
Posted magazines
inI was interviewed for the Critical Now segment on the CommPro.biz website… Read the entire post here
14 Monday May 2012
Posted magazines
inInterviewed twice by the LA Times for two separate stories: TIME magazine’s breastfeeding cover and Newsweek’s first gay president cover. The first interview appeared on Friday May 11 and the second interview appeared on Monday May 14.
Here are some of my quotes from the TIME magazine story:
“This is a cover that has the entire nation talking,” said magazine expert Samir Husni. “When was the last time you saw a story do that,” unless it was a breaking news event? “This is an example of print well done. It’s a stroke of genius … the print industry really needed this cover to show they are still the movers and shakers.”
Not a day goes by without someone rambling on about the decline of the traditional media and the rise of digital. But Time’s cover proves that print can still be king if it steals from digital’s playbook — by becoming the conversation starters (not the followers), choosing relevant, edgy subjects and then tackling them in a visually arresting way — he told the Los Angeles Times.
To read the entire article click here.
And here are some of my quotes from the Newsweek’s cover story:
Magazine expert Samir Husni told the Los Angeles Times on Monday that while he applauded Time for tapping into a trend and reporting it out in an edgy, provocative way, he was critical of the Newsweek cover. He said he disapproves of using visual gimmicks to make a point, and said he wished the news magazine would stick to facts and reality.
He said Newsweek is struggling for survival in the marketplace, and doing what it can to pull in new readers.
“It doesn’t want to become the next U.S. News & World Report,” said Husni, a professor at the Magazine Innovation Center, Meek School of Journalism and New Media at the University of Mississippi.
He added of the magazine wars: “It’s going to be fun to watch. One thing I am happy about: People are talking about print.”
To read the entire article click here.
The aforementioned quotes were carried by many more newspapers, radio stations and National Public Radio (NPR) and Christianity Today magazine blog. (see below)
11 Friday May 2012
Posted magazines
inI was interviewed by the Tampa Bay Times on May 11 for a story on TIME magazine’s breastfeeding cover. Here are some of my quotes:
“Our society’s attention span is getting shorter and magazines are screaming for our attention,” said Husni, director of the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi. “This is not a made-up image. I commend them for the choice, because it will stop everyone.”
“Whether newsstands will display it is the big question tomorrow…we can be a very Puritan country,” said Husni, who laughed when told the international edition of Time features the new president of France.
“We’ve always been self-contained in America,” he said. “You put the prime minister of Turkey on the cover in America and 99.9 percent of the readers wouldn’t even know who that is. Here, we tease you with the cover, give you something you can relate to and hopefully you will read the interview with the prime minister of Turkey inside.”
05 Saturday May 2012
Posted magazines
inI was interviewed and profiled in the leading Arabic international daily Asharq Alawast. The interview and profile appeared on May 3 in the Arabic edition and May 5 in the English edition. Click here to read the Arabic edition and here to read the English edition.