AF&PA Reports Recovered Fiber Consumption

http://www.afandpa.org/

The American Forest & Paper Association released its October 2012 U.S. Recovered Fiber Monthly Report on Nov. 20, 2012.

According to the report, total U.S. industry consumption of recovered paper in October was 2.49 million tons, 6 percent higher than in September 2012. Consumption was up across all grades except for Newspapers, which remained at its September low and was 25 percent lower than in October 2011. Year-to-date total consumption in 2012 is 4 percent lower than during the same period last year.

China's Paper & Board Exports Up 2.5% YTD

http://en.chinapaperonline.com/news/2012/20121121173000185.html

Reported by Customs Info.comData from China Customs Agency showed that in first 3 quarters, China exported a total of 3.531 million mts of paper paperboard ( not cut to length), up 2.5% year on year. Export value was US$ 4.23 billion, jumping 12.8%. Among which, export of newsprint and Kraft paper.

More Details from Catalog Survey; Essential Consumer Tool

Print Catalogs Remain Essential to Many Consumers: U.S. consumers continue to rely heavily on the print catalogs, as reported by the American Catalog Mailers Association in its latest study.
Key findings:
92% of those who examine the catalogs they receive have made a purchase
Nearly six out of 10 (58%) respondents look at catalogs as soon as they
Two-thirds (66%) of consumers surveyed say they examine the print catalogs they receive in the mailbox.

Departures Hikes Rate Base

Departures Sees Jump In Ad Revenue, Hikes Rate Base:
Departures, American Express Publishing’s luxury travel title, is seeing gains in print and online advertising, and will be increasing its rate base in the new year.
Ad revenue for the print magazine grew by 12 percent and paging grew by a total of two percent in 2012. The news marks the title’s second consecutive year of growth—in 2011, the magazine saw a 46 percent increase in ad revenue and a 43 percent increase in paging. Revenue from the digital side also increased by 144 percent for the full year of 2012. In all, 78 new advertisers joined Departures this year.

All You Debuts "Real Talk"

http://www.foliomag.com/2012/all-you-brings-social-commentary-print-product-0

All You has even more "you" now after incorporating reader comments and questions into nearly a third of the pages of its most recent edition.
The December issue of All You debuted "Real Talk," an editorial feature that opens each of the magazine's sections with a question from readers. The franchise is threaded throughout the book as well, with flagged reader comments appearing as sidebars within several stories.

Tesco: Retailer's Success in Publishing

http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/11139-tesco-proves-that-retailers-should-be-publishers-and-vice-versa

Tesco’s magazine has overtaken The Sun as the most read print title in the UK, proving that retail brands can become publishers in their own right.
The bi-monthly publication has grown its readership to 7.2m, according to the NRS. By contrast The Sun has a readership of 7.1m.
The retailer’s investment in content is a smart move, and it isn’t alone. Asda’s magazine has 6m readers. The M&S magazine has 3.7m readers. Sainsbury’s has 3.4m readers.

Pros & Cons of Holiday Subscription Discounts

http://www.adweek.com/news/press/holiday-mag-discounts-good-subscribers-bad-business-145445

‘Tis the season for huge savings. Whether they’re buying a car, TV or the latest Barbie, customers expect big price drops during the holiday season. The same goes in the magazine industry where publishers have made a habit of offering seasonal discounts on top of already deeply discounted subscription prices. But while slashing prices on magazines can attract hordes of new readers, there’s also the risk of having those readers undervalue the product itself.

Top Toy Catalog Ignores Typical Gender Roles

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57554389-1/girls-with-nerf-guns-toy-retailer-creates-gender-swapped-catalog/

This secret is out. Sometimes, girls like to play with He-Man action figures and boys like to nurture dolls. A Swedish toy catalog is getting a lot of attention for swapping out traditional gender roles by depicting a boy playing with a dollhouse and a girl blasting an imaginary foe with a Nerf gun.
Top Toy created the holiday catalog for toy chains BR and Toys"R"Us. The catalog was released in both Denmark and Sweden, but the Swedish version features some Photoshopped changes. Perhaps most notably, a boy wielding a toy gun in the Danish catalog was replaced by a girl, while a boy appears on another page playing with a very pink dollhouse.

Retail, Online & Small Business Holiday Sales Strong

http://adage.com/article/news/things-holiday-shopping-kickoff-economy-consumer-habits/238466/

A record 247 million shoppers visited stores and websites over Black Friday weekend, up from 226 million last year, according to the National Retail Federation. The average shopper spent $423 this weekend, up from $398 last year, helping total spending reach an estimated $59.1 billion.   

