With magazine publishers bracing for a likely downturn in single-copy sales as the COVID-19 pandemic forces the closures of newsstands and retail outlets across the country, providers of digital-replica editions are sensing an opportunity to onboard new clients. "We’re actually seeing a huge spike in magazine and newspaper publishers checking in with us to move their whole operation online, given the challenges in printing," emails Joe Hyrkin, CEO of digital publishing platform Issuu. In a letter to clients in late March, Hyrkin wrote that Issuu is currently waiving its commissions on sales of digital single copies or subscriptions made on the platform, citing a recent trend in which "content creators who normally sell physical media are having to find new ways to sell their content digitally." Maria Hedengren, CEO of Readly—an Apple News-like offering, providing consumers access to more than 4,000 digital edition magazines in exchange for a monthly $10 subscription—tells Forbes that the app saw a 62% year-over-year increase in global downloads in March, with the comics, kids, home and renovation, and gardening categories seeing the largest consumption increases among U.S. users. UK-based Exact Editions says it's opened up free access to its "Reading Room" tool, which allows publishers to upload entire issues in PDF format and generate a link to a digital edition that automatically expires after 30 days, calling it "a free and emergency digital distribution solution to... Continue reading at 'Folio Magazine'
[ Folio Magazine | 2020-04-06 15:15:47 UTC ]