Article: Journalist seeking paycheck? Try India

The Salon.com article "Journalist seeking paycheck? Try India" by Arun Venugoplan talks about Foreign journalists finding India's media explosion impossible to resist.

Some Extracts:
In June five graduates and enrolled students from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism headed to New Delhi, where they're starting reporting internships at the Hindustan Times, one of the largest-selling English language newspapers in the world. I've been in touch with three of the interns, and to my surprise they all said the miserable job market in the U.S. didn't affect their decision to go abroad. But they also agreed that India's media explosion is impossible to resist.
The managing editor of the Hindustan Times is Pankaj Paul, and when he dropped by Columbia's graduate school earlier this year he said he had a lot of jobs available and promised students the sort of assignments and exposure they'd never get at a smaller American newspaper.
"I have met foreigners working at the Hindu, Mint, GQ, the Hindustan Times and Times of India," wrote Scott Carney, a Chennai-based journalist who freelances for NPR, Wired and National Geographic TV. "They all work on Indian salaries, don't speak the language, and all seem to be having a ball. Since there are so many new publications opening up in India, there is a lot of demand for native English speakers and people who can bring higher reporting standards to local papers."

Read the complete article here

India: Rubber Stamping of Maps delays Magazine Distribution

The Sunday Edition of Indian Express carries an article "Foreign magazine map is stamped, India is safe" that highlights how an archaic practice is delaying distribution of foreign publications in India.
Magazines that carry a map of India not conforming to the officially recognized boundaries, get delayed by at least two days as the Customs department stamps each map in every single copy with the message: “The external boundaries of India as depicted are neither accurate nor authentic”.
“While our magazine is to hit the stands on Mondays, we are only able to make it available on Wednesdays due to this whole map-stamping exercise. This is a problem in the competitive media world. You have a story which must be out on Monday but fails to do so.” says the bureau chief of a foreign news magazine. “Now that we are picking up circulation, it’s a pity such things can delay the magazine’s distribution so badly.”
The head of another reputed international news magazine says he faces the “rubber stamping” almost with every single issue. His predecessor is reported to have taken up the issue with officials concerned but it didn’t help.

Read the entire article here.

Article: India- The Next, Great Magazine Frontier?

MediaBistro article 'India- The Next, Great Magazine Frontier?' talks about how the ongoing ad recession in the western magazine market and increased online competition for readership has forced magazines to step up their international game. Following luxury brands, like Armani, who are chasing after the rising Indian rupee, are magazines like Rolling Stone (first issue expected on newsstands tomorrow with Saif Ali Khan on cover!), Child (launch scheduled for April 2008) Glamour (later this year), Vogue India (launched in 2007) and the Economist Indian edition (already in the market).
Read the story from livemint.com quoted in the mediabistro article:
Global players zero in on India
Related links: Magscene.com-Launchpad

LaunchPAD: Child Magazine-India Edition

Media Transasia India announces the upcoming launch of Child, a monthly parenting magazine, with a promotion titled ‘That Special Something Child Cover Hunt’. 'Child' addresses urban progressive parents who want to raise happy, healthy kids and is expected to be on newsstands by April 2008.

The magazine is being brought to India in agreement with Meredith Corporation, USA.

LaunchPAD: The Economist

The Economist, global weekly on politics, business and culture, will be published in India starting February 21. The magazine priced at Rs 200 will hit the newsstands every Friday. Although the magazine’s content will be largely global, the Indian edition is also expected to be locally relevant.
The Economist launch is accompanied by an outdoor campaign bearing its signature colours--red and white.

India: The First Non-US Edition of 'People'

According to a release, Time Inc has tied up with the Outlook Group to launch Indian edition of the popular ‘People’ magazine in second half of 2008.
Except US, People is not published anywhere in the world. India is the first country they are venturing into. In India, the frequency of the magazine will be a fortnightly.
Indian edition of 'People' will maintain the 50:50 content ratio of celebrity substance and human interest stories. The magazine will also include contemporary news, interviews and in-depth reporting on the most compelling people of the time. The content will be customised for India and have a ratio of 75:25 Indian and foreign content.

Newspaper: Launch of Mail Today, INMA Event

The India Today Group has announced the launch of Mail Today, a newspaper venture in collaboration with Associated Newspapers (ANL), the publishers of Daily Mail. Mail Today is expected to hit the Delhi market by the end of this week, according to agencyfaqs.

According to Aroon Purie, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, India Today Group, the paper will not address everyone, but target "upper echelons of society, who have a certain lifestyle, interests, certain education level, financial level".

New Delhi is also the venue for the INMA's (International Newspaper Marketing Association) first-ever South Asian Conference titled “Building Market Cap in the Newspaper Enterprise”. This two-day forum (14-15 November) will examine trends in the global newspaper industry that are relevant to India.

India: Fortune India in 2008

Fortune magazine has signed an agreement with the Ananda Bazar Patrika to launch its India edition next year. This will be the magazine's third country-specific edition following Fortune China and Fortune Turkey.
Currently, the magazine sells about 8,000 copies per issue in India. That number could increase 10 times with a local edition.