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/11/26/small-business-saturday-spending-exceeded-expectat/

Small businesses across the country got their holiday season off to a strong start as millions of U.S. consumers "shopped small" on Small Business Saturday and made a big impact on local communities.

http://www.smartmoney.com/news/pr/?story=PR-20121127-001308&cid=951

Holiday shoppers turned Cyber Monday into the biggest spending day ever with online sales growing 30.3 percent over the same period last year, according to cloud-based analytics findings by IBM (NYSE: IBM).

Marketing Email Often Flagged as Spam

http://www.btobonline.com/article/20121127/EMAIL13/311279994/study-marketing-email-often-flagged-as-spam
Marketing email accounts for the preponderance of spam reports, according to a study by email deliverability company Return Path. Perhaps as result, inbox delivery rates continue to fall, the company said.

Return Path's “Email Intelligence Report” found legitimate email sent by marketers accounted for 70% of “this is spam” complaints as well as 60% of all hits on spam traps, email addresses used to catch and flag spam. These spam-report results, higher than those for any email source, may be one cause of declining email deliverability rates, according to the report.

Q3 Newpaper Ads Down -5.1%

http://www.btobonline.com/article/20121127/MEDIABUSINESS10/311279997/naa-newspaper-ad-revenue-down-5-1-in-q3

Overall newspaper advertising revenue declined to $5.27 billion in the third quarter, a drop of 5.1% from the year-earlier period, according to the Newspaper Association of America.
This is the 25th straight quarter of ad revenue declines for newspapers, the NAA said. From 2006-11, total newspaper ad revenue plunged 51.5%, from $49.30 billion to $23.90 billion.

Print Still Growing in India

http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/industry-insights/media/where-print-still-reigns-supreme

The death knell may have sounded for a number of newspaper and magazine titles around the world, but India's print media sector is still enjoying growth.

It is not the country's busy and thriving cities that are largely fuelling this growth. Instead, media companies and advertisers have turned to smaller cities and towns where local publications are thriving amid improving literacy rates and burgeoning spending power.

HarperCollins Launches HarperTeen

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/11/prweb10170774.htm

HarperCollins Publishers announced today the launch of HarperTeen Impulse, a digital imprint focusing on Young Adult short stories and novellas. The new imprint will publish short-form works from new and established authors, providing original and exciting new teen ebooks across a wide variety of genres.

Interview with NAPL VP, Chief Economist

NAPL State of the Industry:
For most of us at NAPL, the Graph Expo show is where we conclude our research about this year and start thinking about next year. It is also where Andy Paparrozi, NAPLs VP and Chief Economist, announces the results of our State of the Industry research. During our latest NewsTalk Live webinar, I had the chance to interview Andy and here is a small segment of that interview.

Future PLC's Digital Focus

Future PLC's Digital Play:
Future plc, the UK-based enthusiast publisher that once relied heavily on print newsstand sales and subscriptions, has been in deep turnaround mode making digital a primary focus. And that challenge has been best illustrated in its struggling U.S.-based operations, where after a year of cost contraction through title sell-offs and closures and staff reductions, digital has become a strategic imperative.

Direct Marketers Face Change

Direct marketers embrace change, but worry: As the year comes to a close and 2013 approaches, marketers find themselves facing a radically different direct marketing scenario than in the past—along with several other concerns about the future.

It’s Time for Print Ads to be More Social

It’s About Time for Your Print Advertising to be More Social:
Despite this, my experience has shown that there are some media channels, such as print, ..that marketers don’t think about how social media and technology can be influenced by the medium, or vice-versa.
Following are a number of ways that your print advertising can be more social and be better integrated with technology:
PROMOTE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTIONS
Print advertising can drive a huge amount of traffic to your social media promotions.
GET CREATIVE AND INSPIRE SOCIAL AMPLIFICATION
Dazzle your consumers with print ads that are so incredibly creative that they feel compelled to share their experience with your ad with their social networks.
PROMOTE FOURSQUARE CHECK-IN SPECIALS
GRANT ACCESS TO EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
DRIVE TO A COMPLIMENTARY MOBILE WEBSITE
INCLUDE A COMPELLING CTA

Postmaster General Compares USPS to...Twinkies

Ailing U.S. Postal Service Strives to Avoid Twinkie Fate: While the Hostess Twinkie may not be as central to the U.S. economy as the mail, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe sees uncomfortable parallels of iconic products within unworkable organizational structures. Like Hostess Brands Inc., where a labor impasse prompted the snack-food maker’s liquidation, the Postal Service, with 28 times Hostess’s workforce of 18,000, has been squeezed by labor costs and changing consumer tastes to the brink of extinction.

