Journalists and photographers need to rethink how they package – and how they get paid for – their work when it comes to tablet computers.

1. 30/11/2011 08:50
blog.batteryfast.co.uk
5 Things Journalists Ought to Know About
Tablets
5 Things Journalists Ought to Know Here are five more points worth touching on for
About Tablets journalists and photographers when it comes to
tablet publishing.
CloudTags: Journalists , Tablets , Dell inspiron 1750
battery , Hp probook 4310s battery , Dell xps m1530 1. There’s No Money in Tablet
battery Publishing – Yet
Once Magazine, launched in September, has a
revenue sharing model that will hopefully pay
journalists and photographers decent rates for
their work. Readers currently pay $2.99 for each
edition. When answering a question from the au-
dience about whether tablet publishing provides a
decent paycheck, Once‘s Knight said, “No! Just kid-
ding. Sometimes. Well, it could… If we have 20,000
subscribers, it would be decent paycheck. I mean,
if we could pay $2,500 for the photos and $1 a word,
that would be decent. First, you have to establish
Journalists and photographers need to rethink how yourself. The onus right now is on contributors to
they package – and how they get paid for – their market… There’s not a market for us right now any
work when it comes to tablet computers. Tablets, more than there is for contributors.”
http://blog.batteryfast.co.uk/5-things-journalists-ought-to-know-about-tablets/
predicted to become the reading device of choice
in the next few years, will change the demand and 2. Your News Organization Is
market for information. Interested in Them
Those are some of the takeaways from a “Hacks Back in January, Forrester research predicted that
and Hackers” meetup held at Storify headquarters U.S. consumers would buy more tablets than com-
in San Francisco called, “New rules of storytelling: puters by 2015.
The rise of tablets.”
In addition to launching hundreds of dedicated
Talking about the burgeoning demand for touchs- apps, news organizations have heeded the call to
creen-friendly information were John Knight, a co- create content consumable on tablet computers
founder and editor of Closed Mondays, whose recent with initiatives ranging from Rupert Murdoch’s
tablet projects include Al Gore’s “Our Choice” and iPad-only publication The Dailyto a Philadelphia
Tim Ferriss’s “4-Hour Chef.” media group subsidizing tablets for readers. The
result? The Economist recently reached100,000
subscribers for its iPad version.
Love this PDF? Add it to your Reading List! 4 joliprint.com/mag
Page 1

2. 30/11/2011 08:50
blog.batteryfast.co.uk
5 Things Journalists Ought to Know About Tablets
3. Tablet Publishing Isn’t 5. Get Ready for the “Bookification”
Necessarily About Interactivity or of Content
Extreme Stories
Rymill’s latest project is the “4-hour Chef,” speci-
fically made for the Kindle Fire. The free app, de-
signed for first-time tablet users, gives a “taste” of
the forthcoming Tim Ferriss book of the same title.
Launched right after Thanksgiving, it’s a combo coo-
kbook, diet and exercise regime that promises to get
readers into fighting shape before the expansive
Christmas holidays.
See Also:
Once‘s format doesn’t allow readers to pinch and
zoom on photos, for example. “That’s how it was shot
and this is how you look at it,” Knight said. He added
that the photos are carefully chosen and crafted, and
that the reader isn’t the professional, plus it’s more
http://blog.batteryfast.co.uk/5-things-journalists-ought-to-know-about-tablets/
work for the publisher. One of Once‘s more popular
stories, Knight said, isn’t “war photography, but a
story about a retirement community in Arizona.”
The photos chronicle the daily activities of the over-
55 members from gymnastics to crocheting.
4. Tablet Publishing May Reverse
the Traditional Text-to-Photo Ratio
Once magazine publishes three stories per edition,
each story contains 15-20 photos accompanied by
800 words of text, the opposite of your usual word-
heavy glossy magazine where two or three pics ac-
company 10,000 words of copy.
Love this PDF? Add it to your Reading List! 4 joliprint.com/mag
Page 2