Event: Indian Magazine Congress, 2007

The Indian Magazine Congress 2007 was held in Mumbai on October 8-9.

Here are some highlights:

Postal delivery: Industry veteran and publisher of Delhi Press Paresh Nath pointed out that the postal distribution system for magazines was pathetic, with some 30-40 per cent of magazines getting stolen midway.

Distribution System: Magazines were still following a distribution method that was probably right for newspapers, and this was a major concern for the industry. M.Rajagopalan Nair of ‘Malaya Manorama’ raised the problem of the dependence of magazines on newspapers vendors for distribution and the vendors’ reluctance to pick up magazines. This led to a situation where the consumer had to pick up his own copy, which he did at his own convenience.

Cover Prices: R Rajmohan, president and publisher, Images Multimedia says that rising cover prices have been an most important change as people were willing to pay for quality content.

Imbalance in ad revenue: 20 per cent of the total magazine readership lands up with 60 per cent of the total magazine ad revenue.

Read more on agencyfaqs.com
http://www.agencyfaqs.com/perl/news/index.html?sid=19331
http://www.agencyfaqs.com/perl/news/index.html?sid=19330
http://www.agencyfaqs.com/perl/news/index.html?sid=19332

Event: MPA Forum | International - Outsourcing

The upcoming MPA Forum (September 19) hopes to show outsourcing as a way to reduce costs across all aspects of the media business and has two speakers from India.
1)Hoshie Ghaswalla, President of CyberMedia, will discuss the fundamentals of outsourcing.
2) Juhi Bhambal, Executive Editor, Global Services will discuss how she and a team put together a magazine, website, and events from an offshore destination.
Peter Meirs, Director Alternative Media Technologies, Time Inc., will add his perspective on the changing nature of outsourcing and discuss when outsourcing is not always the solution.

Related stories:
India: “Boston, not Bangalore” Campaign (posted November 13, 2006)
India: Ripe for Magazine Design and Production Outsourcing? (posted March 16, 2007)

Article: Overseas, a Rosier Picture for Magazines

An nytimes.com interview with George Green, the chief executive of Hearst Magazines International gives an interesting insight into the differences in magazine business within US and the outside world (including India).

Some useful observations:
1) The United States is the only place where the postal service gives incentives for mailing magazines. About 90 percent of magazines in the US are sold by subscription, only 10 percent on newsstands. Outside the United States, that’s reversed.
2) Subscribers overseas do not expect a huge discount from the cover price. The US magazine business is driven entirely by ad revenue , but elsewhere it is driven by circulation as well as ads.
3) You hardly ever see newsstands in the United States anymore, but overseas you see them everywhere. Since publishers don’t mail many magazines, heavier paper is used to give a higher-quality look on the newsstand.
4) The concept of a rate base doesn’t exist in other countries. So you don’t have to spend a lot of money on promoting your new magazine to lots of readers. It can take more than three years for a new magazine to break even in the United States. Overseas, you can make money with your second issue.

And here is an interesting bit about Hearst presence in India:
“We’ve been in India for 10 years and still haven’t made much money. That’s a country where advertising rates and cover prices are low for everybody. We won’t leave, though.
If you want to consider yourself a truly international publisher, India is a place you have to be.”

You can read the entire interview here

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Finally a not-so-rosy news:
Business 2.0, which I read off and on since 1998, is coming to a close with its October issue according to MediaPost.

LaunchPAD: Outlook plans magazine on Stock Markets

Exchange4Media reports that the Outlook Group plans to launch a fortnightly magazine on the stock market by early 2008. The name of the magazine has not yet been decided, but the Group is currently conducting a consumer research to finalise the name. The Group has also roped in N Mahalakshmi (last with Business Standard-Smart Investor) as Editor of the forthcoming magazine.

The magazine is aimed at investors who understand the nuances of the business and spend huge amounts in stock markets. To give relief from the stock-related information, there would also be lifestyle-related information.

Read more here.

India: Traditions of Recyling Magazines

MPA had just unveiled a public education campaign to let readers know that magazines can and should be recycled. Member magazines can display 'Please Recycle' and public service advertisements in their magazines to reinforce the message that magazines are recyclable.

In India, we have been reusing our newspapers and magazines for years. Once a month ‘Raddi wala’ (waste-paper pickup man) comes home and picks up the old magazines, newspapers and even bottles and pays me by the kilo (different prices for newspaper and magazines).

These he then sells. The old newspapers go to paperbag making outfits and the old magazine show up in numerous 'Second hand bookstores' or are farmed to waiting rooms of various outfits. In fact, in Mumbai, the Turner Road magazine man used to have an amazing collection of old international magazines (some which were sold with their masthead cropped off)

In many restaurants in Goa it is not unusual to find the latest copy of 'The New Yorker', 'Eve', 'Der Spiegel' and many other fascinating magazines, left behind by tourists and maybe even traded by ‘raddi walas’ and picked up by restaurants to make the waiting for food bearable for customers.