PPPC Reports Oct. Coated and SC Paper Ships

The Pulp & Paper Products Council reported October North American coated mechanical shipments fell -6.3% as compared to the same month last year. Demand increased +1.5%, imports were up +38.1% and the operating rate was 99%.
Coated woodfree shipments rose +1.7%, demand increased +1.8% and imports were down -1.8%. The operating rate was 102%.
SC-A/SC-A+ shipments declined -10.4%, demand decreased -21.2% and imports fell -31.3%. The operating rate for all Supercalendered paper was 93%.

Resolute Building Wood Pellet Plant

Resolute to build wood pellet plant
Resolute Forest Products has announced plans to build an industrial wood pellet plant that will convert a currently underutilized residual material into a reliable source of renewable energy. Construction of the plant is expected to begin shortly and is scheduled for completion in 2014. The Company has signed a ten-year agreement to supply Ontario Power Generation with 45,000 metric tons of pellets annually.
The plant will be built adjacent to the company's sawmill in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

NA Oct. Newsprint Demand Up

North American newsprint demand remained in positive territory overall in October with a gain of 1.7% over October 2011, according to data published today by the Pulp and Paper Products Council.

The gain was supported by demand from non-newspaper end use which was 17.4% higher than in October 2011. However the October increase for the segment was seven percentage points weaker than the year-to-date average. Demand by newspapers was 2.6% lower than a year ago.

Domtar Buys Ottawa/Gatineau Hydro Assets

Domtar announces closing of sale of Ottawa/Gatineau hydro assets: Domtar Corporation (NYSE: UFS) (TSX: UFS) confirmed the November 20 closing of its previously announced Definitive Purchase and Sale Agreement ("the agreement") signed by its Canadian subsidiary, Domtar Inc., for the sale of its hydro assets in Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Québec. The purchaser is Chaudière Hydro L.P. ("Chaudière Hydro"), the newly-created affiliate of Energy Ottawa Inc.

China's Oct. RCP Imports Fall, Pulp Up

China's total recovered paper (RCP) imports dropped 23.5% to nearly 2.076 million tonnes in October, down from some 2.714 million tonnes in September, according to data from China Customs (see table below).

October's figure was still 8.6% higher than the 1.911 million tonnes recorded in the same month of 2011, though. 

China's total pulp imports grew 3.8% in October compared to the previous month, to nearly 1.379 million tonnes, according to data from China Customs (see table below).

Chinese buyers snapped up tonnage in August and September for restocking, following price cuts by sellers. Most of these volumes arrived at Chinese ports in September and October, which was reflected in the customs data.

Catalyst Crofton & Elk Falls Face Local Issues

http://www.cowichannewsleader.com/news/179878631.html

Permit changes to prevent a 2013 salmon kill, while supplying Crofton mill’s water needs, is under discussion by Catalyst’s paper’s brass.

Mill manager Rob Belanger said he and his bosses are mulling a recent forest ministry recommendation that Catalyst seek an amendment to its Cowichan River water licence.

http://www.campbellrivermirror.com/news/180538341.html

Development of the abandoned Catalyst pulp mill property is “frozen” and the city will not have the ability to issue re-development permits any time soon, an Environment Ministry official has told the Mirror.

Senior contaminated sites officer Vincent Hanemayer says two parallel review processes are underway and until the City of Campbell River receives the appropriate sign-off from the environment ministry, the municipality’s ability to “issue demolition, subdivision rezoning, soil removal, development or development variance permits is still frozen.”

AF&PA Oct. Containerboard Report

American Forest & Paper Association Releases October 2012 Containerboard Statistics Report: The American Forest & Paper Association released its October 2012 U. S. Containerboard Statistics Report.
Containerboard production rose 2.6 percent over September 2012 and 0.5 percent compared to the same month last year. The month-over-month average daily production decreased 0.7 percent. The containerboard operating rate for October 2012 gained 0.1 points over September 2012, increasing from 96 percent to 96.1 percent.
(AF&PA American Forest and Paper Association)

