Blogging Gets Its Own Trade Magazine
Lost in the shuffle of the usual tech news during the week (somewhere between MySpace pulling its users access to Photobucket’s videos and Google’s purchase of DoubleClick), there was a little story that seemed to have gotten missed.
Did you know that Blogging’s first trade magazine has been launched?
While blogging isn’t the exclusive purview of geeks, the fact that its based in technology that geeks wrote and continually work on (such as WordPress) does make it the favourite spotlight of geek news aggregators, such as Techmeme. And what’s funny is that it got absolutely almost press.
Blogger and Podcaster is a magazine produced by Larry Genkin, who plans to publish 12 issues a year.
From what’s on the actual website and in an interview recently conducted by Mr. Genkin it looks like the following facts have been made clear
- Mr. Genkin is no stranger to publishing on the podcasting or blogging; he recently helped publish “Promoting Your Podcast” with author Jason Van Orden
- The magazine is targeted to “serious” bloggers and podcasters who aim to try and improve their craft
- There are three formats: podcast, digital, and print
- The digital format is free
- The print format costs $79 per year (US) and $99 per year (outside-US).
While I was quite eager to try and subscribing — and checking out its inaugural issue — it seems like Blogger and Podcaster still has a few kinks to sort out; while trying to subscribe, for example, nothing seemed to happen. However, this is an issue that they’ve recognized and are trying to fix.
The creation of a trade magazine is a great idea because it provides another forum for ideas on blogging and podcasting to get disseminated; furthermore, it also lends a degree of validation to an industry which has recently been categorized as wild, unruly, and in need of self-policing.
The real proof, however, of a pudding is in the tasting. More on Blogger and Podcaster as we’re able to get our hands on the first issue.
I am all for dead-tree and periodical type publications. Heck, I work at one for my day job — a daily newspaper. It doesn’t get more old line media than that. But doesn’t a monthly publication on blogging seem kind of counterintuitive? What could you say in a monthly periodical about blogging (and podcasting) that couldn’t be said, well in a more frequently updated blog?
I didn’t realize there was a new publication coming out. The thing is, at $80 bucks for print, it’s almost crazy for a price. Why wouldn’t everyone just subscribe online. I think the price is way over the cost of what their target audience can afford. Serious or not…it’s overpriced!
Darren,
They do have a blog and podcast as well. I think there’s something to be said for branching out into other kinds of media, and who doesn’t love a good magazine?
Having said that, I’m holding off judgement until I see what the content is actually like.
Cheers
t
I was unable to subscribe to the magazine ‘digitally’ or even comment in their blog .. but I sure like the concept of reading a magazine-type blog online. Like the flipping of the pages! Reminds me of PageFlip site that I liked….
I think it will become popular online and wish I had that type of feature for my blogs! Although, I also agree.. $80 per month for the print just seems outrageous given the topic of the magazine, and they should probably avoid print i.m.o. Count me out.