Why Samir Husni is feeling the love for print as we roll into a new year.
Samir Husni loves print; anyone who reads his regular blog and industry articles knows this. As the self-titled “Mr. Magazine,” he is unabashed in his feelings for the medium.
Some think he’s misguided; we think he’s being his authentic self and that’s fantastic. So when he gives 10 reasons to feel optimistic about print this year, we’re all ears.
“Hope springs eternal,” Husni writes in MinOnline. “After every naysayer from every corner of the globe cried from the mountaintops that print was dead and that digital was the new print, they’re swallowing these words as print has been rediscovered lately by everybody from the smallest independent publisher to the game-changers in the industry.
“Print also springs eternal,” he continues. “Since Moses came down from Mount Sinai with those two stone tablets (the original print platform), print–in one shape or another–has been delivering information that helps and benefits our lives.”
While some of his reasons, like the two above, are tough to quantify, Husni points to recent stats about the magazine industry to bolster his argument.
“Magazines’ 2015 birth rate was much higher than the death rate,” he notes. “And 2015 is not alone. For the past 30 years, more magazine launches were announced than closures.” (He does remind us that he’s talking only about ink-on-paper magazines, not their digital counterparts.)
Print, he continues, is the “new” new media, as digital natives dive into print and the people who market to them discover the engagement power of magazines and printed ads. He’s a firm believer that the “either/or” mentality of the past several years doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. “It’s a ridiculously small-minded scenario.”
We can all agree the industry has changed…much like the cable TV industry is going through its paradigm shift at the moment. Does this mean TV won’t be relevant? Of course not. It does means there will be room in the mix for smaller, indie content creators to find and reach an audience, much as they are doing in the niche publishing explosion.
Really good content will always find an audience in print, and for that we too are completely jazzed.