Your next issue could be a book. 

Why do institutions have magazines? Or, a better question: Why do they still have magazines? Let’s look at their purposes.

Conveying news: Social media and bulk emails have largely replaced magazines in delivering the news—the exceptions being the better magazines’ upfront sections, which emphasize statistics, short profiles, and other “packaged” elements that, well, really aren’t news. The fact is, actual news—late-breaking events and changes of interest to your readers—gets done best online.

Class notes: Isn’t that what social media was originally made to do?  

Community: We still have letters to the editor. But with fewer people writing letters (and even emails are passé to your younger constituents), magazines are finding fewer and fewer contributions.

No wonder institutions are dropping magazines. But going entirely online is a big mistake, I’d argue. The fact is, people prefer reading on paper to reading online. Newsstand magazines don’t go out of business for lack of readers; they decline because advertising revenue, not readers, has gone online. E-book sales have been dropping for years, while sales of physical, paper books have been going up.

And there’s another reason why many institutions have kept their magazines: relationship. A well-edited, well-designed magazine is superb at tying people to an institution, cause, or passion. People often identify through their magazines.  Newsstand magazines have been pushing this advantage for decades. If you’re old enough, you may remember the campaign for “the Cosmo Woman,” or the tag line “What kind of man reads Playboy?” Magazines express identity.

So why did I title this piece “Your Next Issue Could Be a Book?” Because the right kind of book can work even better than a regular magazine issue. Instead of dropping the magazine, do a single book every couple years. It could work like a magazine, but with a hard cover and a single purpose—history, the institution’s 50 contributions to the world, or a tour of buildings with the title “These Walls Can Talk.” An important anniversary can occasion a book, such as this one for Dartmouth by my partner, Jim Collins. Or the book can project into the future, as a compelling narrative version of a case statement. (Think capital campaign. But then, you already did.) Or the book can be a gift for graduates. 

Aren’t books more expensive to produce and ship? Yes, of course. But advertisers might be interested in sponsoring a book that people hang onto. Get sponsorships from local realtors or businesses. Invite ad blocks from individual alumni or donors with inspiring messages. Put a price tag on the book and offer it for sale on Amazon, promoting it to constituents through social media and emails.

If you’re interested in how a book might work for you, get in touch with me. I’m happy to suggest ways to discuss budgeting, design, writing, printing, and publication. While most of my work has been in magazines (I’ve overseen the remake of more than a dozen, including half a dozen alumni magazines), I run a book imprint with experts in the field.