TKC EXCLUSIVE!!! THE STATE OF DEAD TREE MEDIA ACCORDING TO A KANSAS CITY PUBLISHING POWER BROKER!!!

Earlier this week and thanks only to the GRACE OF TKC TIPSTERS we learned of the demise of Her Kansas City magazine before anybody else . . . It was an important moment in the local Dead Tree Media world that exemplifies so many problems with the industry that remain unsolved . . .

And now . . . Because Sunday is for mainstream media thinking about journalism rather than doing any like TKC . . .

TAKE A LOOK AT A LOCAL PUBLISHING INSIDER OFFERING EXCLUSIVE REACTION TO THE STATE OF KANSAS CITY DEAD TREE MEDIA IN THE CONTEXT OF RECENT LAYOFFS, CUTBACKS AND SHUTDOWNS!!!

The Kansas City media power broker wanted to stay off record but the perspective is insightful nonetheless . . . Check it:

Her Magazine Demise And Dead Tree Media

Whenever I see a nice looking magazine go out of business I often say I could have predicted it. Do you remember Urban Times that Christina Boveri published a year ago? Or the very slick and expensive gay lifestyle magazine called Verge that was also published years ago? Or former City Councilman Chuck Eddy's glossy photog magazine that barely lasted a year? The Kansas City Star tried a very expensive looking glossy lifestyle magazine in a huge tabloid format (I forget the name) and that didn't last more than a year. And there are many more.

They all make the mistake of publishing a magazine that is more ego than practical. They publish as if they're decorating their house, and just want it to be beautiful at any cost. Smart publishers know that they have to watch the cost of printing and other factors or you'll be out of business. You publish what the market needs, not what one's ego demands.

I would love my magazine to be glossy and expensive looking too. But if I did that I would have been out of business in less than two years. By using the best quality of newsprint, rather than expensive heat-set glossy paper printing, and watching our costs we're now in our tenth year of publishing. And we have no corporate owners like HER magazine had. I'm also going to guess that HER magazine probably got desperate toward the end to sell advertising and were probably discounting off the rate card, which is always the sure demise of any publication once they start doing that.

Just my thoughts based on over 30 years of experience in publishing.
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In the final analysis we like a lot of community and neighborhood publishing on paper . . . We only object to corporate hegemony and a new monopoly . . . So, while we watch the Chiefs take a beating even worse than that of some local publishers . . . We'll be thinking about the future on an industry in flux.

DEVELOPING . . .