Magcloud ... on-demand magazine printing??

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Prescott Shibles on May 11, 2009 at 9:51pm

I think it's a great idea, but their pricing model is amazingly expensive right now. I love the opportunity that it presents and wonder how with volume that pricing comes down.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mark E. Tisdale on May 12, 2009 at 8:57am

I am fascinated by MagCloud as well, Joshua and have several projects I am working on using it. While it may seem pricey per @ Prescott, I think they are priced rather inexpensively when you consider the alternatives. Previously, if you had a very small run to produce, you had to contract a large minimum and hope you sold or at least got rid of the extras as freemiums for marketing purposes. Not so now! You want only 25 copies of a 20 page piece? No problem. Fire it up. It would be nice if they offered a better cover stock though...maybe that is in the works?

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Joshua Thomas on May 12, 2009 at 11:03am

Mark, I agree 100%. At roughly 20 cents a page, MagCloud is a real bargain for short-run jobs. I couldn't even tell you how many times we've had clients ask for working dummies of concepts and the cost is usually much higher. Typically on an Indigo, a print of one 32-pager would cost anywhere from $100-175, not $6.40.

What really peeks my curiosity is the whole distribution model built-in.It kind of reminds me of the micro-niche, underground magazines of the 70s. If you browse the titles on MagCloud, the vast majority appear to be the average, low-budget independent magazine. And for those scores of would-be publishers, now actually having a place to produce, publish AND distribute their content without the overhead typically involved with independent title launches is simply astonishing.

Couple MagCloud with digital editions, social networking, hosted CMS sites like www.speaklight.com and you quickly have an amazingly (and enticingly) budget-friendly, launch plan for scores of independent titles.

Still not quite sure what to think of it all, though?

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mark E. Tisdale on May 12, 2009 at 3:06pm

Joshua, you hit the nail on the head more than once there. The big golden nugget in MagCloud is the buillt-in distro model. It is that feature specifically that has me intrigued. I was not going to comment about it as I kinda didn't want anyone else thinking about how to use it for that (thanks dude).

But! Consider pdf's distributed on the web. Why let a lot of solid, creative content get ripped off right back on ebay when you can now control its distribution via MagCloud! Certainly, there are some things you want to propogate naturally (ie WOM blah, blah, blah) but there are times when you really want to control how something you have slaved over gets doled out. N'est paz?

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Andrew Davies on May 18, 2009 at 1:16pm

Yes it is such a good idea. Can't wait to use it for a live project (shouldn't be too long). The possibilities are incredible, especially when the price comes down a little. The potential isn't just limited to small runs, it also means that truely targeted/personalized/segmented magazines can be printed. That's certainly how we will be using it. The boundaries between custom magazines, direct mail/relationship marketing, and targeted advertising are falling...

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Susan Whitehurst on May 18, 2009 at 3:55pm

Have you seen what HP offers? How is MagCloud different?

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Joshua Thomas on May 18, 2009 at 4:00pm

No I haven't. Where can I find it?

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Andrew Davies on May 18, 2009 at 8:24pm

Magcloud is owned by HP.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Joshua Thomas on May 18, 2009 at 8:34pm

Thanks. I was aware HP was behind MagCloud, but thought Susan might have been referring to another service/venture by HP.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by John Zipperer on May 19, 2009 at 2:15pm

I love MagCloud. My magazine has been using it as a side print-on-demand effort (our core readers are our paid members), and I plan to use it for some personal projects. The printing is great quality; the pricing is not realistic.

I've blathered on more here. But basically it works as a good launch platform for small publishers who would otherwise never be able to scrabble together funding for printing and distribution, and of course it takes out of the equation the distribution (including distribution staff) costs. I think this is maybe not THE wave of the future, but it is A wave of the future. It might really take off when they get the price down from 20 cents per page. There are plenty of small magazines charging about 10 cents per page on the newsstand; if MagCloud can match that -- wow.

John Z.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Andrea on May 20, 2009 at 10:29pm

I love the idea of Magcloud as well. I've been deciding whether or not to use them for my start-up. The only thing that's holding me back at the moment is the fact that they don't yet offer perfect binding. If they add that, I'll probably sign up.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by John Zipperer on May 21, 2009 at 10:04am

Another potential drawback -- which may not affect many publishers -- is that there is currently a 60-page maximum to the magazine you can publish through MagCloud. Granted, at 20 cents a page, going much larger than 60 pages would make the purchase price prohibitive for any but the most scintillating magazine. But it's a potential limitation nonetheless.

▶ Reply to This

• First
• Previous
• Next
• Last