My son's school cuts up old magazines to make craftpaper for children. A shopkeeper in my neighborhood collects old newspapers to hand them over to the prison or the nearby 'home for the mentally challenged' where inmates turn them to paperbags. The International Animal Rescue in Goa accepts old newspapers to line animal cages. An artist friend cuts up colourful ads for making collages. And I often turn to my old collection of old magazines for inspiration and ideas.

What do you do with old magazines?

Here are two interesting links to help you in resuing your old magazines:
1) What to do with old magazines?

2) Five ways to reuse old magazines

And finally two unusual way of using old magazines:
Making Magazine Bowls

Making Paper Beads

India: Indian Edition of Wired?

Not right now. But maybe soon.

According to FT.com, Condé Nast India is seeking or has obtained regulatory approval for magazines such as Glamour, GQ, Condé Nast Traveller, Vanity Fair and niche publications such as Wired, the technology-focused magazine.

Meanwhile, Condé Nast is planning to launch the Indian edition of Vogue on September 22, 2007. The first edition with an October cover date will have a target print run of 50,000 copies.

To know more about Vogue's planned launch in India, read here

India: Magazine covers featuring South Asia

Interested in seeing India through the eyes of the Western media?
Click here to link to a collection of magazine covers (mostly american editions of international magazines) put together by SAJA. One visitor aptly describes it as an "amazing walk back through history."

The cover featured here (Time Magazine, March 1930) is Mahatma Gandhi's first appreance on the cover of Time. Gandhi was the Time Man of the Year for the year 1930.

India: Foreign Invasion

For magazine lovers who have been reading and buying international magazines, here is a piece of good news:

Indian editions of IPC Media's Hair, Conde Nast's Vogue and Hearst's Harpers Bazaar are next in line. And according to an article in Business Standard, Esquire and National Geographic are scouting for Indian partners.

Mainsteam media is finally starting to take note of the magazine explosion. In fact, you might want to read the Business Standard article, with lots of the industry quotes, on this Indian love affair.

Meanwhile, I actully saw Monocle today in a little cake shop in Goa that has about 15 magazines in all. Amazing...
But at about Rs 1000, I am not sure I can buy it. Will write more about Monocle later.

India: “Boston, not Bangalore” Campaign

America’s IT outsourcing nightmare, Bangalore is once again the target of some adverse publicity as outsourcing becomes a viable option for American media houses.
It's the Boston Globe, not the Bangalore Globe” is the ad campaign launched by the Boston Globe's union against decrying the paper's plan to outsource the jobs of about 50 workers (in the classified advertising department) to India.
Appearing on the radio and in the Boston Herald (The Globe rejected publishing the ad ‘because it did not meet standards’) the Boston Newspaper Guild urges readers and advertisers to call the newspaper and its parent company, The New York Times Co., to oppose the move .

See the pdf of the ad here.

Related story: "India ready for Magazine Design and Production Outsourcing"

India: Ripe for Magazine Design and Production Outsourcing?

Cadmus Communications, which has for years used a 600-person design and production facility in India (Knowledgeworks Global Limited in Mumbai and Chennai) for its medical-journal printing business is now exploring a full-service outsourced design and production solution for traditional b-to-b magazines.

Folio: magazine conducted a mini-poll on the question: “Can Design and Production Be Outsourced to India? Should It?” and here is what they got.

The pluses reiterated what is already been said is favour of outsourcing: There’s nothing about being in India or China or Vietnam that prevents someone from doing fantastic work for a US-based publication. The software is the same. The skills are the same. And the Web creates a situation where working with a guy in Bangalore isn’t so very different from working with a guy on another floor in your building.” And so on.

However, those against outsourcing provided varying perspectives:

“If someone thinks so little of the design of his publication to outsource the production portion, and can save enough, so be it. I’d keep pushing for automating the production portion but leave the design skills with the art director—in the office next to mine.”

“You’d lose the creative interplay needed to produce a truly compelling magazine if you don’t have face-to-face interaction.

“We deal with last-minute ads on a routine basis.We have a lot of movement up until we ship the magazine to the printer. Customer support is an integral part of our process. Although there could be some costs savings, we believe the quality of our publications and our reputation could be compromised."

“I’d be very wary of this approach. While the potential savings may look attractive, that may be offset by the oversight and review needed to ensure content has been accurately reproduced.”

Read the entire article on Folio: here.

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For a short time, I worked for Hong-kong based b2b publisher who had editorial/design functions in Philippines, ad sales offices in China and Taiwan, printed in China, and distributed all over Europe and the States! Editing was outsourced to freelancers in India, UK and Singapore! The design was pretty much template-based to ensure that all group publications had a uniform look and all offices worked about a couple of months in advance and adhered to strict deadlines mutually fixed by them. And things seemed to be going along very smoothly…

Maybe outsouring to India as discussed by Folio: Forum is not too far away...

India: About 2 new launches a month

Yet another article on Indian Magazine scene!
A special report titled "Magazines lead print sprint" on IndianTelevision, suggests that it is "Guy mags where maximum action is at present". According to this article, about two magazines a month have launched in the past year or there are 24 new magazines in the market today.