AF&PA Oct. Paperboard Report

AF&PA Releases October 2012 Paperboard Statistics Report: WASHINGTON - The American Forest & Paper Association released its October 2012 U.S. Paperboard Statistics Report today. Total boxboard production increased by 2.6 percent compared to October 2011 and increased 0.5 percent from last month.  Unbleached Kraft Boxboard production decreased over the same month last year and decreased compared to last month.  Total Solid Bleached Boxboard & Liner production increased compared to October 2011 and increased compared to last month.&nbsp

Q3 Global Fiber Market Report

The Global Forest Industry in the 3Q/2012: Excerpts from the Wood Resource Quarterly
Global Timber Markets
Global Pulpwood Prices
• Wood fiber prices fell in the local currencies in most of the regions covered by the WRQ in the 3Q. However, because the US dollar weakened against most currencies, wood prices in US dollar terms did not decline as much this quarter.
• The Softwood Wood Fiber Price Index (SFPI), which is based in US dollars,
was down another 0.5 percent from the 2Q/12 to US$100.05/odmt. It was the fifth consecutive quarterly decline and the index has now come down 8.7 percent since early 2010. The biggest price declines were seen in Northwest US, Germany and Russia.
• Hardwood fiber prices started to increase in some regions in the 3Q, which resulted in the first increase of the Hardwood Wood Fiber Price Index (HFPI) in over a year. The Index increased by $1.56/odmt from the 2Q/12 price to $106.44/odmt in the 3Q/12. Hardwood fiber prices increased the most in Russia, Eastern Canada and Brazil.

Finland’s Forest Sector’s Outlook Hopeful

Finland’s forest sector’s outlook for 2013 slightly better
Finnish forest researchers are cautiously optimistic that after the slump year 2012, 2013 can be a more positive one for both wood processing industry and forestry.
Paper production will drop by nine percent from 2011 to 2012. Demand for sawn timber continues to decrease this year. Rroundwood prices for softwood will decrease by 5– 6 percent compared to 2011. The overall profitability of the wood processing industry as well as private forestry will decrease this year, predicts the Finnish Forest Research Institute Metla in its Economic Outlook report published recently.

Global Sawlog Price Continues to Fall

GSPI fell for the fifth consecutive year
According to a new report from Wood Resource Quarterly, global demand for lumber declined in many regions during the summer and fall, log prices continued to trend downward. The Global Sawlog Price Index (GSPI) fell for the fifth consecutive quarter to $81.94/m3. The Index was down only 1.1 percent from the 2Q/12, which was the smallest quarter-over-quarter decline since world prices started to fall in early 2011. Sawlog prices are now back down to levels where they were two years ago.

66% of Consumers Use Catalogs

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/11/prweb10153054.htm

In today’s digital-driven shopping world, at least one tried-and-true retail shopping channel, the print catalog, retains a vital role for consumer shoppers and the companies that continue to mail catalogs. And as we enter the Holiday 2012 shopping season, consumers are eagerly perusing their catalogs as an integral part of their gift-buying process. According to a new survey, 66% of consumers say they peruse the catalogs they receive; in comparison, according to other studies, consumers look at just 42% of all advertising mail they receive.

MPA Calls on Congress to Act on Postal Reform

http://www.pubexec.com/blog/postal-reform-how-long-must-publishers-wait-for-congress-deliver

The stakes are dire. The USPS reported a $15.9 billion net loss for the fiscal year that wrapped up Sept. 30, over two-thirds of which came from required payments to fund future retiree health benefits. For over a year now, Congress has put off passing reform. With the "fiscal cliff" negotiations now a priority, it may not happen before the new Congress is installed next year. Folks like D. Eadward Tree at the blog Dead Tree Edition are understandably cynical about the whole process. 
The USPS has long been caught in the middle between its desire to implement private-sector style reform and its status as a government agency expected to serve all while funding its own operations.

AAM Revises Circulation Reporting

http://www.americanownews.com/story/20147755/aam-board-agrees-to-us-magazine-allowance-for-lost-scan-sales-requires-large-magazines-to-report-more-frequent-per-issue-data

The board of the Alliance for Audited Media (formerly the Audit Bureau of Circulations) has agreed to create an allowance for U.S. magazine newsstand sales that are lost when not properly scanned or accounted for by retail outlets. The board will determine the final allowance percentage at its March meeting, following further industry discussion. If given final approval, the new U.S. rules would take effect with 2013 first-half magazine publisher's statements.
The AAM board also agreed to require U.S. magazines with circulations over 250,000 to report more frequent per-issue data via AAM's Rapid Report tool, beginning with July 2013 issues. Participation in Rapid Report has been optional since its inception in 2006. The board also agreed to modify the U.S. rule for credit cancellations to allow these copies to be counted as "verified" circulation.

