Chapter Board Member Steps Down

Karen Prema has left the Boston chapter board, because she has left Reed Business Information and the publishing world to join Digitas, a large ad agency in downtown Boston. She is now a member of the delivery-management team for Pontiac and Buick. We wish her well in her new endeavor, although we'll miss her help and input on the board.

Karen's departure leaves an open spot on the board. If you think you may be interested in filling it, please e-mail Alan Earls (alan@alanearls.com) or Martha Spizziri (mspizziri@rcn.com).

Update, 4/6/06: We now have filled Karen's position on the board. Thanks to those who responded!
 

Great Stuff via ASBPE-KC

This post originally appeared as Editor's digest (#3) on the ASBPE-Kansas City blog, (posted by Spring Suptic, KC chapter board member).

The latest and greatest from the web:

Web first, print later from mediabistro.com
What position does your website hold? David Hirschman says websites are no longer just the dumping ground for old print. Visitors are looking for new material. On an interesting note, my publisher is contemplating redesigning our website and then basing both our print magazines' redesigns off of that. Talk about web first...

The bottom line on blogging from The Kansas City Star
The article by David Hayes focuses on the big Kansas City companies venturing into the blogospehere. The most useful bit, in my opinion, was a sidebar on considerations before starting a company blog. The questions include:
  • What is your goal?

  • Does it have support from the head honcho?

  • Do you have an internal blog champion who will promote the blog inside the company and keep it going?

  • What will the ethics policy be for company bloggers?

  • How will you integrate your blog into the company? In other words, promotion, promotion, promotion.

  • How will you engage readers and make the blog interactive?
And one more important suggestion from Hayes, "Network. Visit other blogs that talk about your business or industry. Comment. Link to those blogs, and to prominent customer blogs."

How to get people to talk to you from mediabistro.com
This article focuses on the hard-to-get interview, but also offers great tips to apply during any interview.

Stealing inside the blogosphere from asap
While getting mentions on other blogs and links back to your blog are great ways to grow, beware of the copiers. Are you showing off your Creative Commons license?

The wonderful world of digital recorders from MBToolBox
Internet phone options offer the ability to record conversations. A handy tool for all of you phone interviewers.
 

Another New England Magazine Folds

Only a month after IDG's CXO Media announced that it was suspending publication of CMO magazine, PennWell is discontinuing the print edition of Electronic Publishing, according to an exclusive report on the web site WhatTheyThink.com.

The report quotes EP editor Keith Hevenor as saying "Electronic Publishing has found good success with webcasts and e-newsletters, and the economics are more favorable on digital distribution. We plan to continue with those vehicles as well as other special projects."

Like Electronic Publishing, CMO has kept its web site up, but CXO Media has been more circumspect about its future. "...[T]he CMO site will remain live for the foreseeable future as we consider our options," CXO's Rob O'Regan noted in a comment on our post about CMO folding. And a look at CMO's site shows that only its blog is being updated for now.

As for EP, Hevenor cites consolidation in the magazine's target industry and the growing number of marketing options as factors that have helped to chip away at its print advertising. Hevenor also notes in the article, "Results for print advertising are harder to measure than many of these alternatives."