MagCloud very well may be the future of magazine publishing. As the publisher of a print journal, it's hard to say for sure whether I find this exciting or terrifying. Possibly both?
Reacting to the idea that "Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one" (a quote from A.J. Liebling), MagCloud puts the power of magazine publishing in everyone's hands. Let's say you've designed a magazine that you're quite proud of. MagCloud accepts a PDF upload of your magazine for free. Readers then browse through selections of the online magazines (searchable by category) on the site including, hopefully, yours. To order a copy of your magazine, reader pays MagCloud $.20 per page, then MagCloud prints the copy and sends it off. You spend your time worrying about design and content, and MagCloud takes care of the rest. Revolutionary, no?
I can't say for sure if people are actually ordering print versions of these magazines, but I can say that the online choices are really fun to look through. Though I must admit that I approach the reading of them with the same kind of "looking-for-the-next-thing-to-click-on" tendency that characterizes much of my online reading. I am trying in earnest to fight this! I am embracing the future!
Take a look at MagCloud. I'd love to hear what you think.
1 comment:
flashbacks of Xlibris.
I'm actually surprised that sites like this didn't pop up sooner, considering the technology has been around. perhaps the HP being used is cheaper to acquire now?
I wonder if comic book artists/writers will catch on to this and try to fight back against DC and Marvel -- i wonder, though, how MagCloud's distribution works?
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