Fewer Catalogs Mailed, Still Link to Sales

http://news.yahoo.com/fewer-holiday-catalogs-still-plenty-mail-164801891--finance.html

Despite the flood around the holidays, annual catalog circulation by retailers has actually dipped substantially because of a postage increase, a weak economy and more shoppers making purchases online. Nearly a third fewer catalogs are mailed than were four years ago.

Steve Fuller, L.L. Bean's marketing chief, sees the trend accelerating but he doesn't see catalogs going away anytime soon. That's because catalogs and online sales are intertwined, with catalogs serving as a tool to get customers' attention and to motivate them to make purchases, often online.

McGraw-Hill Sells Education Business

McGraw-Hill Sells Education Business for $2.5 Billion:
McGraw-Hill has agreed to sell its education business to investment company Apollo Global Management for $2.5 billion. This leaves the company with its remaining McGraw-Hill Financial operation and after the close of the deal, which is expected later this year or early 2013, it will become the company's official name.

Harry & David Tries New Venue

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20121120006103/en/Harry-David-Helps-Celebrate-Holidays-Seasonal-Stores

America’s iconic gourmet gifting curator, is excited to announce the opening of 5 seasonal stores and 9 free standing gifting centers. New this year, the seasonal stores and gifting centers will be open throughout the holiday season in the following locations: California (Paseo Colorado Mall, Topanga Plaza, South Coast Plaza, The Oaks, Promenade In Temecula), Illinois (Westfield Fox Valley Mall, Yorktown Center), Massachusetts (North Shore Mall, Solomon Pond, Natick Mall), Maryland (Westfield Annapolis), Pennsylvania (Park City Center) and Virginia (Dulles Town Center, Tyson’s Corner).

What I’m Watching in 2013

What I’m Watching in 2013:
What will 2013 mean for the print & media industries? What changes can we expect to see regarding the use of print in corporate marketing strategies? That’s one of the things I’m most excited about, heading into the New Year – what about you? I’m not so concerned with new technologies and equipment. The bigger picture has always fascinated me.

WARC Changes Global Ad Forecast

WARC downgrades global advertising spend forecast:
The figures, contained in WARC's latest International Ad Forecast, represent cuts in the expected combined growth rate of printed, online, television, outdoor and radio advertising spend of 0.5% in 2012 and 1.5% in 2013.
Taking into account forecast inflation, the report predicts that global ad spend will rise by just 1.8% and 1.6% this year and next.

Americans Consume 11+ Hours of Media Daily

Americans Consume 11+ Hours of Media Daily: U.S. adults fit more than 11 hours of media content into the average day in 2012. In the past 4 years, time spent with mobile has increased 273% while time spent with print has decreased 31%.

Resolute Idles Fort Frances Kraft Mill

Resolute announces indefinite idling of Fort Frances kraft mill
Resolute Forest Products recently announced the indefinite idling of the kraft mill and paper machine number 5 (PM5) at its pulp and paper operation in Fort Frances, Ontario. The kraft mill has an annual production capacity of approximately 200,000 metric tons of market pulp, while PM5 has an annual capacity of 105,000 metric tons of groundwood specialty printing papers. "The markets for these products are challenging and are expected to remain so. The kraft mill situation is particularly difficult given Fort Frances' operating configuration and the recent decision by a key customer to stop consuming the pulp supplied by Resolute to its mill," said Resolute's President and Chief Executive Officer, Richard Garneau. "Our kraft mill's drying capacity is limited to about 40 percent of its production capacity, making it impossible to continue operating the mill in a profitable manner." Resolute is exploring alternative product possibilities for its Fort Frances pulp mill, which will be idled in a manner that will protect the equipment. The idling of PM5 is driven by the decrease in consumption as well as the high value of the Canadian dollar." PM5 will also continue to operate until late November. Approximately 239 employees will be impacted by the idling.

DMA-Marketers Bullish On Growth

DMA finds marketers bullish on growth of digital and direct marketing: Seventy-five percent of marketers said they are bullish about growth prospects for digital and direct marketing, according to the Direct Marketing Association's Quarterly Business Review for the third quarter.The figure is up slightly from the second-quarter survey, in which 72% of respondents said they were bullish about growth prospects. When asked to rate their confidence in the growth of digital and direct marketing on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 1 representing low confidence and 5 representing high confidence), respondents gave an average score of 3.91, up slightly from 3.85 in the second quarter.

