(1) Libraries like magazines. Some of the publishers we work with are surprised to find that a high proportion of their subscriptions are coming from libraries, universities and schools who have for years subscribed to print editions. If a magazine has 100 or more library/educational print subscribers it is a safe bet that there will be institutional sales for the title as a digital resource. At the very least this will be additional subscription revenue.
(2) Especially, since universities and schools are increasingly dependent on digital library resources. The digital version of a periodical is more useful to staff and students, as was brought home to us during COVID: 24X7 access, multi-user access, remote access, immediate access (no couriers or bulletins lost in transit), and back issue access, are all presupposed. These take-it-for-granted advantages of the digital resource mean that the digital version is both more valuable and likely to command a higher price.
(3) Which brings us to the common but misplaced apprehension that subscription sales of the digital magazine may reduce existing subscriptions to the print title. This is misplaced because for most libraries the advantage of the print version remains, as a back-up solution for long term preservation (but see below). Furthermore it is increasingly likely that institutions will not subscribe to a periodical which entirely lacks a digital version.
(4) Revenues and royalties. A well organized and complete magazine archive is likely to be an order of magnitude more useful to a 21st Century institution than a succession of print issues. This should mean a subscription of $600–$1,200 for a title that might have a print sub in the range $60-$120. The print sub probaby has 40% overhead for distribution alone if its going to the USA: which makes the 60% royalty, direct to magazine publishers, from Exact Editions, particularly attractive.
(5) Well yes, Exact Editions does have a particularly high royalty pass-through, so this is a special factor not found with rival vendors. But this brand-friendly targetting comes because each title in the Exact Editions service is sold on its own merits, with its own price, and to institutions who want the specific title in question. So the magazine publisher learns which customers really appreciate the title and Exact Editions is encouraged to promote titles with laser-sharp focus. Generally titles are promoted on their own or with a group of sibling titles. With aggregated ‘big deals’ this targetting and transparency is rarely possible.
(6) Branding is usually a strong aspect of magazine identity and value, and representing your brand within the content and service of any library is going to be a plus.
(7) Students also like magazines and they will begin to value the content and style of magazines as they pass through a degree, which is particularly valuable for magazines which have professional or expert subscriptions as a goal. Students will have the opportunity to sample or enjoy the magazine and its archive as they gain their qualifications. Dazed is a fashion, style and ideas magazine that has steadily built a network of institutional subscriptions attracted by its complete archive. One way of measuring its success is to note that the colleges currently subscribing to its complete archive make a collective audience of over 400,000 FTE (college libraries often measure their audience size by full time equivalents — a useful piece of jargon)
(8) Librarians can be a demanding audience. Selling a magazine and its archive to any library, will require that the digital experience is at a high standard. Search and browsing should be easy and consistent. The content should be easily referenced and cited (eg each page or search result should be shareable and verifiable). Meeting the expectations of librarians is a reasonable goal and a road test.
(9) Perhaps leading us to an ethical goal that we should all have in mind? Since librarians increasingly require that magazines meet standards of accessibility to assist visually impaired or inexperienced readers. This expectation and requirement that comes from the library market has led us at Exact Editions to focus on accessibilty standards. Good accessibility is a good goal and helpful to any potential offering.
(10) Digital magazines that meet the expectations of the library audience will be rewarded with annual and bankable subscription renewals. The renewal rate for digital institutional subscriptions is an especially attractive factor. 90%+ renewals is normal in the university market. Magazines are periodicals and the provision of forthcoming issues is major part of their attraction a strong reason for librarians to renew a subscription.
(11) Finally, the libraries that build up steady subscriptions to a digital magazine and its archive are making an investment, in effect making a strong commitment to the future of the magazine. A hopeful and tangible commitment to the future usefulness of the title, and this should encourage us to consider the ways in which the digital or databased version of a magazine, and its growing archive, is becoming the best way of delivering options for long term or perpetual access to digital magazines. Digital preservation is at least as tricky and possibly now more valuable than paper preservation. Libraries that invest in periodical subscriptions are investing for the future and hoping for long term preservation and perpetual access. These expectations of future goals for their digital archive should be encouraging for periodical publishers — in respects which we will assess in forthcoming blogs.
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