Print vs. Online Pubs

Tony Tost ponders starting an el cheapo print pub because of the frustrating time lags between editing Octopus and actually launching it. I have no idea how he and Zachary manage Octopus but it sounds like they are in a position where they have to rely on other people to physically publish it. Each issue appears to be uniquely designed.

What I don't understand is why so many online publications insist on modeling themselves after print publications. While putting together "issues" for a print magazine makes all kinds of sense, it makes literally no sense for an online publication. Online publications have the ability to update, add and modify on a minute by minute basis -- why put up static content and leave it there for months at a time? Perhaps I took the education I received while working at AOL for granted, but we even pressured content providers like Merriam Webster's Dictionary and Compton's Encyclopedia to "keep it new" and in those cases that was sometimes a challenge. At AOL it was all about "hits" which we now call "visits" -- areas that frequently updated content got more hits. We were obsessed with hits because that meant advertising revenue. In online magazine terms, hits or visits means readers -- any magazine editor should be concerned with readers, finding new ones, keeping the old ones coming back.

For poetry and essays, I believe the best way to find readers is through an online medium. I've published in both print and online magazines and no one has ever contacted me regarding something that appeared in print. I can only assume somebody has read those pieces. I don't really know. But I have been contacted about work appearing online. I know those pieces have been read (and continue to be). My work isn't appearing in magazines with huge distribution, most print journals I've been in have had press runs of a few thousand, appear in a handful of bookstores and have a few hundred subscribers. In a couple of years, it would be nearly impossible for someone to get hold of that issue without going through great lengths. Even a relatively unknown online pub is going to get a couple thousand visits in a month (think of how many visits these one-person blogs get). That's more readers than most print pubs. For as long as an online pub stays in operation, my work is easily accessible years after the fact. For someone who's always been more interested in readers than a myopic view of pub prestige, online is by far preferable.

My advice to anyone publishing an online magazine: Design it so that it can be easily updated (by you! -- learn some html). Forget the "issue" concept. Why make such a big production for something with so little payout? Put up new pieces when you have them and build up your readership. Get readers in the habit of visiting your online magazine on a weekly or even a daily basis.