Market Outlook For Latin American Companies Mixed

Mixed 2013 market outlook for Latin American companies
Market fundaments for pulp producers are expected to be weak in 2013, according to a new report by Fitch Ratings. According to Joe Bormann, Managing Director and lead author of the report, 'Pulp prices should remain under pressure due to growth of global market pulp capacity by about 8% over a 12 months period, while demand growth should remain around 2%. For pulp producers in Latin America, free cash flow should show improvements vis-a-vis 2012, but remain negative. Capital expenses should begin to taper off after reaching high levels during 2012. Acquisitions should also decline, as companies continue to seek to improve the strength of their balance sheets.'

Finnish Forest Ind-Operating Environment Challenging

Finnish Forest Industry in January-September 2012: Operating Environment Challenging:
The production volumes of the forest-based sector decreased or remained unchanged in January-September.“The competitive ability of the Finnish forest industry is being tested to the extremes by market conditions and the constant rise in costs. Finland must retain a stronger competitive position than our rival countries, as this is the only way to ensure that forest industry operations remain viable in our country,” says Timo Jaatinen, Director General of the Finnish Forest Industries Federation. Finland produced 5.1 million tonnes of pulp in January-September, roughly the same amount as in the corresponding period of 2011. Pulp exports were up 16% to 1.9 million tonnes from the previous year.

Good Housekeeping Mag New logo

http://mrmagazine.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/and-the-winner-is-a-new-logo-look-for-good-housekeeping-starting-with-the-January-issue/
After few months of testing, Good Housekeeping magazine has settled on a new logo that it will usher nationwide with its January issue. The magazine has been testing two new logos emphasizing the word GOOD over the word Housekeeping. Last week, in an ad in The New York Times, Good Housekeeping revealed the logo that seems to have won the test.

 

'USA Today' Relaunches iPad App

'USA Today' relaunches iPad app: USA Today has relaunched its iPad app, featuring a new design and several new capabilities. The app, available from the iTunes app store, provides larger images and live video coverage.

Tablet Sales To Overtake Laptops This Season

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/187728/tablet-sales-to-overtake-laptops-this-season.html#axzz2CrkXvVqB
The “post-PC” era may not have an official starting point, but this may have to do for now. According to NPD DisplaySearch, this is the season in which tablet sales will finally outpace laptop sales in the U.S. market. Senior Analyst Richard Shim writes in the company blog this week that in Q4 tablet shipments will hit 21.5 million units -- not only matching but far surpassing the 14.6 million projected for notebook sales. “Starting in 2013 in North America, tablet shipments are expected to exceed notebook shipments on an annual basis for the first time,” he writes. On a global basis, notebooks will still out-ship tablets until 2015.

 

AAM-Ditital-Only Pubs And New Requirements

http://www.adweek.com/news/press/pubs-go-digital-only-face-new-requirements-145329
Newsweek might have been the most high-profile magazine to go digital-only, but it's probably not the last. And so the Alliance for Audited Media—as the Audit Bureau of Circulations has renamed itself—has endorsed new guidelines for print publications that go digital-only.  The new guidelines, adopted at the AAM's Nov. 14-16 board meeting, say that when a publication makes that transition, it must give subscribers the option of receiving the digital subscription; converting to another print publication; or receiving a refund for the remainder of the subscription. The Newsweek announcement was a catalyst for the move.

 

News Corp Eyes Simon & Schuster

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324851704578131420027504306.html
News Corp NWSA 0.40%., owner of HarperCollins Publishers, has expressed interest to CBS Corp. CBS -0.09% about acquiring its Simon & Schuster book business, according to people familiar with the talks.The people described the discussions as preliminary and cautioned that a deal isn't imminent. News Corp. owns Dow Jones & Co., which publishes The Wall Street Journal.

 

e-books And The Chinese e-market

http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/culture/2012-11/20/content_15944008.htm
Markus Dohle, chairman and CEO of Random House, says that to fit into the global trend of digital transformation, the Chinese e-market should not get too used to low-priced content but offer e-books with a premium price that readers will buy. While the US market started with digital content and devices, and then the premium-price segment followed naturally, the Chinese market lacks such premium content.  "The Chinese market is the one with growing importance, but its existing business mode and pattern are different from any other market we're operating in," Dohle says during his first-time visit to China in late October. "Print will always be important - no matter the percentage of profit split," he says, "while digital becomes more and more important."