The rise of tablets and the digital age has brought with it a new avenue for publishing: digital editions of magazines. Many existing print publications are looking for the best avenue to keep existing readers interested while targeting a broader audience.
While there are many ways to publish your digital edition, it can be overwhelming to choose the right tool. The number of digital publishing platforms has exploded over the years, however, this can make it difficult to choose the best platform for your needs. How can you compare tools to find the best one?
At Flip180 Media, we are your experienced resource in the digital edition industry. We have been actively involved in the magazine industry since 2014, and have worked in the web industry since 2009, which has given us the opportunity to study and explore many different tools. Over the years, we have come to the conclusion that there are really three different ways to publish your digital edition online, without downloading anything.
Take a look at the three main techniques and tools that publishers are using to create their digital edition, then contact Flip180 Media to see how we can help you grow your business!
Classic Digital Edition
A Classic Digital Edition is published as a flipbook or turn-page style web app. Today, professionally created flipbooks use HTML5, JavaScript, and real text to render the content so the magazine looks good, loads fast, and is responsive.
It is very important to understand that designing for digital publishing is not the same as designing for print. When designing for digital publishing, it is essential to create a unique magazine layout for flipbook publishing, instead of simply reusing your existing print edition. This is imperative to improve your digital publication’s readability and your user’s experience.
Intuitive and fun to use as readers can flip through pages, just as they would with a print edition. However, the main disadvantage to the classic digital edition is that content is attached to pages, so text shrinks on smaller screens.
The classic digital edition takes your existing print publications and transforms them into a digital edition utilizing HTML5 or JavaScript. The system recognizes the text on your PDF files and translates them into HTML5 real, readable text formats for a sharper reading experience. At Flip180 Media, not only do we offer the classic digital edition tool, we go the extra mile and reflow the layouts for digital audiences. In many cases, classic digital editions are cost-efficient, fast, and responsive.
Modern Digital Edition
A Modern Digital Edition provides users with a fun, fast, and easy reading experience. What’s great about the modern digital edition is that it works on every device and protects the integrity of the digital edition for the best readability.
It’s important to note that the modern digital edition will not have a static number of pages because it adapts to the screen size, which can change the number of pages. This will mainly affect your advertisers. In some cases, your advertiser’s ads may show up on the second fold, while on mobile it may be pushed to the third.
To help you create stunning modern digital editions, we have created Flip180 reader. Flip180 reader is the ideal tool to create responsive online publications. You’ll create digital editions that work great on every device, making it extremely easy to read for the user.
The Modern Digital Edition essentially creates digital publications in HTML5 while structuring the content and navigation into a scrolling experience. These type of digital editions are incredibly popular as they are fast, intuitive and responsive. One of the great things about modern-type digital editions is that you can improve your SEO visibility with HTML5 based content. As a result, you’ll get a highly optimizing digital publication which attracts a broader audience.
Digital Magazine Portal
The portal is a special website designed to aggregate content from multiple resources in order to publish magazines. In order to be effective, the portal format has the magazine or issue archive page with the most recent issue at the top, followed by the issue page with a table of contents, and editor letter. Finally, the feature pages with navigation are included between other features within the issue.
Magazine website is equipped with tools that help to move your website traffic and are designed for organic SEO marketing, email marketing, list building and lead generation. They are effective at turning visitors into subscribers.
These type of digital editions are designed to maximize online advertising inventory. To do this successfully, the portal will treat registered and unregistered users differently. For the unregistered user, a significant portion of the website page template is allocated to converting visitors into registered users, which helps grow the email list. In many cases, publishers will have a portal paired with their premium content models like magazines, events, and books.
Compare Digital Edition Publishing Methods
In the table below, we have compared all three digital format from different aspects in an unbiased manner.
Please note, we do not recommend reusing the same layout of your magazine created for print. All methods are compared as if you are creating your magazine layout specifically for the method. Reusing print layout is an ineffective practice that will not yield any positive long term results. If you have to publish your print layout, just use the good-old PDF itself.
| Classic | Modern | Portal | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setup investment | low | medium | high |
| Cost per issue | |||
| Production speed per issue | medium | slow | fast |
| Navigation | linear, left to right | linear, scroll | sitemap |
| User experience | |||
| Readability | |||
| Fun factor | |||
| Design | |||
| Additional content | |||
| Device capability | |||
| Advertising options | By ad size, position | By ad size, position + banners | Banners, sponsorships |
| Subscription types | Free, paid | Free, paid | Free, paid |
| SEO | |||
| Analytics | |||
| Overall value to publisher | high | high | medium |
| Overall value to reader | medium-low | high | high |
At Flip180 Media, we offer a number of solutions for those looking to transform their print publication into an effective digital edition: FlipClassic and Flip180 reader. These solutions have been designed to work for those looking for a classic, modern, or portal layout. Our templates are effective and tried-and-true solutions that have worked for publishers for years.
If you have existing content and want to reach new audiences, Flip180 Media can help. With years of experience in the digital publishing industry, we have the knowledge to help you create an engaging digital magazine — without the headaches and hassle. Get in touch with us today to learn more about our tools and services at 818-855-7603.
