Resources I Find Helpful

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Someone recently asked me what resources I find helpful in keeping up with the constantly changing media landscape.  Here are a few: 

  • The first is feedback from our salespeople, who have been selling many different media brands over the course of several decades.  As new opportunities emerge, we have people on the front lines trying to sell them, and to build integrated proposals involving them.  In order to help our salespeople separate valuable information from the white noise they inevitably get when presenting new ideas, we need to stay ahead of the curve.
  • I’ve written previously about the excellent ACT Experience annual events held by Samir Husni, aka Mr. Magazine™, at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, MS. Dr. Husni also runs a video channel on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/samirhusni, through which he distributes interviews with industry luminaries. He is an unabashed fan of magazines, who loves to poke fun at some of the sillier prognostications about the death of magazines, even as he offers serious prescriptions for some of the ills of the industry.
  • Another valuable resource for me is Robert M. Sacks, aka BoSacks, a well-known publishing consultant and speaker, who is President of Precision Media Group in Charlottesville, VA.  Bob is often first on the block to find and disseminate current information and opinion about industry developments through his daily newsletters.  You can subscribe for free at www.bosacks.com.  The list of Publishing Links on the left rail of the site is useful too.   While you are there, you can also view the video of his most recent presentation at the ACT 3 Experience. 
  • Clayton Christensen’s work on disruptive innovation is well-known through his nine best-selling business books.   I recently ran across an issue of Nieman Reports from Harvard University that really grabbed my attention.  Focused on media in the Internet Age, its provocative title is “Be the Disruptor,” and you can read it at http://hvrd.me/Vag78U. To see how these ideas are being implemented at Forbes, see Lewis DVorkin’s piece at http://onforb.es/QShNCb.