WiseGuy
Well-known member
Guys... Please don't BBQ me.... those of you who know me, know how much I love this industry. I know we all love print. We're in the industry and it's in our blood and under our finger nails.
But, personal preferences aside, like photography, music and movies – most books, newspapers and magazines and periodicals will go digital. Not all digital, but primarily. It's going to happen. The publishers want it. They don't want to print books when they can distribute them digitally. Printing costs money. Inventory costs money. They will push this. They will help drive the trend.
And as the devices go, they are pretty cool today and you can bet they will be 10x cooler in 5-10 years. And as us old die-hards move on and the new digital generation of kids grow up, they will not adapt this technology to replace reading books, it will be all they know. It will be a core part of their generation and soon book stores will go the way of music stores and film stores.
But does that mean the end of print and commercial printing? Probably not. But it's changing. Changing quickly too. Just think about how many print processes have gone away in the past few years?
I use to work for Moore Corp... remember them??? Moore Business Forms? Well, business forms died a quick death in the 90's. Moore also did the printed version of Publishers Clearing House. They were one of our biggest clients. Guess what.... all online now. Why? COSTS! They can annoy you to no end much cheaper on-line than mailing out millions of complex mailers everyday. Those mailers cost money! Mailing cost money! Digital is penny's of the cost.
How many people opt in for getting their bills electronic? Notice... some companies give you an incentive now to go electronic billing. Why? COSTS! They don't want to print!
Why are newspapers failing? Not because I don't enjoy the paper. I'm 47 and love reading the paper. It's because the 20-30 somethings don't want it. They get their news on-line. So... lower subscriptions, lower circulation... advertisers start pulling out. Not to mention the economy keeping the advertisers away... and the fact of why on heavens Earth would you buy a classified right now? Craigslist is free and you have better exposure. I use to put ads in the paper to rent properties at $50 a crack.... now I use Craigslist and I get people coming in from out of state. Cost $0.
Do I need to go on? Again.... I love print. I love this industry. But lets not be blind too. It's changing and these new digital devices are going to erode print.
So instead of asking, will the iPad kill print? We should assume "yes" and ask "then what will we print next? Or how do we make it better? Different" Fill a niche?"
A FINAL NOTE OF WISDOM:
I forget who said this, but it was one of the Railroad tycoons that saw the demise of the train as the primary mode of commercial transportation.... but their statement was "We can't think of ourselves as in the Railroad business if we're going to survive. We're in the transportation business". Again, can't remember the source, but I know it was from a Harvard Business Review.... anyway.... so... what business are you in? Printing? or ????????
Now back to your regularly scheduled press run.
But, personal preferences aside, like photography, music and movies – most books, newspapers and magazines and periodicals will go digital. Not all digital, but primarily. It's going to happen. The publishers want it. They don't want to print books when they can distribute them digitally. Printing costs money. Inventory costs money. They will push this. They will help drive the trend.
And as the devices go, they are pretty cool today and you can bet they will be 10x cooler in 5-10 years. And as us old die-hards move on and the new digital generation of kids grow up, they will not adapt this technology to replace reading books, it will be all they know. It will be a core part of their generation and soon book stores will go the way of music stores and film stores.
But does that mean the end of print and commercial printing? Probably not. But it's changing. Changing quickly too. Just think about how many print processes have gone away in the past few years?
I use to work for Moore Corp... remember them??? Moore Business Forms? Well, business forms died a quick death in the 90's. Moore also did the printed version of Publishers Clearing House. They were one of our biggest clients. Guess what.... all online now. Why? COSTS! They can annoy you to no end much cheaper on-line than mailing out millions of complex mailers everyday. Those mailers cost money! Mailing cost money! Digital is penny's of the cost.
How many people opt in for getting their bills electronic? Notice... some companies give you an incentive now to go electronic billing. Why? COSTS! They don't want to print!
Why are newspapers failing? Not because I don't enjoy the paper. I'm 47 and love reading the paper. It's because the 20-30 somethings don't want it. They get their news on-line. So... lower subscriptions, lower circulation... advertisers start pulling out. Not to mention the economy keeping the advertisers away... and the fact of why on heavens Earth would you buy a classified right now? Craigslist is free and you have better exposure. I use to put ads in the paper to rent properties at $50 a crack.... now I use Craigslist and I get people coming in from out of state. Cost $0.
Do I need to go on? Again.... I love print. I love this industry. But lets not be blind too. It's changing and these new digital devices are going to erode print.
So instead of asking, will the iPad kill print? We should assume "yes" and ask "then what will we print next? Or how do we make it better? Different" Fill a niche?"
A FINAL NOTE OF WISDOM:
I forget who said this, but it was one of the Railroad tycoons that saw the demise of the train as the primary mode of commercial transportation.... but their statement was "We can't think of ourselves as in the Railroad business if we're going to survive. We're in the transportation business". Again, can't remember the source, but I know it was from a Harvard Business Review.... anyway.... so... what business are you in? Printing? or ????????
Now back to your regularly scheduled press run.
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