BoSacks Readers Speak Out: The Rise and Fall of FOLIO, Addicted to the Scroll, micropayments

Re: BoSacks Speaks Out: The Rise and Fall of FOLIO: A Mirror for the Magazine Industry

Hey Bo- Of course I remember how vital Folio was; especially in the world of magazine production. I remember the first time I got quoted in Folio- what a career highlight that was!

PS- The Wisconsin Cuneo ad brought back memories. I used to print many "adult sophisticate" mags up there! Hope you're doin' great in these insane times!

(Submitted by a former Production manager, now a print salesman)

Re: BoSacks Speaks Out: The Rise and Fall of FOLIO: A Mirror for the Magazine Industry

I couldn't agree with you more! I was lucky enough to enter this industry when there were still mentors, and I feel blessed to have learned so much from them. But now that I'm in a position to help the next ones in line, I find it difficult to mentor because of the amount of responsibility and the mandate to do more with less.

And, even my own son can't find face-to-face classes at his university... he's learning how to use Photoshop in an online class from a phantom professor, who apparently copied and pasted his entire lesson directly from Adobe's website. It's ridiculous and sad.

Ok... done ranting. 😂 Have a great day!

(Submitted by a Production manager)

Re: BoSacks Speaks Out: The Rise and Fall of FOLIO: A Mirror for the Magazine Industry

All is not lost, Bo. As mentioned, a major resurgence in the interest in print post pandemic. We all know the distribution system is broken. That being said, success can be achieved if the message is relevant and accurate. The industry as a whole needs to “get over it” and accept the new era of print

(Submitted by a Circulation Consultant)

Re: BoSacks Speaks Out: The Rise and Fall of FOLIO: A Mirror for the Magazine Industry

FOLIO: was my industry bible early in my career, and writing for them a few times was a major milestone. I even almost worked for them during a major restructuring at Primedia back in 2001. This is a bittersweet reminder of what we've lost, and most of it was NOT inevitable.

(Submitted by a Writer)

Re: BoSacks Speaks Out: The Rise and Fall of FOLIO: A Mirror for the Magazine Industry

Very thorough and thoughtful Bo Sacks. Like many, MagLiteracy.org has FOLIO: coursing through its veins, beginning with this article in 1994, 40 under 40 recognition, and the fast friends we made when invited to set up our fledgling table among industry vendors at the Folio: Shows in NYC. Those veins return to our beating heart for oxygen and renewal, where every day is day one with every possibility still ahead of us.

(Submitted by the Founder, MagLiteracy.org)

Re: BoSacks Speaks Out: The Rise and Fall of FOLIO: A Mirror for the Magazine Industry

Sadly true. This is what happens when businesses, any business become nothing more than an extraction machine. How much value you can pull out of a company becomes more important than the industry, the people who work in it, and the customers they serve.
Beautifully stated, Bo.

(Submitted by a Circulation Consultant)

Re: BoSacks Speaks Out: The Rise and Fall of FOLIO: A Mirror for the Magazine Industry

E&P still exists for newspapers. I’ve tried to convince Mike Blinder to add a section focused on what there is of the magazine business and incorporate those editors and publishers. Many of the issues, challenges and advice for newspapers have applications for magazines and vise-versa. Today there are companies that publish both newsprint and glossy, especially in the city, local and regional space and everyone needs help.

(Submitted by an industry vendor)

Re: BoSacks Speaks Out: Addicted to the Scroll, A Nation of Dopamine Drips and Bent Necks

Bo, Great article, and I think everyone needs to inhale your assessment, "We are not living in the future. We are living in a technological hellhole, a behavioral feedback loop so finely tuned and relentlessly optimized that even knowing it changes nothing." Scrolling content accentuated by Adtech's insertion after every inch or overlays every few seconds is making this hellhole unbearable.

Hope is needed and one company is trying to deliver this...Yondr. I listened to an interview with the founder of Yondr, Graham Dugon, and how he took his understanding of the need for phone-free environments (not just schools), and the results he shared...better grades, less bullying, more connections, were fascinating...and hopeful this becomes a movement. His clients include entertainment venues, especially those catering to comedians (Dave Chappelle has invested in his company), churches, and courtrooms.
https://www.overyondr.com/about

(Submitted by an industry advertising specialist)

Re: BoSacks Speaks Out: Addicted to the Scroll, A Nation of Dopamine Drips and Bent Necks

Fascinating, horrifying, depressing

(Submitted by a current Print Salesman and former Production Director)

Re: BoSacks Speaks Out: Addicted to the Scroll, A Nation of Dopamine Drips and Bent Necks

A small step in the right direction might be to create limits. No phones at dinner, for example, or no phones after 8:00. Maybe no phones on Sunday. Or, to apply a quote I heard about alcohol, phones are a good servant but a wicked master.

(Submitted by an Industry consultant)

RE: Google brings news content micropayments to their moment of truth

As much as I hate to say it (re: the second article), Google really is the most sensible place to do micropayments.

One barrier to micropayments is that people don’t want to set up accounts on 40 different sites with different rules and tricks. A micropayment has to be fast and easy, and that argues for one (or a small few) options.

The problem with that from a publisher’s perspective is that the publisher gets a nickel and Google gets all the customer information — which has been the on-going scam for decades. “All your customers are become ours.”

If a few large publishers had the sense to work together and create their own, brand-agnostic micropayment system, that would be different. And if pigs could fly ….

(Submitted by an Industry consultant)

RE: BoSacks Speaks Out: The Rise and Fall of FOLIO: A Mirror for the Magazine Industry

Hi Bo, I loved this. Folio’s demise was quiet, as you say, and it is missed. The Folio: Show Face-to-Face conference at the NY Hilton every year is baked into my sales career memory. I would read the Folio: 400 like a study guide every year. Folio, in fact, was our client for our subscription solution! When prospects heard that Folio was our client, they didn’t need to speak with any other references! It was like magic.

But just to encourage you a bit, we mentor heavily here at AdvantageCS. About publishing, or at least our perspective on it, and about how we work with our publishing clients. About writing good software. About having a corporate culture which makes people want to stay.

I hope mentorship is alive and well elsewhere. It’s how all of us learned way back when. I think it’s incredibly effective.

(Submitted by an Industry Supplier)