A Twist on the Traditional Magazine Model
8020’s publications are filled entirely with content generated by online readers. But will people pay for it?
Weary of his job as an urban planner for the city of Portland, Ore., Sloan Schang dreamed of making a living as a writer. How, exactly, he wasn’t sure. But he quit his job, sold his house and, with the proceeds, some savings and his girlfriend, set off on a trip that took him to Asia, Europe and across much of the United States. Today, not two years later, Schang, 32, is a published travel writer with a busy schedule of decently paid freelance gigs. “It’s worked out well. I don’t really plan to go back to urban planning,” he says.
A decade ago Schang’s transition almost certainly would have been more difficult. But there are more opportunities than ever for aspiring writers to get published. Schang credits his breaking into the travel writing business to 8020 Publishing, a San Francisco-based magazine publisher with a unique twist on the conventional model: its paper pages are filled entirely with content submitted by readers through its Web site.
The Internet, of course, has given citizen-journalists, amateur artists and Wikipedia warriors a virtually limitless platform for exposure. It has also roiled the traditional magazine business, which in recent years has seen circulation and ad revenue drop as more readers shift their preference for media consumption from paper to pixels. But 8020 may have found a way to take advantage of the move to online. Funded by CNET.com founder Halsey Minor, the company, which was started in June 2006, is pinning its future on actual newsstand sales of content that originates online. “Magazines are great at inspiration, whereas the Web is really good at data. But people tend to think only in terms of the Web versus print magazines,” says Paul Cloutier, chief executive of 8020. “We say they can come together to become an even better magazine.”
Email to a friend.Published: March 13, 2008
By: George Seybold
This article is filed under:
Business | Business Start up | Convergence | Conversational Media | Word-of-mouth
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